Iran, Islamic Rep.

Starting a Business in

Iran, Islamic Rep.

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 Joint Stock Company (Sherkat-e-Sahami Khass)
  • City: Tehran

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Deposit at least 35% of the subscribed shares in a bank account and obtain a certificate from the bank

Deposit at least 35% of the subscribed shares in a bank account and obtain a certificate from the bank.
1 day no charge
2 Register the company with the Companies Registration Office for companies and pay registration duties

To register with the Companies Registration Office, the company must submit the articles of association, signed by all shareholders; a declaration, stating that all shares have been subscribed; the minutes of the general assembly of founders and board of directors; a bank certificate, showing that at least 35% of all shares have been paid in; the minutes of the shareholders’ meeting, reflecting the election of the first directors and inspector(s); a written statement accepting the position of directorship and inspectorship; birth certificates (certified copies) of the shareholders and inspectors; the name of a mass circulation newspaper in which all company announcements will be published.

Application files receive a bar code and each internal desk that receives the file tracks its entrance and exit. In addition, an electronic payment system is conducted with a card and a machine is used to pay registration fees.
3 days IRR 375000 for registration and IRR 40000 for name search and reservation.
3 Place a notice of the company formation in the Official Gazette and the selected newspaper of general circulation

It is possible to directly publish the notice of the company formation through the Official Gazette and the selected newspaper or general circulation or submit it to the post office, which then forward them to the Gazette. This process takes 15 to 30 days. However, businesses do not need to wait until the publication is completed to start their business . Upon submission of the registration notice to the official gazette for publication, a copy of which is affixed with the stamp of the official gazette office as the sign of the notice being in the process of publication. This notice, bearing the stamp of the official gazette, in terms of the start of the business has the same value as the notice published in the Gazette. With this notice the company can continue other business operation formalities.
1 day IRR140,000 for official Gazette; IRR 240,000 for general circulation newspaper
4 Take out the officially sealed books of account within 30 days after the date of registration

The cost depends on the number of pages of the official sealed books of account.
1 day IRR 100000
5 Pay the share certificate stamp duty within 60 days after the date of registration of the company

The stamp suty must be paid within 60 days after the date of registration of the company.
1 day 0.2% of the par value of the subscribed share capital
6 Enroll workers in the social security program by open files for all employees before the Iranian Labor Department and obtain a workplace number

To open files in the social security program, the applicant sends a copy of the first monthly salary report to the Iranian Labor Department with a premium contribution of 33% of the employee’s monthly salary (7% worker, 23% employer (3% unemployment contribution, and 3% government).
1 day no charge
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