Company formation for non-resident corporate shareholders

Minimum requirements

The minimum opening share capital for a private limited company (S.L.) is 3,006 Euros. The bank will issue you with a certificate of deposit (certificado de ingreso) of this capital, which is necessary for the constitution to take place.

For non-resident companies wishing to set up a subsidiary here, it is necessary to supply a document produced by the company registry in the country of incorporation. This document should state the registered address of the company, and the names of its directors. It should the be legalised (with the Hague Apostille) before sending to us.

All documents must to be translated into Spanish by a legal/ sworn translator. We can provide a sworn translation service at this end, from a range of source languages for 100 Euros plus VAT.

In addition, at least one of the company directors must apply for a foreigners' ID number (NIE). This can be obtained either at the Spanish embassy/ consul in your country or at any local police office in Spain. As the NIE can take several months to issue, we advise the client to apply at the very beginning.

If the directors cannot be present in Spain for the proceedings, and wish to sign Power of Attorney over to us to complete the signing, we will prepare the necessary documents to be signed in front of a Notary in your country. Our extra charge for this is 150 Euros plus VAT.

The administrator of the Spanish company, however, must been present at the signing as this power cannot be delegated to others.

The Spanish Notary’s signing will take place at our contact Notary in Barcelona, and can usually be arranged in around 7-10 days once the share capital has been deposited in the company bank account.

It is a legal requirement for the Spanish company to have a registered address in Spain. If you do not have a physical office here, we can refer to you to some business centres in Barcelona who provide a registered address service. A basic domiciliation service starts at around 60 Euros per month.

Our charge for the formation in Barcelona of an S.L. with the minimum share capital, is € 1,399 plus 16% IVA.

This includes the following:

• Notary fees and Mercantile Registry charges.
• Payment of Stamp Duty on the issue of share capital.
• Registering your company with the Tax Office.
• Obtaining a tax code (CIF) for your company.

In order to commence the company formation process, you should provide us with the following:

• A list of three alternative company names, starting with your first choice.
• A payment on account of 348 Euros (300 Euros plus 16% VAT), payable by bank transfer.

Alternatives to forming a separate Spanish company

Due to the strict administrative requirements in incorporating a company in Spain, clients may consider an alternative which is registering a branch in Spain, please click here for further details.

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