Doing business in Macedonia

are foreign investors welcome in Macedonia?
Usually they are.

Is it complicated to register a company in Macedonia? What is the procedure?
It is quite easy and quick. There are several kind of companies and, of course, you need a trustable local consultant to open a business.

What is the corporate tax rate in Macedonia?
In this moment it is 10% of the gross income (revenues - expenditures).

Is it easy to recruit?
Yes it is. Unemployment rate is quite high, so generally yoou do not have problems with recruiting.

Any advice you would share with us?

Doing business in Macedonia
   

are foreign investors welcome in Macedonia?
Broadly speaking yes, very welcome.  However, the benefits are "hard" benefits such as reasonable taxation etc.  You WILL need someone to help you that can speak Macedonian.  Dealing with the public offices or banks are the 2 biggest challenges you will face.  theuniversalgroup.net  are probably the only company that specifically support foreign investors and can provide local support to investors for legalising documents etc.  It is important to remember that some of the  infrastructure here is at least 20 years behind many of the more developed economies.   Typically nothing is done on line and usually requires an in person visit to the relevant competent authority in the case of a bank or public office. Traditionally, this is where one would engage a nominee, however, in country there is no professional indemnity insurance for nominee Directors so not many people are either qualified or willing.   One option for this would be theuniversalgroup.net as they have qualified Company secretaries and Directors who are able to advise on the  considerations which may need to be made for foreign businesses and investors entering various jurisdictions including Macedonia. Incidentally they also take care of the drafting and legalisation of documents which may be required for use in Macedonia.  Regardless of the way you support this, you WILL need a Macedonian speaker with a great deal of patience to help you through processes such as setting up the company or obtaining your foreign visitors id and bank accounts. This is a very small country and business is not conducted in English here.


Is it complicated to register a company in Macedonia? What is the procedure?

The process is quite straight forward as long as you speak Macedonian but it is an in person registration requiring the presence of the appropriate director. 

What is the corporate tax rate in Macedonia?

For the last couple of years there have been a number of tax benefits for investors such as allowing taxation to be offset against reinvestment into the country providing an effective zero percent tax rate.  In the last 2 years there has been zero tax on profits to increase liquidity and get investment and development to continue.   This has largely been successful.  Generally speaking taxes are very reasonable making Macedonia extremely attractive to investors from the US and EU.  Macedonia is not a tax haven such as the Virgin Islands, Jersey or relatively local Cyprus but the level of taxation is very  reasonable and the reporting requirement fairly standard with no surprises for anyone from the US or EU.

Is it easy to recruit?

Very.  We recruit in Macedonia a great deal and found that there is a wealth of skilled people available looking for opportunity to employ their skills.  Many people do speak English to some degree but be very selective if you will want to recruit for roles which may need to engage directly with clients (English or non English who expect to do business in English.   Qualified translators etc do not always mean business grade English.  Interview directly and see for yourself even if it is over the phone to assure yourself that clients can communicate with your employee in a way that supports your company reputation. 

Is there any advice you would share with us?

Yes,  Macedonia does not set up it's shop for investors as effectively as many other countries do, but do not be mistaken by the lack of polish. This country has massive potential for investors and has not yet been plundered by investors from wealthier countries buying up all the opportunity.  Investors looking for medium to long term ROI have a reasonably safe place to invest.   

DO get some help from someone that has been in the country for a while.  Trying to deal with civil servants and government departments is harder to do here than in any other country I know of in Europe. It sometimes borders on impossible if your Macedonian, if your not a native language speaker as well then it would be impossible. Someone pointed out to me recently that Macedonia has more people employed in public agencies than the state of California which supports 40m people.  You will find they don't care if your a foreign investor or Jesus himself if you interrupt their office conversation and coffee.  We have often been asked to help foreigners unable to negotiate the process of getting the foreign visitors id here simply because they just get ignored or worse, get abused by those people in the appropriate office.  One chap tried to get seen all day sitting in the corridor waiting for his turn in the queue after being shouted out by people in the foreign visitors id section. He had been coming to try and apply for quite some time, needless to say he left and chose not to invest which was a ridiculous loss all round.  With proper support this situation can sometimes be avoided.

Macedonia is rubbish, investing in it is rubbish, corruption is high, political parties are the mafia here, there is no freedom of speech, there are good people who are oppressed by the mafia. Poverty is high.

freedomhouse.org/report/nations-transit/2014/macedonia#.U5neNnKSxVo