Company registration in Liberia

Liberia Is a country that permanently ensures good conditions for encouraging foreign investment, guaranteeing stability and flexibility of doing business. The local government of the jurisdiction also cares about maintaining a high level of confidentiality and quality corporate services. You may set up a company in Liberia in one of the next forms for enjoying these and other local benefits.

Major Forms of Legal and Business Presence

If you consider Liberia as your potential option for doing business, you may establish here your presence in one of the next forms:

• Limited Liability Company (LLC) – a commercial vehicle whose founders (shareholders) bear the limited liability for all undertakings of such entity within the invested amounts only. There are no restrictions and special demands concerning the LLC formation and its statutory capital. This is an easy and flexible form of a corporate entity to start your business in Liberia.
• Corporation – a business vehicle that is legally-separated from its shareholders who are not responsible for the results of its operation. The vehicle is mostly utilized for arranging public offerings. There are no special demands to the initial chartered capital. Still, the standard authorized share capital, in this case, should be USD 50,000 par value or this may be 500 shares without any par value.
• General Partnership – a business formation that can be established by two or more partners who are jointly and severally liable for all obligations resulting from the carrying out of commercial activities.
• Limited Partnership – a commercial formation that can be formed by at least one partner who runs this business and entirely responsible for all its undertakings and partner(-s) whose liability is restricted to the invested amount only.

Registration Requirements and Steps

Company incorporation in Liberia may require passing these preliminary steps:

1. Clarifying your business priorities in this jurisdiction and drafting a business plan with major business activities you are going to conduct.
2. Choosing and verifying a business name for a future business vehicle.
3. Arranging a registered business address for an entity.
4. Collecting data about founders and beneficial owners of the future corporate formation.
5. Choosing management for a future company.
6. Drafting the Memorandum and Articles of Association for a future company.
7. Forming and lodging the set of registration documents to the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry.
8. Registration for tax and social security purposes.
9. Opening a bank account for a future vehicle.
10. Obtaining additional licenses and permits (required for certain types of commercial activities only).

This registration procedure is preliminary only. In each separate case, depending on your case and business priorities certain variations of the registration may be.

Legal and Regulatory Framework

Establishing a company in Liberia may appear like a beneficial option in view of the generally favorable local conditions of doing business. The jurisdiction has formed not a bureaucratized framework for starting and running a business. It is also an OECD white-listed country. The incorporation can be conducted the same day the set of registration documents is submitted for the registration.

The local legislation is made based on U.S. legal acts. The Liberian Associations Law, the Liberian Commercial Code are the major ones regulating the procedure of running Liberian companies. All data about local companies is contained in the Liberian Corporate Registry.

Advantages of the Jurisdiction

Company incorporation in Liberia, LLC for instance, may be potentially profitable in view of the next benefits the jurisdiction offers:

• Cost-effective option for registering and running a company from abroad
• No requirements to the annual audits and reporting in most cases
• Shareholders and management of a company may be of any nationality
• Available tax exemptions
• No requirements concerning the disclosure of data about shareholders and beneficial owners

Tax System of Liberia

If you think about how to open a company in Liberia, you may need to know about the next tax highlights attributed to this jurisdiction:

• Corporate income tax rate – 25%
• Personal income tax rates – may vary depending on the income
• Sales tax rate – 7%
• Withholding tax rates – (i) dividends – 15 % (ii) interests – 15 % (iii) royalties – 15 %

How Prifinance Specialists May Help You

If you consider an option of opening a company in Liberia, Prifinance specialists may consult you far more precisely on certain aspects of establishing your business and legal presence, prepare for you all required documents, and actually arrange the registration process. Reach us for more precise suggestions and consultations on the matter.