Licensing Criteria and Procedures for Applying for Cyprus Forex License
General information
Company structure
- Only one shareholder (can also be a legal person, no nationality restriction)
- 2 executive and 2 non-executive directors. There are requirements in terms of their residency
- Beneficial owners' details – disclosed to the authorities
- Shareholders' details –part of public record
- Directors' details – Part of public record
Taxation
- Low corporate tax (12.5%)
- 0% tax for corporate gain
- Lowest VAT at 19%
- No withholding tax on dividends
- An extensive network of double-taxation treaties
- Access to EU directives and EU VAT registration
Accounting requirements - Regular accounting and Audited accounts submission is required
Registered office - Required
Local employees - Required (3 and more)
Company name
A Company name must necessarily end in “LIMITED” (no other suffix is allowed) and must be approved by the Registrar of Companies.
N.B.
- Restricted connections for company name: name of state, national or local government.
- Any name that implies illegal activity or implies royal or government patronage is restricted.
- Registrar may reject any name which it considers undesirable or contrary to the public interest.
- Company name is restricted to be identical or similar that of an existing company.
- In case when foreign language is used for company name the translation may be asked by Registrar to ensure conformity to above listed restrictions.
In order to obtain a license, the following steps will be carried out:
- Gathering and preparing all of the documents for initial verification
- Once the initial stage is done, the originals will have to be couriered
- Incorporation of a company in Cyprus
- Applying to CySec for license
- During the process, CySec will require additional documents that will have to be provided in order to back-up certain data
- Preparation of ad-hoc documents and communication with CySec
- Application will be processed with CySec
- Conditional approval will be provided by CySec
Once the initial approval is done, Offshorelicense will have to provide proof of local presence (local office), data on the employees and pay the remaining government fees.
In order to obtain license, Offshorelicense will fill all necessary application forms and also acquire apostilled corporate documents.
For that reason, please provide us with the following documents.
For bank:
(Each beneficial owner, shareholder, director, authorised signatory and secretary must provide)
- A notarized copy of valid passport
- A copy of proof of residential address (ex. utility bill that is not older than 3 months)
- A notarized copy of Letter of Reference form Bank, Attorney or Accountant
For local regulatory authority:
(Each beneficial owner, shareholder, director, authorised signatory and secretary must provide)
- CV
- A notarized copy of valid passport
- A copy of proof of residential address (ex. utility bill that is not older than 3 months)
- Professional letter/bank reference
- A notarized copy of a University Diploma
- For shareholder – bank statement with enough funds to cover the capital requirements. Funds should be from the provable source.
N.B.
- If documents are not in English language or language of particular country, then they must be accompanied by a notarized translation.
- Please ensure that notarization is in English language if not then please provide with notarized English translation.
Additional documents may be requested by the regulatory authority or local Bank at any point to certify specific information