Founding companies at one click from 2018

The registration of a company or a shop in Serbia takes seven days on average and requires five steps. In 46 countries, the procedure is simpler and quicker. By the end of the next year, however, electronic registration of companies should be established, which would enable Serbia to exceed five economies on the World Bank's Doing Business list in the ease of starting a business. The Ministry of Economy and the UNDP recently signed an agreement projecting the establishment of e-registration by November 2018.

Starting a business has become somewhat simpler since March 2016. A unified application for registering at the Business Registers Agency and unified tax registrations was implemented then. Thanks to the electronic connecting of the Business Registers Agency and the Tax Administration, it is no longer mandatory to visit local Tax Administration offices in order to open a tax record and file an application for lump sum taxation or VAT-based taxation.

– The time needed to open a company has been reduced from 12 to 7 days, whereas the world average is 21 days – they explain at the Ministry of Economy.

– In general, the procedure of starting a business is efficient, but there are other necessary steps which prolong the process of starting a business. Future entrepreneurs and founders of business entities need to file rather large amounts of paperwork, prepare a draft statute, ensure that their signatures are verified by the relevant institutions...

The idea is for founders of companies to be able to apply for registration, file all the necessary documentation and pay their taxes electronically, using only the digital certificate.

– Certification of the statute, currently mandatory, is the step to be abolished – the Ministry of Economy adds.

– The current procedures are such that founders of entities need to have their their own identities and signatures verified by public notaries. This is a routine procedure which might easily be replaced with digital certificates or a system of identity check on the spot while filing an application at the Business Registers Agency. The new model will be added to the Agency's current portal in order to enable electronic registration of new business entities.

In order for electronic registration to be established, laws on business entities, on registration process at the Business Registers Agency, on the Agency itself, but also the regulation on the content of the business entities register and the documentation needed for registration, need to be amended, as does the decision on registration fees.

More information on the changes and plans of the Business Registers Agency can be found in eKapija's interview with Director Zvonko Obradovic.

Svetska Banka-WB Beograd

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Agencija za privredne registre Beograd

Poreska uprava Srbije

registration of a company

registration of a shop

electronic registration of a company

Doing Business list

UNDP

e government

application for registering at the Business Registers Agency

Business Registers Agency

APR

digital certificate for companies

Company Law

Law on Registration Procedure at the Business Registers Agency

Law on the Business Registers Agency

regulation on the content of the Business Entity Register and the documentation needed for registration

decision on registration fees