Afghanistan

Starting a Business in

Afghanistan

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Private Limited Liability Company
  • City: Kabul

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Register at the Afghanistan Central Business Registry (ACBR) and obtain Tax Identification Number (TIN)

The applicant must provide the following documents to register:

• An application form (available online)
• Copy of ID or passport of the Director(s)
• 2 sets of color passport photographs of Director(s)
• Articles of Incorporation

Specifications of all new businesses and investments are collected by the Afghanistan Central Business Registry (ACBR) office and sent to the Ministry of Justice in Kabul for publication in the Official Gazette. The text is drafted by the ACBR. Businesses can draft their own text if they would like to do so. The Gazette entry will include, at a minimum, the following information:

• Name of the company
• Name of the president and vice president of the company
• Location
• Initial Capital
• Type of Operation
• Type of Activity
1 day included in procedure 2
2 Pay registration and publication fees at Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) branch

The Afghanistan Central Business Registry (ACBR) issues a bill, which can be paid at the DAB branch in Kabul.
1 day AFN 500 (registration) + AFN 1,000 (publication)
3 Obtain business license from AISA

Obtaining business license is done at the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA).
5 days USD 100
* 4 Receive inspection (AISA)

AISA visits the company premises to check its equipment and activities. If the inspection results are fully satisfactory, an AISA representative will write up the report on site, give the entrepreneur a copy, and place a public copy on file at AISA.
1 day (simultaneous with previous procedure) no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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