Panama

Starting a Business in

Panama

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: Sociedad Anónima (S.A.) - Corporation
  • City: Panama City

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Hire a registered agent

It is necessary to hire a lawyer or lawfirm to serve as Resident Agent of the corporation and prepare its Articles of Association.
1 day USD 200
2 Notarize articles of incorporation

The articles of incorporation to be notarized must include (a) the name and domicile of each subscriber to the articles of incorporation; (b) the domicile of the company and of the resident agent, who must be a lawyer or law firm in Panama; (c) the names and addresses of the directors and the officers; (d) the name of the corporation, set out in such a way to distinguish it from other registered names already registered with the Public Register; (e) the company purpose or general objectives; (f) the name of at least the president, the secretary, and the treasurer, who may or may not be the same as the directors and need not to be shareholders and who may hold more than one office or title; (g) details about the capital and the type and number of shares into which it is divided; (h) the company duration, which may be perpetual; and (i) any other provision the subscribers may wish to include.

 1 day USD 75
3 Register at the Mercantile Division of the Public Registry and pay Annual Franchise Tax

Registration fee schedule:
– First USD 10,000: fee is USD 60.
– Each USD 1,000 up to USD 100,000: USD 0.90.
– Each USD 1,000 from USD 100,000 to USD 1,000,000: USD 0.60.
– Each USD 1,000 above 1,000,000: USD 0.12.


The Annual Registration Tax of USD 250 must also be paid. Payments can be made at the National Bank of Panama or at any cashier of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The National Bank of Panama has a booth at the Public Registry.
3 days see comments
4 Obtain a notice of operation (“aviso de operación”) through the “Panama emprende” website

The Law 5 of January 11, 2007 established a new on-line system called “Panama Emprende” (www.panamaemprende.gob.pa) which facilitates the creation of companies. The new system replaces the obtainment of commercial licenses for the obtainment of a notice of operation.
1 day USD 15 for persons and USD 55 for legal entities
5 Register with municipality; get a “paz y salvo municipal”


1 day included in procedure 4
6 Request an employers’ inscription number from the Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration manages insurance programs for pension, health, unemployment, and occupational accident and injury.
1 day no charge
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