Comments on how to register a non-profit organization in Ukraine

According to the Tax Code, a non-profit (non-commercial) organization (hereinafter referred to as the NPO) is a legal entity that complies with certain requirements and that is included in the Register of non-profit establishments and organizations. We wrote about particularities and types of non-profit organizations in the previous comment.

Every type of the NPO has a certain procedure concerning foundation and registration. But, with consideration of requirements of the law, the general stages of creation of a NPO can be singled out.

The first thing to do is conducting a foundation meeting. Its result is to be registered with a protocol. It should contain information about place and date where and when the foundation meeting was conducted, about persons who participated in it, the type of the NPO, the purpose of its activity, name of the NPO, its registered address, a decision about approving the statute, information about the selected head and management bodies, and also other information concerning both foundation and activity of the NPO. An obligatory condition for creation of a NPO is approving the constituent document – the statute.  We have already told in the comment about requirements for a statute that are set by the current law.

The second stage of creation of a NPO may be defined as preparation of the required package of documents that is clearly defined by the law, and submission of the package for carrying out the procedure of state registration.

According to the Law of Ukraine “About registration of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and public formations”, the following documents are to be provided:

• application about state registration of foundation of the legal entity – the NPO;
• the original copy or a copy that should be notarized, the decision of founders, sometimes this can be a decision of a government body about foundation of the NPO;
• register of citizens who participated in the foundation meeting;
• the statute of the NPO which should be numbered, bound, and signed;
• information about the governing bodies;
• application for including in the Register of non-profit organizations and establishments (at applicant’s discretion).

The application form was approved by the order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine dated 18.11.2016 “About approving the application forms in the sphere of state registration of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and public formations”. It is signed by an applicant who can be a founder or a person authorized by him (founder). In case the application is submitted by post, then the authenticity of signature is to be notarized.

Consequently, after preparation of the necessary package of documents, the next stage is providing it to the state registrar at the location of the NPO for carrying out the registration. The ways of submission of documents should be noted: paper and electronic forms. In case of paper form, the documents are provided either by the applicant personally or by post. There is a portal of electronic services for providing documents in electronic form.

In case the applicant chooses submission of documents in paper form, their acceptance happens as per checklist. A copy of that description is provided for the applicant with a note about date of receiving of documents and access code in such a way according to which the documents were submitted.

It should be noted that a public formation which is one of the most common types of the NPO is subject to state registration within 60 days from the day the foundation meeting was conducted. In case of omission of that time limit, it (the NPO) shall not be considered as founded.

The provided documents are considered by the registrar within the corresponding time limits established by the law:

• for legal entities – within 24 hours after receiving documents and performance of certain registration actions, but the days off and public holidays are not taken into consideration;
• for a creative union, a political party – 30 work days, starting from the day the documents were submitted for carrying out the state registration;
• for a trade union, an employers’ organization – 15 work days;
• for a public union, a local department of public union with a status of a legal entity – not more than three work days.

If there are no reasons for suspension of consideration of the documents provided for registration or at all for rejection of carrying out it (registration), then a record is entered in the Unified State Register. Then the extracts are formed, and then their publishing on the portal of electronic services happens.

As the applicant may wish, an extract from the Register in paper form is issued to him/her, on condition that that form was at submission for registration. The extract in paper form is provided with signature and seal of the person who performed the registration.

Since the NPOs are not income tax payers, the next stage is providing the corresponding documents to the State Fiscal Service for including in the Register of nonprofit establishments and organizations.

The NPO should provide:

• an application of the established form – 1-PH;
• copies of constituent documents (manly they are the statutes). They should be signed by the head or by the representative of the NPO, and also contain a seal (if available). Exception is the documents published on the portal of electronic services in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “About registration of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and public formations”.

Ways of providing the said documents by the NPO:

• by the head personally or by a representative of the NPO, obligatorily with documentary confirmation, and also by an authorized person
• by post, with delivery confirmation and a list of enclosures;
• by means of electronic communication. With that, the condition of registration of electronic signature of accountable persons according to procedure established by the law should be complied with, in case with that, the constituent documents are published on the portal of electronic services in accordance with the law;
• attachment to the application for carrying out the state registration of the NPO. Technical registrar of the Unified state register passes it in the electronic form, according to procedure established by the law, to the authorities of the State Fiscal Service. With that, information about state registration of foundation of the legal entity is passed, too.