What is VAT?

What is VAT?

A value-added tax applies the equivalent of a sales tax to every operation that creates value.

The VAT is usually administered by requiring the company to complete a VAT return indicating the VAT it has collected (as input tax) and the VAT it has collected from others (hereinafter referred to as "output tax"). The difference between the output tax and the input tax must be paid by the local tax authority.

Many tax authorities have introduced automated VAT, which has increased accountability and audibility through computer systems, thus also providing cybercrime offices.

Latvian merchant's branch

Latvian merchant's branch is an organizationally independent part of a company that is territorially or otherwise separated from the main enterprise and whose place of business is systematically carried out on behalf of the respective merchant.

Branches may be established by a merchant (limited liability company, joint-stock company, individual merchant, general partnership, limited partnership).

The branch of the Latvian merchant must be registered in the Enterprise Register in order to start a business and it usually takes up to 3 business days, costs around 45,5 Eur - 112,5 Eur and you can register it on the internet.

Documents to be submitted:

• Application Form KR7
• The consent of the owner of the real estate for registering the legal address of the merchant (not to be provided if the owner is one of the signatories of the application)
• A voucher or a copy of it, or an internet bank payment, or information about payment of the state fee
• Quotation or a copy of it, or an Internet bank payment, or information on the publication in the "Latvijas Vēstnesis"

Conditions for registering a business address:

• The legal address must coincide with the address entered in the National Address Book. Checking the free address at the State Address Register Information System www.kadastrs.lv
• The address can only be registered in a building or a group of premises (in an apartment), it can not be registered in a property consisting solely of land
• If the real estate consists of several groups of premises, it is necessary to specify the exact room number of the group where the registered office
• If the immovable property does not belong to the person signing the application, it is necessary to submit the consent given by the owner of the real estate (building or apartment property) to the registration of the company's registered office in the relevant building or apartment ownership. The number of the real estate cadastre (if the land and the building have different cadastral numbers, the cadastral number of the building must be indicated), the name, surname and personal code of the owner or the company name (company) and registration number shall be indicated with the consent.
• If the real estate belongs to several co-owners, consent of all co-owners is required, or a document must be submitted confirming the separate right of use of the co-owner to the specific part of the property in which the legal address will be located.

If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to contact us!

Limited partnership in Latvia

What is a Limited partnership?

A limited partnership is a partnership, the purpose of which is the pursuit of a business through a joint venture, in which two or more persons are merged on the basis of a public contract.

The liability of at least one member of the company (teamed) for the company's creditors is limited by the amount of his investment, but the (other) liability of the other person liable members of the company is not limited. The amount of the spin-off contribution is not limited to a specific amount.

A limited partnership may be founded:

• For an indefinite time
• For a specific deadline
• To reach a specific goal

A limited partnership may be a natural or legal person, as well as a legal partnership.

The limited partnership must be registered in the Register of Enterprises for commercial activities. It takes up to 3 business days, costs 162,03 Eur - 481,03 Eur and you can register it on the internet.

Documents to be submitted:

• Application Form KR3 (to be certified by signatures)
• The consent of the owner of the real estate for registering the legal address of the merchant (not to be provided if the owner is one of the signatories of the application)
• A voucher or a copy of it, or an internet bank payment, or information about payment of the state fee
• Quotation or a copy of it, or an Internet bank payment, or information on the publication in the "Latvijas Vēstnesis"

If you need any help with company registration, feel free to contact us!

Wholly owned partnership in Latvia

What does it mean?
A wholly owned partnership is a partnership whose purpose is to conduct a business through a joint venture, in which two or more persons (members) are united on the basis of a public contract. The members of the full partnership are personally liable for the obligations of the general partnership. A member of the general partnership may be a natural or legal person, as well as a legal partnership.

A wholly owned partnership can be founded:

• For an indefinite time
• For a specific deadline
• To reach a specific goal

The partnership must be registered in the Register of Enterprises in order to carry out business activities.
It takes up to 3 business days, costs 162,03 Eur to 481,03 Eur and you can register it electronically.

Documents to be submitted:

• Application form KR3 (must be signed)
• The consent of the owner of the real estate for registering the legal address of the merchant (not to be provided if the owner is one of the signatories of the application)
• A voucher or a copy of it, or an internet bank payment, or information about payment of the state fee
• Quotation or a copy of it, or an Internet bank payment, or information on the publication in the "Latvijas Vēstnesis"

If you need any information about this type of company, contact us and we will help you to reach your goals!

What is Cooperative society?

What is Cooperative society?
A cooperative society is a voluntary association of natural and legal persons whose purpose is to provide services to increase the efficiency of its members' economic activities.
A cooperative company is a legal entity.

Rules:

• The cooperative company has the status of a merchant, with the exception of agricultural services, forestry services, apartment owners, car garage owners, boat garage owners and horticultural cooperatives;
• The minimum number of founders of a cooperative society is three, but in the agricultural services and forestry service companies - five
• The founders and members can be both natural and legal persons.

Cooperative companies must be registered in the Register of Enterprises in order to start their activities, and it takes up to 3 working of Consideration, it costs from 162,03 Eur to 481,03 Eur and you can register it through the internet.

Documents to be submitted:

• Application Form 1
• The Treaty establishing the
• Statute
• Meeting minutes of the meeting
• Signature of signature of each signatory (must be signed)
• Bank's statement on the payment of share capital (if the share capital is paid in cash)
• Document proving the value of a property investment (if a property contribution is made)
• A voucher or a copy of it, or an internet bank payment, or information about payment of the state fee
• Quotation or a copy of it, or an Internet bank payment, or information on the publication in the "Latvijas Vēstnesis"

If you need more information about company registration, contact us!

Farmers' and fishermen's economy in Latvia

What is Farmers' economy?
Farmer's farm is an individual company that produces agricultural products using the main means of products specifically for this purpose, the land. Land must be owned or used by the owner of the holding.

What is fishermen's economy?
A fishermen's economy is an individual company that operates with the use of fish resources allocated for this purpose. The fisherman can also manage the land.

Registering Farmers' or fishermen's economy.
A farmer or fisherman's holding acquires the rights of a legal person from the moment it is registered in the Register of Enterprises. The rights of the holder are signed by the owner and appointed by the manager.

• The process takes around 1- 3 working days;
• The cost is around 45,50 to 112,50 EUR;
• Can be settled electronically.

What documents do you need?

• Application Form 4;
• Statutes governing the basic principles of the company's operation (if any);
• Decree of the Municipality Council (Council) or the Land Commission on the granting of a land plot for use or a notarized copy of the Land Register Act regarding the ownership of a plot if a farm is established;
• Municipality's decision to allocate a fish limit if a fisherman's farm is established;
• Sample signature for each signatory if documents are submitted in paper format (must be signed);
• A voucher or a copy of it, or an internet bank payment, or information about payment of the state fee;
• Quotation or a copy of it, or an Internet bank payment, or information on the publication in the "Latvijas Vēstnesis".

If you need any help with registering a company in the Baltic states, feel free to contact us!

Individual merchant in Latvia

What is an Individual merchant?

An individual merchant is a natural person entered in the commercial register.

A natural person is obliged to register himself in the Commercial Register as an individual merchant if it meets one of the following characteristics:

the annual turnover exceeds EUR 284,600 from the economic activities carried out;

the economic activity performed by it corresponds to the operation of the commercial agent (Section 45 of the Commercial Law) or the operation of the broker;

its annual turnover from economic activities exceeds EUR 28 500, and also employs more than five employees at the same time to carry out its economic activities;

A natural person may also apply for entry in the Commercial Register if it does not meet the above requirements.

Registering Individual merchant  in Latvia

An individual merchant is a natural person who carries out an economic activity. An individual merchant responds with all his belongings to his obligations.

• The process takes around 1- 3 working days;
• The cost is around 45,50 - 52,50 EUR;
• Can be settled electronically.

What kind of documents do you need to fill?

Application Form KR2 (must be signed);

Accepted by the owner of the real estate for registration of the merchant's legal address (not to be provided if the owner is one of the signatories of the application;

A voucher or a copy of it, or an internet bank payment, or information about payment of the state fee;

Quotation or a copy of it, or an Internet bank payment, or information on the publication in the "Latvijas Vēstnesis".

If you need any help with registering a company, feel free to contact us!

Individual Enterprise in Latvia

What is Individual enterprise?

An individual company is a legal entity established for the organization of the property of one natural person for the purpose of carrying on an economic activity.

What is a family company?

A family company is a legal entity established for the organization of a joint family property for the purpose of carrying on an economic activity. The property invested in such a company belongs to the family members involved in the family business.

As all of the legal entities, An individual company must register with the Enterprise Register to start a business.

It usually takes up to 3 working days, costs around 81,50Eur - 232,50Eur and you can register it electronically.

Documents to be submitted:

• Application Form 3
• Founding contract (if a family business is established)
• Statutes governing the basic principles of the company's operation (if any)
• The signature of each signatory is a sample because the documents are submitted in paper form
• A voucher or a copy of it, or an internet bank payment, or information about payment of the state fee
• A voucher or a copy thereof, or an internet bank payment, or information about the publication in the "Latvijas Vēstnesis".

Conditions for registering a business address:

• The legal address must coincide with the address entered in the National Address Book. Checking the free address in the national address register information system kadastrs.lv
• If the real estate consists of several groups of premises, it is necessary to specify the exact room number of the group where the registered office

If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to contact us and we will provide you with our solutions!

LLC share capital rules in Latvia

What is share capital?
Capital is money and other monetary value invested in a capital company for the commencement and continuation of the business.

Rules:

• The share capital and the nominal value of a unit are to be expressed in euros and no cents;
• The minimum share capital is 2800 EUR;
• The share capital is paid by the founders, it can be paid by cash or property;
• Up to the submission of the application, the share capital shall be paid at least 50%;
• The share capital is fully paid in the memorandum or within the term specified in the agreement, but not later than within a year from the date of registration in the commercial register;
• When making a monetary contribution, the founders open a bank account in the name of the company being established, arrange the payment of money into it and receive a certificate from the commercial register office of the bank or another document issued by the bank certifying the amount of the paid-up share capital;
• When making a financial contribution, an opinion on the property investment made by the founders should be provided if the total value of the investments does not exceed EUR 5700 and the total investment is less than half of the share capital of the company or the person included in the list of valuers of property investment in the Register of Enterprises;

Eye on outsourcing accounting in Latvia

Outsourcing service provides efficient and friendly service offering cost effective solutions for accounting and payroll-related needs, full financial analysis of accountancy and timely notification to manager about any risk which endanger successful development of business, manages making accounting reports, all necessary accounting documents related to institutions.

So what’s new according this service in Latvia?

The experts of the Association of Accountants of the Republic of Latvia (LRGA) would like to make changes in Law and have drafted amendments according outsourcing of accounting services and intend to enter this Law into force  from 2020.

The amendments will set requirements and criteria for obtaining a license in order to have the right to provide outsourcing accounting and who will be responsible for the quality provision of accounting outsourcing.

As a result of the adoption of the accounting outsourcing bill, the confidence of foreign investors and other persons in the competence and quality of the outsourcing accounting services of Latvia would increase, thus increasing confidence in the business environment of Latvia. It could also have a positive impact on the inflow of investments, the development of business in the country and, accordingly, increase employment and competitiveness of the economy, as well as increase the budget income in the future.

Unfortunately,mistakes in tax calculations can negatively affect the company's further activities and the state budget. Each operating company provides residents with jobs and revenues from the state budget, so it is important for accountants and tax advisers to be provided by professional accountants with appropriate education, competence and experience so that the company can operate for a long time.

LRGA believes that licensing and monitoring of accounting outsourcing providers will be performed by the Ministry of Finance and the person to whom the licensing, accounting, organization of the register and, and the SRS, in accordance with its competence, will be delegated. This will be some kind of quality mark.

Information how much outsourcing accounting can make your work easier you can read here.

Corporation in Latvia

What is a corporate company?

A Corporation company is an open society whose shares (shares) may be the object of public circulation. The company is a legal entity.

The Register of Enterprises does not carry out accounting of shareholders of the Company, the changes in the shareholder structure are not submitted in the Register of Enterprises.

What do you need to know before opening a corporate company?

• The minimum share capital is EUR 35000;
• The share capital and the nominal value of a share must be divided by the minimum nominal value of the company's shares and 10 cents without balance.

What documents do you need to fill?

• Application Form KR4 (to be certified signatures);
• The decision on the founding or the founding agreement
• Statute;
• Bank statement or another document regarding the payment of share capital;
• The consent of each council member to hold a position;
• The consent of each member of the board to hold a position (if consent is not already included in clause 9 of the application form in KR4), all documents must be signed
• Board announcement on the legal address;
• Accepted by the owner of the real estate for registration of the registered office (not required if the owner is one of the signatories of the application);
• A voucher or a copy of it, or an internet bank payment, or information about payment of the state fee;
• Quotation or a copy of it, or an Internet bank payment, or information on the publication in the "Latvijas Vēstnesis";

If you need any help with opening a company in Latvia, contact us!

LLC documents for The decision on the founding or the founding agreement Latvia

If there is one founder, the founding decision is to be drawn up. If there are two or more founders, a funding agreement is to be concluded. The founding decision is signed by the founder, the funding agreement is signed by all founders.

The document should be indicated:

• Information about the founders, if the founder is a natural person: name, surname, personal identity number and place of residence;
• Information about the founders, if the founder is a legal person - the name, registration number, legal address, the name, surname, personal identity number, position and place of residence of the representative who signs the agreement on behalf of the legal person;
• Name (company)
• The amount of the share capital, the number of shares and the nominal value;
• The amount of the share capital registered by each founder and the share capital to be paid up for registration, the payment procedure, and terms;
• The number of shares due to each founder in proportion to its share capital;
• The number of shares and the amount of the nominal value which, when the company is founded, is paid by the property contribution, indicating the subject of each property investment and the name, surname, personal identity number and place of each person who undertakes the obligation to make the property contribution;
• Permissible amount of foundation expenses and the procedure for their payment;
• Any specific obligations, rights or benefits granted to a person who participated in the formation of a company at the time of the foundation of the company (not necessarily indicated);
• Names of board members, surnames, personal codes and place of residence;
• Names, surnames, personal codes and place of residence of members of the Council (if the company has a council);
• The name, surname, personal identity number and place of the auditor if the auditor is intended for the company;
• Other provisions found by the founders to be material and not in conflict with the law;
• Place and date of signature;

If the person does not have a personal code of the Republic of Latvia, then, in the places where it is necessary to indicate a personal code, the date of birth, the number of the personal identification document and the date of issue, the country and the institution that issued the document, respectively.

New era of bills “Electronic Bills”

Maybe the e-billing system is unclear and some countries lags behind other European countries in terms of e-invoicing. It is time avoid stucking in paper traps and PDF invoices, in Europe and in other countries, bills are widely used, whose data is read by specially designed software.

Electronic billing is a bill payment method in which a entrepreneurs can prepare and send bills but customer can pay bills electronically over the Internet. It is widely accepted by many government and other organizations. It is available for private business too.

E-billing is good for  both forms of transaction: Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and for Business-to-Business (B2B).

Manager of Infologist from Omniva Latvia says: "The biggest shortage of paper and PDF invoicing is the necessary time resource, which at the same time means financial consumption. The actions involved in handling 1 paper or PDF billing, from e-mail to archiving and error correction, take on average 39 minutes, but for e-invoices only 9 minutes. Thus, the efficiency of work can be increased even more than 4 times, and in cases when companies need to service a large amount of invoices, it can save dozens or even hundreds of hours of work. Time is money, but e-invoicing is an opportunity for anyone - a large, medium or small business - to significantly improve its accounting.”

E-bills can save resources and gives you possibilities to invest your money somewhere else. The paperless mode of transaction is an environmentally friendly and less expensive form of bill payment. It also saves your time and makes business contacts more easier. Your accountant for sure will tell you “Thank you” and customers too, because electronic payment is available 24/7 for access.

What could motivate you to prefer electronic billing?

Low capital LLC vs LLC in Latvia

There are 2 types of LLC in Latvia which are low capital LLC and the regular LLC.

LLC
A limited liability company is a commercial company whose share capital consists of the total nominal value of the share capital.

A limited liability company is a closed company and its shares are not publicly traded. The company is a legal entity.

rules:

• The minimum share capital is 2800 EUR;
• The founders may be individuals(natural persons) and juristic persons;
• Fixed capital can be paid with cash or property.

Low capital LLC
A limited liability company is a commercial company whose share capital consists of the total nominal value of the share capital.

A limited liability company is a closed company and its shares are not publicly traded. The company is a legal entity.

rules:

• EUR 1-2799 share capital;
• The founders and participants are only individuals (natural persons) and their maximum number is five;
• Board members may be held only by members of the LLC;
• A participant may only be at the one low capital company;

Buying business

Buying ready-made business (also called shell company) is not traditional way of starting business but it has benefits and as result you will became a businessman or businesswoman anyway.

Before buying a business, you should protect yourself against taking risks that can be avoided.

Benefits of shelf company are:

Time saving. The process of incorporation requires time, faster registration costs more money because of higher state fees. It is faster to change owner of existing company.

Corporate longevity. Some partners or credit institutions may look at registration date before proceeding cooperation. Possible clients will trust older company, which could be used for advertising.

History of your business. Enhances corporation's image with age and increases credibility.

Need in bank loan. It may be easier if you can show your history of being incorporated.

Before do big step “buying business” you should determine main reasons why you don’t want to start business from zero. You can ask yourself and to company which is selling this business:

• What does the business do and what is the history of the business? 
• Why is the business for sale?

Questions about financial and other resources part

• What is the asking price? Can you afford to buy the business? What assets are included in that asking price? Is the asking price supported by the profits of the business?
• Is seller financing available?
• Do you have the interest and experience necessary to make this business successful?
• Is there a positive outlook for this type of business?

Other questions

• What’s the competition like? Make or ak to make analysis about market.
• Do you plan to buy and run the business on your own or with a partner? 

And the final questions are Do you want to buy business? Why?

Knowing the right questions to ask will help you uncover the right information about the business you buy. Baltic Legal strongly believe that you can do the best and it is no matter do you buy business or start it.