Paraguay

Starting a Business in

Paraguay

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: Corporation (Sociedad Anónima or SA)
  • City: Asuncion

About This Topic

To see indicator data for all economies, see the Starting a Business page. To see how economies rank, see the Rankings page.

No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Check the uniqueness of the proposed company name


1 day no charge
2 Draft the company deeds, signed by an attorney

Because company formation documents must comply with corporate laws and regulations, companies customarily resort to legal professionals. Registration and filing of applications (e.g., bylaws to the Treasury Attorney Office, to the court, to the registries) must be signed by an attorney either as the founders’ agent or counsel. The organization of companies by attorneys acting through powers of attorney is also a common practice. The fee for this formality is about 1% to 3% of the company’s paid-in capital stock, with a minimum of USD 600. Article 72 (1) of Law No. 1376/88 establishes the official legal fee for this task.
5 days 1 - 3% of the paid-in capital stock of the company with minimum USD 600
3 Notarize the company deeds

The public notary’s fee for notarizing company deeds is established in the Notary’s Fees Law. A licensed attorney usually drafts the bylaws but a licensed public notary notarizes the deed (the public deed is to be included in the notary’s protocol and registered at the public registries). Attorneys are not legally authorized to notarize or certify documents.
3 days 0.75% or 2% of the paid-in capital stock of the Company, depending on the capital
4 Buy the company commercial books

The cost to buy company commercial books is about USD 22 for hardcover books in any bookstore. The books must be submitted to the civil and commercial court to have all the pages sealed by the judge. On the first page, a seal indicates how many sealed pages the book contains and that it was registered in the Public Registry of Commerce, specifying the court order number, the date, and the name of the judge who rendered the order.

The company must keep special commercial books at their registered office. The number of books and the accounting system to be used are left to the merchant’s discretion. At a minimum, however, a daily record of business transactions (daily record book) must be kept, and an accounting of current inventory must also be maintained in a separate book (inventory record book). Other books may be required for certain types of commercial activities according to law. Accounting books and documentation must be kept by a merchant for 5 years following the date that the last entry was made. All corresponding business receipts or vouchers must also be kept and maintained by the merchant during that 5-year time frame, to allow for auditing of the company’s books or records. A special request to use computer forms instead of books may be filed with the court and the tax authority. Corporate books are required to keep the records of the minutes of the board of directors and shareholders’ meetings, as well as the labor books pursuant to the Labor Code and regulations. Books must be authorized and sealed by each corresponding agency (corporate, tax, labor, social security).
1 day USD 22
5 Submit registration documents at the single access window (SUAE)

In December 2006 the Ministry of Industry and Commerce established a one-stop shop to register a company. Through the new system, Sistema Unificado de Apertura de Empresas (SUAE), founders are required to comply with only the following procedures to register a company with the Ministry:
- Submit all documentation at a single window for revision and approval. Once approved, the documents are scanned, and the information is uploaded to a single application form (formulario único). SUAE assigns an identification number that allows the founder to monitor the registration process through the Web site.
- The bylaws and other company formation documents are submitted to the Treasury Attorney Office (Abogacía del Tesoro) who reviews them and issues a registration and publication order
- Apply for tax registration with a delegate of the Ministry of Finance (Ministerio de Hacienda).
- Obtain the taxpayer’s registry number (Registro Único de Contribuyentes, RUC).
- Send the documents to the Municipality of Asunción for fee verification and assessment. The municipality issues the relevant license and permits (Patente de Comercio, Resolución y Certificado de Licencia de Habilitación de Establecimiento) upon inspecting the site and approving the documentation.
- Register with Social Security Institute (Instituto de Previsión Social) for registration (inscripción obrero/patronal).
- Register with the Ministry of Justice and Labor (Ministerio de Justicia y Trabajo) to start hiring employees (inscripción patronal).
- Register with the General Migration Office (Dirección General de Migraciones) to obtain temporary and permanent residency (residencia temporal y definitiva).
25 days USD 6.28 (Public Registries of Comerce) +USD 6.82 (Public Registries of Legal entities and Associations) + USD 1.18 Application Form+ USD 5.46 (Special rate municipal license fee+ USD 6.56 (Authorization of books)+ USD 0.21 (Employee registration, Ministry of Labor and Justice)
* 6 Publication of an extract of the bylaws in the Official Gazette and a newspaper

The treasury attorney orders the publication of an extract of the bylaws in the Official Gazette and another newspaper of wide circulation in the market in which the company is located. The extract is published for 3 consecutive business days.
4 days, after registration with the Public Registry of Juridical Persons and Associations is completed (simultaneous with previous procedure) USD 19 Official Gazette + USD 133 newspaper
* 7 Municipality conducts an on site inspection

Before conferring the license, municipal inspectors perform an onsite inspection of the company’s main office to verify compliance with municipal ordinances.
2 days, (simultaneous with procedure 5) no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
Explore Economy Data