Blog
Laura Bohrer
EMBAUCHEZ N'IMPORTE OÙ
Embauchez des employés à l'étranger sans créer d'entités juridiques
Embauchez, gérez et payez des freelances dans le monde entier
PAYEZ PARTOUT
Consolidation de la paie à l'international
Standardisez vos opérations de paie dans tous vos pays
Services de paie internationale
Externalisez votre gestion de paie multi-pays
Payez votre équipe dans le monde entier
Devenez un partenaire
Rejoignez notre réseau de partenaires de paie locaux
X
Devenez un partenaire affilié de Lano et commencez à toucher des commissions
Découvrez l'écosystème d'intégrations et de partenaires de Lano
Découvrez comment Lano peut vous aider à développer et à payer votre équipe internationale.
EMPLOI MONDIAL
Recrutez les meilleurs talents n'importe où
Recrutez des employés dans des pays où vous n'avez pas d'entité légale
Se développer à l'international
Testez de nouveaux marchés sans les risques ou les coûts de l'ouverture d'entités locales.
Délocalisez et fidélisez vos employés
Conservez les talents qui partent vers d'autres pays
Transformez les freelances en employés
Incorporez des freelances à temps plein en conformité
PAIEMENTS GLOBAUX
Consolidez la paie à niveau mondial
Gérez les salaires de vos entités et de vos prestataires en un même endroit.
Créer un service de paie dans de nouveaux pays
Mise en place et gestion de la paie en toute conformité dans n'importe quel pays
Changez de prestataire de paie local
Remplacez les prestataires peu performants par des partenaires de Lano.
Effectuez des paiements internationaux
Payez votre personnel en devises locales
TÉMOIGNAGES
Découvrez comment PrestaShop s'est étendu dans quatre pays en à peine six mois grâce à Lano.
RESSOURCES
Tout ce que vous devez savoir pour embaucher des personnes dans le monde entier
Apprenez les meilleures pratiques pour gérer la paie à l'échelle mondiale
Tout ce que vous devez savoir pour embaucher des personnes dans le monde entier
Couverture de paiements de Lano
Comparez les coûts de paiement à l'échelle mondiale avec Lano
FORMATION
Apprenez à utiliser et à profiter au maximum de Lano
Restez informé de l'actualité de Lano, de son contenu et de plus de choses
Parcourez notre glossaire de termes relatifs à la paie et aux ressources humaines
Learn all you need to know about global payroll and hiring
Devenez un expert en recrutement et en gestion de la paie mondial
Gain insights into how much it costs to hire remotely in a country
Tarifs
EMBAUCHEZ N'IMPORTE OÙ
PAYEZ PARTOUT
Devenez un partenaire
EMPLOI MONDIAL
PAIEMENTS GLOBAUX
RESSOURCES
Tarifs
English
Français
Deutsch
Español
Expanding overseas and setting up a foreign legal entity is a major decision for companies, especially as it involves investing a considerable amount of time and money. Unfortunately, procuring accurate information on how long the incorporation process takes and how much money is needed to establish a separate legal entity abroad proves to be incredibly difficult. According to what you can read online, entity set-up may take any amount of time between two and twelve months and will cost somewhere between USD 15,000 and USD 20,000 in most countries.
Yet, it is vital for business owners and stakeholders to know what exactly they’re in for when they decide to launch new markets overseas. In this article, we will therefore take a closer look at the official and hidden costs of international expansion and discuss what establishing a legal entity abroad really entails as well as what other factors apart from time and money need to be considered. Finally, we will give you some country-specific data on costs and timelines for international incorporation.
Unless you decide to skip incorporation and go for an Employer of Record (EOR) solution, setting up a legal entity is necessary to be able to hire employees in a different country. In general terms, a legal entity is an organization or company which has both legal rights and duties - e.g. right to enter into a contract, obligation to pay tax etc.
Among the different types of legal entities that exist, three are particularly common in the field of international expansion: a representative office, a branch office and a foreign subsidiary company which is an entirely separate entity domestic companies set up to be fully operational in foreign markets. Although there might be slight differences depending on the country you choose for your expansion plans, the incorporation process generally includes the following steps: *
Registering with the local authorities - company registration, tax registration, employer registration etc.
Opening a local bank account - after having proven you fulfill the local capital requirements for business incorporation
Appointing a local director - or several, depending on the country
Building a team of HR, legal and tax advisors on the ground to ensure legal compliance
Setting up payroll, navigating local tax system, drafting compliant employment contracts and keeping track of any legal changes regarding labour law and regulations
* Please note that the steps listed here refer to the general process of creating a foreign subsidiary which is also the type of legal entity we will focus on in the following paragraphs.
As mentioned above, what you usually read in blog posts talking about international business incorporation is that creating a foreign subsidiary will cost several thousands of dollars. Before looking at incorporation fees and timelines in detail, we should first define what costs we are actually talking about. Despite there being some differences between countries with regard to fees and registration processes, there are some cost factors which are universal. In most cases, the official costs of incorporation include:
Registration fees - levied in most but not all countries, e.g. no registration fees in Slovenia or Rwanda
Capital requirements - not in all countries, e.g. not in Australia
Costs for necessary legal consultation and documents - tax registration, Articles of Incorporation, shareholder agreements, choice of entity type etc.
In addition to these costs which are directly linked to the incorporation process itself, the creation of a legal entity entails further hidden costs related to:
Appointing resident director(s) - most countries require subsidiaries to have at least one local director
Costs for ongoing legal consultation or HR efforts to ensure compliance
Ongoing administrative costs such as payroll, tax filing, insurance, infrastructure, banking etc.
Unify and streamline global payroll
Set up payroll in new locations
Compliantly hire employees in 170+ countries
Pay global teams at low cost
A quick word on how the data provided below has been sourced: Except for the registration fees and the estimated timeline for the whole incorporation process, all the information stems directly from the Worldbank’s Doing Business Database which publishes country-specific information on starting a business. The indicated registration fees - to be interpreted as fees levied by the respective government for company registration - have been calculated as the percentage of each country’s per capita income as indicated by the Worldbank. For detailed information on how data for the Doing Business Index is collected and selected, check out the Ease of Doing Business Methodology.
As for the indicated time frame for completing the whole incorporation process: Timelines include estimates of the actual company incorporation period as well as pre and post registration processes such as procurement of necessary legal documents or tax registration. In no case should they be interpreted as accurate legal advice.
Type of legal entity: Corporate subsidiary
Number of registration procedures: 2
Average time for registration: 1.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): varies depending on whether you go for federal or provincial incorporation
Registration fees: approx. USD 135
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Limited Liability Company
Number of registration procedures: 4
Average time for registration: 9 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 5 months
Registration fees: approx. USD 133
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Private Limited Liability Company
Number of registration procedures: 5
Average time for registration: 6 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 9 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 1,473
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Private Limited Company (Anpartsselskab)
Number of registration procedures: 5
Average time for registration: 3.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 8 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 120
Minimum capital requirement: DKK 40,000
Type of legal entity: Limited Liability Company (GmbH)
Number of registration procedures: 9
Average time for registration: 8 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 14 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 3,084
Minimum capital requirement: EUR 25,000
Type of legal entity: Limited Private Company
Number of registration procedures: 2
Average time for registration: 1.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 8 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 252
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Private Limited Company
Number of registration procedures: 10
Average time for registration: 18 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 16 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 188
Minimum capital requirement: none (INR 100,000 optional)
Type of legal entity: Private company limited by shares (LTD)
Number of registration procedures: 3
Average time for registration: 11 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 10 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 59 (electronic registration)
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Corporation (Sociedad Anónima)
Number of registration procedures: 8
Average time for registration: 8.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 22 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 1,496
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Private Limited Company (Besloten Vennootschap)
Number of registration procedures: 4
Average time for registration: 3.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 10 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 2,271
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Limited Liability Company
Number of registration procedures: 1
Average time for registration: 0.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 8 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 82
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Private Limited Liability Company (Aksjeselskap)
Number of registration procedures: 4
Average time for registration: 4 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 15 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 646
Minimum capital requirement: NOK 30,000
Type of legal entity: Limited Liability Company (Sociedade por Quotas)
Number of registration procedures: 6
Average time for registration: 6.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 11 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 412
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Limited Liability Company
Number of registration procedures: 2
Average time for registration: 1.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 9 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 235
Minimum capital requirement: none
Type of legal entity: Limited Liability Company (Sociedad de responsabilidad limitada)
Number of registration procedures: 7
Average time for registration: 12.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 9 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 1,149
Minimum capital requirement: EUR 3,000
Type of legal entity: Limited Liability Company (Aktiebolag Privat)
Number of registration procedures: 4
Average time for registration: 7.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 12 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 275
Minimum capital requirement: SEK 50,000
Type of legal entity: Private Limited Company (Ltd)
Number of registration procedures: 4
Average time for registration: 4.5 days
Estimated time for setting up a company (total): 10 weeks
Registration fees: approx. USD 29
Minimum capital requirement: none
Registration fees, capital requirements and the number of procedures required until your business is officially registered in the new jurisdiction are, no doubt, some of the key factors in the process of choosing a country for your international expansion. However, there are many more aspects to take into consideration. For example, the Ease of Doing Business Index also accounts for:
Dealing with construction permits
Getting electricity
Registering property
Getting credit
Protecting minority investors
Paying taxes
Trading across borders
Enforcing contracts
Resolving insolvency
Further aspects that can influence the success of your expansion plans include:
Prohibitions on Foreign Ownership - e.g. in the U.A.E. foreign investors need to have a local sponsor
Complicated Immigration Requirements - tricky when you want to send some of your staff abroad to assist in the set-up process of your new entity
Economic factors such as GDP, Consumer Price Index or inflation
Political stability and wealth of the population
Free trade agreements
Labor force and local employment regulations such as paid annual leave
Interested in knowing which destinations are particularly attractive for establishing a foreign legal entity? Then check out our list of top countries for international expansion.
No matter which country you choose for your international expansion project, with all the necessary registration and incorporation processes, it will always be a couple of months until your legal entity can finally start operating. Luckily, there’s an easier and faster way to hire top talent abroad and launch new markets.
Lano’s Employer of Record solution allows you to skip incorporation and jump straight to hiring the best local talent to power your foreign operations. Hire and onboard your remote team within as little as two weeks and save time and money you otherwise would have spent on dealing with local laws and regulations. No need to worry about compliance. Our network of EOR partners has got you covered so that you can focus on your core business activities.
WRITTEN BY
Sign up for our monthly newsletter and get regular updates on new products, integrations, and partners. Stay up to date with our blog, podcast, industry news, and many more resources.
© Lano Software GmbH 2024
English
Français
Deutsch
Español