How to start a Business in Lithuania

Hello CLOUDS & welcome to Expat.com

Hope that some members will be able to help you out soon enough!

If however you get some infos on your side first, it would be great if you could share with us here

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com Team

Hi, CLOUDS

it depends of you targets and houw much you plan to invest. You can establish, by example, subsidiary company in Lithuania of your company based in Saudo Arabia.

Sole Proprietorship (Individuali veikla, IDV)

Individual enterprises (Individuali įmonė, IĮ)
An individual enterprise is owned by a single natural person and is a legal person of unlimited liability. Its assets are not separated from its owner's assets. The owner is liable for the obligations of the enterprise with al of his property.

Small Patrnership (Mazoji bendrija, MB)

Public and private limited liability companies (Akcinė bendrovė, AB and Uzdaroji akcinė bendrovė, UAB)
They are limited liability private legal persons and their assets are separated from their shareholders' assets.
The authorised capital of a public company may not be lower than LTL 150.000 (EUR 43.445). Its shares may be distributed and trade publicly. The authorised capital of a private company  may not be lower than LTL 10.000 (EUR 2.900) It must have 1-250  shareholders.
The mandatory bodies of a company are the general meeting of shareholders and the head of a company.

Chances to get TRP & PR is legally equal with establishing Individual enterprise or UAB. But establishing UAB costs more and servises (by example, accounting) for UAB may cost more.

About requirements for getting TRP and PR you can read here:
http://www.takoplius.com/business-law/r … lithuania/
http://www.takoplius.com/business-law/p … lithuania/

Operational steps of setting up a business
Step Task
Time to complete
(number of days)
Cost (EUR)
Open a bank account with the required minimum capital and get a bank
certificate proving the availability of the funds; pay the registration fee and
obtain the document evidencing the payment
- ~5
Notarise the agreement /memorandum of incorpo¬ration and bylaws; notarise
the application for the registration of a private limited liability company
- ~145
Register with the Register of Legal Entities, including registration with the State
Tax Inspectorate (the Lithuanian Revenue Authority) for corporate tax and VAT,
and with the State Social Insurance Fund Board (SODRA)
- ~57
Complete VAT registration
-  no charge
Open a settlement bank account to handle ordinary commercial transactions
-  no charge
Obtain the official seal of the company
- ~9-26

http://www.pwc.com/lt/en/assets/publica … -guide.pdf

It is currently possible to get a residence permit in Lithuania, one of the Schengen area countries within the European Union.

This residence permit is a one-year temporary permit that becomes permanent after 5 years. This programme:
- is based on business ownership;
- is not a point system; and
- does not require local language initially.

The Lithuanian Law on the Legal Status of Aliens states that:
- an alien who intends to engage in lawful business activities in the Republic of Lithuania may be issued a one year renewable residence permit (art. 40);
- this engagement should be carried out through a company with an authorised capital of not less than LTL 50000 (art. 45),

The Lithuanian Law on Companies requires an initial contribution in cash of at least 25% of the nominal value of the share capital of the company to be incorporated. The remaining 75% is to be paid within a period of 12 months pursuant the Law and what is decided in the incorporation agreement.

In practical terms, an initial investment of only €4000 delivers a residence permit application process with guarantee of success.

The process has 2 stages:

1. Registration of a limited liability company (UAB in Lithuanian language)

Company registration requires taking the following five steps:
• reservation of the company's name: you should send a list containing 3 names that you like for your company; we will check availability and choose the most suitable name;
• preparation of the incorporation documents;
• opening of an accumulative bank account and transferring the initial contribution in cash/share capital: mind that for a company to be incorporated, you should deposit the initial contribution or share capital; once that is done, the bank produces a bank deposit statement that is to be attached to the other incorporation documents for notary certification;
• submission of documents for certification by a notary public; and
• registration of the company with the Company Register Office.

The estimated time for incorporating a company is about 3 weeks after all the incorporation documents are duly executed.

The company can be incorporated by the owner personally in Vilnius or by a representative using a Power of Attorney.

Monthly costs of running a company in Lithuania add up to 250 euro, including bookkeeping (external accountant) and payments Social Security and Tax authorities. Corporate tax in Lithuania can be as low as 5% for small enterprises.

2. Residence permit application

In this stage of the process, the following is to be prepared:
• Employment agreement;
• Social Security number;
• Payments to the tax authorities and Social Security in connection with the employment agrement; and
• Lithuanian law also requires that the applicant has an official address in Lithuania. This address can be the product of a real estate purchase or of a rental agreement. For obvious reasons, the rental agreement solution is the most commonly used. This agreement and permit to use the address as official address should be contained in a notarised document.

All the documents are put together and an application form is filled. Then the applicant should personally submit the set of documents either at a Lithuanian embassy or at the corresponding branch of the Migration Department in Lithuania.

***
Sorry for my bad English.

Thanks a million!

Vilnius, Thanks such informative post. Helpful, indeed. I really admire your effort n generosity. FRND, may I ask, r u a Govt employ, who deal in it? First of all, I'd request you to throw light on procedure of  starting Small Partnership (Mazoji bendrija, MB) & Small Partnership (Mazoji bendrija, MB), the way u've guided me abt Public and private limited liability. Secondly, Does    under Small Partnership (Mazoji bendrija, MB), allow one to enjoy Unlimited liability opportunity? As, I've already told you that I'm an experienced Associate electronics Engineer (Telecom) Fiber optic splicing and cable jointing are my key skills. I have my own splicing machine (OTDR ) as well as tools. I want to open a company that will do all operational activities for the Optic Fiber Cable jointing &splicing. “Maintenance &service provider “ that will provide all operational activities i.e, digging, pulling & laying cables, splicing, testing etc, to the concerned companies or to people seeking help. But the thing is that I've no idea about the Lithuanian business market GOVT rules and regulations and market tends etc. How can I get to know, as if there is a possibility to get start a business and to run a such above mentioned company?  Or is there a possibility to get success in this business, I mean to say. Can one achieve get orders and after opening a company, or is there a viable success in this field? 
Lastly, pls check the following, as it's also mentioned here on this blog. The above mentioned apparently seems according old rules, isn't it?
“The new amendment, which is set to come into effect on 1 October, doubles the minimal authorized capital and makes it no less than LTL 100,000, half of which needs to be funded by the owner personally. There is also a new requirement that a foreigners firm must conduct business for at least six months prior to the owners application for temporary residency permit. The business also has to have at least three Lithuanian employees working full time”
Sorry for askin a lot of things,,,,, & for bothering as well.  If you don't mind may I've your e-mail, plz.  No to worry abt English……lol!  TC  Bye bye...THANKS a lot!!

Looking Forward,
Cloud

Thanks for the info!

This topic is now a sticky one!

If you have any update please let us know here

@Parzifal

Hi

It's very informative. Just a quick question for Temporary Residence Permit is it compulsory to appoint a minimum of two Lithuanian Citizens as employees then only you can apply for Temporary Residence Permit and pay them a Salary of Euro 1500 per month to maintain residence permit

I am confused on this from your answer it appears this requirement is not there kindly clarify