Useful information

Company registration documents

Registration of the Branch or Representative Office in Russia

Registration of  Branches or Representative Offices usually takes from one and half to three months, depending on terms agreed in the Registration Chamber of Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation (to speed up the process, an expedited fee may be paid to the Russian Ministry.

Branches and Representative Offices

As a matter of Russian law, Branches and Representative Offices are both subdivisions of a foreign legal entity, located at a place other than the Head Office of the legal entity.  Both Branches and Representative Offices may be assigned property by the Head Office.

Branches and Representative Offices differ, however, in the type of activity that they are expected to perform.   In brief, a Representative Office only represent the interests of the legal entity (typically marketing and promotional activity), while a Branch can actually engage in all of the legal entity’s functions (including sales).

For taxation purposes, Branches are considered to be commercial in nature (forming a permanent establishment or taxable presence) and therefore subject to profits tax. Representative Offices, on the other hand, are assumed to angage only activity of a non-commercial nature and are therefore not subject to profits tax.

Registration Process

Branches and Representative Offices are required to be accredited by the State Registration Chamber of the Russian Ministry of Justice located in Moscow (the Chamber).  The full registration process includes the following stages:

• Accreditation and registration in the State Register of Accredited Foreign Representative Offices or Branches.
• Registration with the regional tax authorities, regardless of whether the activities are of a taxable nature or not.
• Registration with the State Statistics Committee.
• Approval of the design of the stamp and stamp making.
• Registration with the non-budgetary funds: Social, Medical and Pension Funds.
• Opening bank accounts.

Official State Accreditation fees are

• Chamber fee: $500 - $1500 depending on the term of accreditation,
• Accelerated processing fee (up to 7 days): $500 and
• Registration fee: $100

Tax and Funds Registration

Having opened the Branch or Representative Office, within 30 days, the foreign company shall be registered locally with:

• The Regional Tax Inspection and Social Funds,
• The non-budgetary funds and
• The State Statistics Authority.

The following documents are required to be submitted to the Tax Inspection and Funds:

• Application in accordance with the set form;
• Legalized extract from the trade register or another document confirming the fact of the companyregistration;
• Certificate of tax authority of the foreign country confirming the registration of the company as a taxpayer and specifying tax code of the company;
• The foreign company's decision about the opening of the Representative Office or Branch in the Russian Federation;
• The general power of attorney given to the head of the Representative Office.

The Tax Inspection shall issue to the foreign company a Certificate specifying its Russian Tax Number.