Facts & Info for Andorra Limited Liability Company (SL) Formation
General information
Company structure
- At least 2 shareholders (natural person or legal entity, no restrictions with regards to citizenship or residence, however, preliminary approval is required)
- At least 1 director (natural person only, foreign residents are allowed)
- If there is 1 shareholder, then the entities are called "SLU" and "SAU", where "U" stands for "unipersonal"
The general assembly of shareholders is the sovereign body in the company and passes resolutions on the most important matters in company life (amendment of bylaws, approval of yearly accounts, application of profits for the financial year, appointment and dismissal of administrators, transformation, merger, separation or liquidation of the company, etc). Resolutions are taken by majority of capital (which must mean at least one third of company capital).
The General Assembly appoints and decides on the system of normal administration for the company:
- Sole administrator
- Joint administrators (joint action)
- Joint and several administrators (individual action)
- Board of Directors (collegiate action)
In case of a single person company, the powers of the general assembly are taken on by the single partner.
Taxation
- 10% maximum corporate tax rate
- 2% corporate tax on profits for companies involved in activities such as international management and licensing of patents and software licenses. These 2% reduced corporate tax models are subject to some minimum requirements
- Standard VAT rate is 4.5%
-
Social security contributions for companies are around 15%
Confidentiality
- Beneficial owners' details – Disclosed to the Authorities
- Shareholders' details – Not part of public record
- Directors' details –Not part of public record
Other benefits
- Low-tax European jurisdiction
- Special holding regime
- Multiple DTA agreements
- Ideal for international trading and financial companies
- Special agreements with the EU and Schengen area
Accounting requirements
- Filling Accounts and Annual Tax Return is obligatory
- Declarations are required to be filed quarterly
- Accounting records must be kept in Andorra for 6 years
Secretary
Not Required
Registered office
Required
Company name
- Language: preferably Catalan or Catalan-sounding
- Letters: From Roman alphabet
- Cannot contain such words as : Bank, Insurance, University, etc. without being approved by relevant bodies
N.B.
- Restricted connections for company name: name of state, national or local government.
- Company name is restricted to be identical or similar that of an existing company.
Incorporation
- Selection of preferable company names by the client
- Application to reserve the company name to the Government, a certificate which lapses 6 months after issue and while valid reserve a name for the future makers of the deed of incorporation
- Request to the government for the foreign investment authorization
- Approval of foreign investment by the Authority
- Public deed. To incorporate the company, the public deed of incorporation is made before an Andorran notary
- Preparation of required due diligence
- Initiation of incorporation process after the preferred company name is approved to be available
- Preparation of application for bank account opening in any chosen local bank, which is mandatory under the legislation of Andorra for depositing share capital
- Companies carrying on trading, industrial or service activity must be entered in the Registry of Trade and Industry
- Procurement of the tax number
- Commercial activity registration for actively trading companies
- Social Security registration of the company
- Apostillization pf the corporate documents once the company is registred
- Courier delivery of the hard copies of corporate documents to the address provided by the client
In order to establish the company in Andorra, you will be required to provide the following documents:
For each Director and Shareholder
- Certified passport copy, apostilled or legalized
- Certified proof of residential address (e.g. recent utility bill), apostilled or legalized
- Criminal record certificates from the country of birth and of residency, apostilled or legalized
- Bank letter of recommendation
Optional
- CV (of each Director and Shareholder)
- Legal reference (of each Director and Shareholder)
*If original documents are not in English, Spanish or Catalan, the documents must be accompanied by a notarized translation.
*Additional documents may be requested by the Registrar of Companies or Bank at any point to verify specific information.