Iceland

Starting a Business in

Iceland

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: Reykjavik

About This Topic

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Search for company name

The company name database can be accessed at the Internal Revenue Web site (www.rsk.is).
1 day no charge
2 Deposit initial capital in bank account


1 day no charge
3 Apply for registration with Register of Limited Companies (Director of Internal Revenue)

To apply for registration with the Register of Limited Companies, the company must provide five documents:
1. Notification of incorporation form.
2. Agreement of incorporation.
3. Record of the meeting of incorporation.
4. Articles of association.
5. Affidavit on payment of share capital, issued by a certified public account.

The register is also in charge of advertising the incorporation notice in the Official Gazette, the official journal. The total registration fee is ISK 130,500, which includes the the company identification number (ISK 5,000), and the fee for publishing the notification in the Official Gazette (ISK 1,000 including VAT).

Model incorporation documents and forms (in Icelandic) can be found on the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Web site (www.ivr.is). The notification of incorporation form can be downloaded at no cost from the Internal Revenue Office Web site (www.rsk.is).
1 day ISK 130500
4 Obtain VAT number from Director of Taxes

Companies that plan to sell goods or services valued at more than ISK 500,000 a year are required to collect and report VAT.
1 day no charge
5 Notify tax authorities of employment of workers


1 day no charge
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