Lebanon

Starting a Business in

Lebanon

Below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles faced by entrepreneurs wishing to incorporate and register a new firm in Lebanon. 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.

This information 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 185 economies. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2012.

Compare Lebanon to 184 other economies.

YearNew business densityNumber of new limited liability companies
2011 1.122,391

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Socièté a Responsabilité Limitée (SARL)
  • Paid in Minimum Capital Requirement: LBP 5,000,000
  • City: Beirut

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Designate a Lebanese lawyer

Each newly formed company must retain and pay an attorney on an annual basis. The Beirut Bar Association sets the minimum annual retainer at LBP 7.500,000.
1 day LBP 7,500,000 (Annual retainer) + LBP 100,000 (Legalization of the Power of Attorney before the Bar Association)
2 Deposit capital in a bank and obtain the certificate of deposit

This procedure can be carried out on the basis of a signed (or notarized) copy of the articles of association.
2 days no charge
3 Register the company with the company registry

The applicant submits to the company registrar at the Ministry of Justice a set of standardized documents, properly prepared and signed by the founders of the new business entity, along with the total amount of required fees. These documents are:

• Articles of association
• Commercial circulars
• Minutes of the first general meeting of the partners
• Registration application and a draft of the registration certificate to be issued
• Document attesting the capital deposit
• Partners’ identity cards or passports (copy)
• Documents evidencing that the company is entitled to occupy the premises where it exercises its activities

Fee schedule for company registration:

• Tax for the magistrates’ mutual fund: LBP 375,000 lump tax + 0.15% of the capital+ LBP 1,000 flat registration fee + LBP 500 application fee + LBP 1,000 certified copy + LBP 500 commercial publication fee
• Stamp duty: equal to 0.3% of capital + LBP 750,000 lump sum tax+ LBP 2,000 flat registration fee + LBP 1,000 application fee + LBP 2,000 certified copy + enrollment fee ( Qaydeyia) LBP 250+ LBP 1,000 commercial publication fee

If the Bylaws are not signed before the Commercial Registry, additional fees are levied:

• Notorization of the articles of association: LBP 8,500 for each page
• Notorization fee: LBP 100,000 lump sum
•Notary public tax: 0,1% of capital

 3 days LBP 1,915,965
4 Notify Ministry of Finance of commencement of operations

The Company should submit to the Ministry of Finance, within 2 months as of its incorporation, a declaration in order to be subject to the income tax.
2 days no charge
5 Register at the National Social Security fund

This procedure has two functions: “Registration” of a new employee and “Confirmation” by the system.

The “Registration” function entails submitting a file for each new employee at the NSSF regional office near the business location and obtaining a file reference number (or a receipt acknowledging the registration) immediately upon submission of the file. Once this “Registration” function is completed, the business is considered to have fulfilled its legal obligations with the NSSF. The benefits to the newly registered employees, under NSSF rules, will also become immediately available. The Time to complete this procedure is 1 day at no cost to the employer or the employee.

The “Confirmation” function consists of issuing a hard copy document (printed on a special size sheet) in the name of the registered employee along with his/her unique ID. Due to the lack of printing equipment at NSSF, the confirmation documents are printed in batches every few days or so. Therefore, it could take up to 30 days for a confirmation sheet to be received by the newly registered employee.

1 day no charge
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