What must know the owners of the foreign companies, which going to register the representation in Ukraine

If you intend to start a representative office in Ukraine, you should immediately find the answer to the question, Do you need additional permits in Ukraine?

The fact is that in Ukraine there is a list of economic activities that are subject to licensing. Moreover, there are certain types of economic activity, which a representative office can hardly obtain a license for. For example, a license for a pharmacy.

Of course, there is a solution to such a situation - you can register a company in Ukraine with 100% share in the authorized share capital of your foreign parent company. And the Ukrainian company can apply for the necessary license.

At the stage of consultation our lawyer will analyze your situation and advise you on the most suitable legal structure for doing business in Ukraine in your particular case.

When is it beneficial to register a representative office in Ukraine?

If the planned business activity of the company is not subject to licensing, starting a representative office will be the best way to enter the market of Ukraine to represent its products. The advantage of this method is that the representative office will not have the status of a legal entity and will be fully controlled by the parent company.

To register a representative office, a foreign company must provide:

• an application for a representative office registration;

• a document of registration of the parent company in its country;

• a power of attorney issued for the director of the representative office;

• a bank account opening certificate;

• a power of attorney for the persons who will be engaged in the establishment of the representative office in Ukraine and its registration with the state authorities.

All of the above documents must be certified by a notary and apostilled or legalized (depending on the country of incorporation of the foreign company).

You can learn more about certification of documents here.

Registration of a foreign representative office with the tax authorities in Ukraine

After registration of a representative office with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, it must be registered with the statistical authorities and the State Tax Service of Ukraine. It should be remembered that this procedure requires the registration number of the taxpayer (identification number) of the director of the representative office. Therefore, if the director is not a citizen of Ukraine, the identification number should be obtained in advance. For example, in parallel with the registration of the representative office in the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.

Confirmation that the State Tax Service has registered the representative office as a taxpayer, is the certificate of Form 34-ОПП, and as a single social taxpayer - 2-ЕСВ. After the receipt of these certificates the registration of the representative office is considered to be completed. The representative office can open accounts in Ukrainian banks and start its business activity.