Legal and tax toolbox

• Limited Liability Company

Capital requirements: There is no requirement for an initial capital when incorporating an LLC in Kosovo. Additionally, no proof of payment of initial founding capital needs to be provided.

• Joint Stock Company

Capital requirements: The Initial founding capital of Joint Stock Companies is EUR 10,000.00.

• Foreign Business Organization
• Limited Partnership
• General Partnership
• Personal Business Enterprise

 Incorporation requirements (registration, capital and management requirements)

General and limited partnerships are not that common in Kosovo due to the unlimited liability of shareholders for the debts of the company, whereas the incorporation procedure for joint stock company is rather complex and time-consuming and requires minimum share capital in the amount of EUR 10,000, which also makes this legal form rarely used in practice.

The limited liability company is by far the most common used legal form in practice. This is due to the rather straightforward incorporation procedure, no requirements in relation to the share capital of the company, and the fact that the shareholders are not liable for the debts of the company (except in specific circumstances, e.g. if there are grounds for the piercing of the corporate veil). For this reason, below are outlined incorporation requirements and permitted activities related to the limited liability companies.

The initial registration procedure of a new business in Kosovo is comprised of submitting the necessary specific documentation for the different type of business to the relevant authority i.e. the Kosovo Business Registration Agency (“KBRA”), including submitting the specific application form by the applicant or authorized representative, and accompanying documents. For a company to become operational, there are a few other registrations and formalities that have to be made following the registration – opening of a bank account. Required time for post-registration procedures is approximately two weeks (provided all the documents are collected in a timely manner).

There are no applicable fees when registering a new business, though subsequent amendments are subject to fees in accordance with the applicable administrative instruction.

Permitted activities

A business may be established and registered for any lawful purpose and may engage in any lawful activity provided with the relevant list of activities provided. If a business is established and registered for the conduct of an activity that is subject to a license or permit requirement established by another primary normative act, the registration of such business shall not constitute or be interpreted as constituting any kind of authorization for such a business to engage in such activity. It shall be the sole responsibility of the business, after registration, to identify, apply for and obtain any and all required permits and licenses from the responsible public authority before engaging in the concerned activity. A list of permitted activities may be found here.

A business may engage in all legally permitted activities, but its predominant business activity (taken from an exhaustive list of business activities provided by Kosovo laws) must be defined in the Memorandum of Association and registered with the Kosovo companies’ registry. There are certain activities (e.g. financial services and insurance services), that may only be performed by an entity incorporated in a certain legal form (e.g. joint-stock company), and certain activities (e.g. trade in poisonous goods, medicines or weapons) that may be subject to licensing requirements.