Ukraine

Starting a Business in

Ukraine

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: Tovarystvo z Obmezhenoyu Vidpovidalnistyu - Limited Liability Company
  • City: Kiev

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Notarize company charter and execute premises (if needed)

The notary fees range from UAH 30 to UAH 75 at the state notary and from UAH 500 to 800 UAH at the private notary. The exact fee depends on the number of participants for approval, the number of pages and copies of registration documents, and the additional notary fees approved by the Regional (Oblast) Department of Justice. To open a temporary bank account, the founders must submit evidence of their decision to appoint a person with signature authority to execute transactions on this account. The decision should be formalized by a notarized power of attorney.
1 day UAH 600
2 Open a bank account for initial capital

Founders must contribute 50% of their charter fund contribution before registering the company. Founder contributions may be made in cash, including foreign currency, as well as in kind. Temporary accounts are restricted to receiving the contributions of funds for the formation of the nominal (share) capital of the company being incorporated. No other operations are allowed.

The following documents must be submitted to the bank to open a temporary account:
- Application for opening the account in the form established by Regulation No. 492. The application should be signed by the person authorized by the founders of the legal entity (could be a separate power of attorney granted to the individual concerned).
- Original or notarized copy of the constituent documents (charter and, in some cases, foundation agreement).
- The founders’ decision to grant a power of attorney, which should be notarized if at least one founder is an individual).
- The signature specimen and the imprint of the seal (as specified in Regulation No. 492).

The signature specimen should contain the signature of the person(s) authorized by the founders to sign the bank account documents. While the company is under formation, it does not have a corporate seal. Thus, at this point, the card should be submitted without the seal and signed by the authorized bank employee.
1 day no charge or up to UAH 100
3 Pay registration fee at the bank

The cost for regular procedure (5 days) is UAH 81 and for expedited procedure (3 days) is UAH 162.
1 day nominal
4 Register at the Registration Office

Founders must submit the following documents when registering at the Registration Office:
- The charter (two copies).
- Minutes of founders’ meeting.
- Application form (registration card).
- Bank document, evidencing payment of registration fee.
- Proof of payment of minimum capital requirement, that is, either bank documents for cash contributions or, otherwise, transfer acceptance act (executed between the founders and the company) for in-kind contributions.

5 days UAH 170
5 Register at the State Statistics Committee

Companies must register with the State Statistics Committee, although the Registration Office has already filed some information with the Statistics Office.
1 day UAH 25.94
6 Register VAT at the State Tax Authority and obtain a VAT number

A company with annual turnover of up to UAH 1 million is eligible for registration as a 6% or 10% consolidated taxpayer. A 10% consolidated taxpayer may not register as a VAT payer. A company is automatically registered as a profit taxpayer during primary registration (see Procedure 4). However, those companies that must register as a VAT payer must register for this tax separately.
10 days UAH 17
7 Prepare a seal


2 days UAH 190-250, depending on the complexity of a seal
8 Open a permanent bank account

After the company is registered with all relevant state authorities, a temporary bank account can be converted into an operational account, which under Ukrainian banking law, is designated as a "current account." To change the account status from temporary to current, the bank must receive the following:
- The set of company documents stipulated by Ukrainian banking law (the same documents as those to be provided by an existing company) to open a new bank account. One of these is the copy of the company’s certificate of registration, which contains the company's tax identification number.
- A confirmation (reply) from the tax authorities that they have registered this bank account.
1 day bank’s charge or no charge
9 Notify the District Tax Inspectorate of the opening of the permanent bank account

Before converting the temporary account to a permanent (current) account, the bank must receive a confirmation (reply) from the tax authorities that they have registered the current account. To receive the confirmation, the bank must notify the tax inspectorate in its district that the current account has been opened; this notification should be made via a special email system of the National Bank of Ukraine. During this transitional stage, some banks still provide notification by postal mail. The bank must provide this notification within 3 working days of converting the temporary account to current. Before sending the notification, the bank must obtain prior written consent from the account owner.

Within 3 working days of receiving the bank notification, the tax authorities must provide the bank (via email) the confirmation of the account registration (due to the transitional stage of implementing the confirmation email, tax authorities may send the confirmation to the bank by postal mail). Upon receiving the confirmation, the bank must change the status of the account from "temporary" to "current." After this change, both credit (deposit) and debit (payment) operations are allowed. Until the bank receives the confirmation, the account cannot be used for debit operations (withdrawal or transfer of funds).

Owing to the transitional period for implementing the bank e-mail notification to the tax authorities, currently some accountholders opt to notify, and to receive the confirmation from, the tax authorities themselves and then forward the confirmation to the bank.
2 days no charge
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