Open a Company in Azerbaijan as a Foreigner: LLC, TIN, Residence

Foreigners in Azerbaijan usually choose one of four paths. The right one depends on whether you already have a residence permit and whether you act for a foreign parent company.

Companies are registered by the State Tax Service. On paper you file at a taxpayer service centre, an ASAN service centre or an SME house (KOB evi). For a company with a foreign founder the standard time is 2 working days.

Online registration is free and also takes 2 days for a foreign investment LLC. It needs an enhanced electronic signature and a scan of the legal address document with an Azerbaijani translation. The certificate, the register extract and the charter arrive in your electronic cabinet. How a foreigner without a residence permit gets such a signature is not clear from official pages, so ask the tax service before you choose the online route.

• Notarised application with its annexes
• Founder's decision to set up the company
• Charter
• Copy of the founder's ID (passport)
• Copy of the director's ID
• Proof that the charter capital was paid
• Fee receipt (AZN 15 on paper)

Capital is paid before registration unless the charter sets a term of at most 3 months (Civil Code 90.2). Foreign company papers need an apostille, or legalisation where the apostille does not apply.

When the company is registered, it gets a taxpayer identification number, called VÖEN in Azerbaijan. It has 10 digits and appears on the registration certificate. You need it for the bank, contracts, staff and later for your residence permit papers.

Most work with the tax office is online and needs a signature. The ASAN İmza mobile signature is issued free and immediately at ASAN, but for a foreigner it needs a residence permit card, an ASAN İmza SIM card with the operator contract, and the company seal. So in practice you get ASAN İmza after your permit.

Hiring staff: a job relationship starts only after the labour contract notice is registered in the electronic system with an enhanced signature.

1. 1

   Parent company decides

   The foreign company decides to open the office, approves its regulations (2 copies), appoints the head and gives a power of attorney.

2. 2

   Prepare foreign papers

   Notarised registration papers of the parent, legalised by the Azerbaijani embassy or apostilled. Papers from CIS countries under the 2002 Chisinau Convention need no further certification.

3. 3

   File at ASAN

   At an ASAN service centre in Baku (or the Nakhchivan tax service), with the legal address document, the notarised application and the fee receipt (AZN 300).

4. 4

   Get the results

   In 2 working days: registration certificate, one copy of the regulations and the register extract in the electronic cabinet. You can ask for VAT registration at the same time.

Yes. The Migration Code has several business grounds for a temporary residence permit (TRC). The capital and turnover figures below come from the State Migration Service table. After the first year you add a tax authority document based on last year's turnover declaration. For the full list of grounds see TRC grounds explained.

These people need no work permit, but they do need the residence permit. Some holders of investment promotion documents or Startup certificates, and residents of industrial parks and agroparks, are exempt from the capital, staff and turnover rules.

To register as a sole trader, a foreigner gives a copy of the temporary or permanent residence card. So you first need a permit on another ground. Then the registration takes 1 day at a centre, or is immediate online with an enhanced signature, and the certificate with your VÖEN goes to your electronic cabinet. To move onto the entrepreneur ground, hire at least 5 full time or 10 part time staff, 80 percent citizens.

Years on the company head and entrepreneur grounds can lead to permanent residence after 2 continuous years. Permanent residence through business also has its own figures: capital of AZN 100,000 and turnover of AZN 200,000 on one ground, and turnover of AZN 100,000 on another. Check the State Migration Service table for which applies to you. Whether branch head years count is not confirmed, so ask the State Migration Service.

A lawyer is not required, but many foreigners use one for the charter and the foreign papers. You can check that a lawyer is licensed in the public register of the Bar Association at barassociation.az. Before you travel to set things up, a business e visa covers meetings; see business trip to Azerbaijan. Note that ASAN lists a business visa for the entrepreneur residence ground.

Once your company and permit are in place, you have new deadlines: permit extension 30 days before the end and yearly turnover proof. The Guide in Sroky has a business setup section, and the app reminds you before each permit date. The government decides every registration and permit.