Establish a business
We recognise that the choice of the appropriate advisor when establishing a company in a foreign country is crucial. Being the procedure complex and risky, we provide you with the most complete, all-inclusive services you need to start and run your own business with full safety. For a start-up, it is essential to cooperate both with a legal and a tax consultant. The questions to be answered require extensive experience and intimate knowledge of the rules in force in order to take the best decisions.
Our tax experts, in cooperation with our specialized legal associates and real estate brokers, after carefully listening and understanding your needs, compare all types of businesses and locations and leverage grant programs and current law developments, in order to always recommend the best option.
Procedure required to establish a business in Greece
* The process is tailored to your case
Details – Starting a Business in Greece – Procedure, Time and Cost
Obtain Tax Clearance form A7 from Tax Authority
Before applying for a new company at GEMI, entrepreneurs need to obtain tax clearance form A7 with any Tax Authority Office. This form shows that the founders do not have any outstanding taxes and are able to start a company.
Submit with GEMI the application of establishment and its forms
The costs associated with the application for establishment are as follows:
- Fixed fee for the incorporation of IKE (for 5 shareholders): €90
- Fee for the submission of documents with GEMI: €10
- Fee for the registration of IKE with the Chamber of Commerce: €10 (optional)
- First year subscription fee with the Athens Chamber of Commerce: €100 (Different fees may apply for different Chambers)
The Articles of Association of the company shall contain:
- the full trade name of the IKE
- the domicile or an electronic address of the partners
- the seal of the company
- the objective of the company
- verification that the company is private
- the contributors of the partners by category and their value, in accordance with Articles 77 to 79, as well as the capital of the company
- the sum of the company’s parts
- the initial number of the parts of each partner and the category of contribution to which the parts correspond
- how the company is managed and represented
- the duration of the company.
Business founders need to submit a certified copy or copies of their IDs. Business founders also need to request to send notice to the Insurance Organization (OAEE) with regard to the company’s establishment.
Given that after 01.01.2015, corporate acts and information shall no longer be published in the Government’s Gazette and that they shall be published on the General Commercial Registry’s (GEMI) website, it is obligatory that all companies maintain a ledger (merida) on which said actions and/or information shall be uploaded.
Make a company seal
All company books and records must be sealed before they are certified. The company seal must also contain the company’s tax registration number and competent tax office.
On May 31, 2013 the Government of Greece adopted the Law 4156/2013 abolishing the requirement to make and affix the company seal for corporations. However, it is still used in practice by banks, as the Bank of Greece has not issued a circular asking the banks to not require it. Thus, companies are still required to make a company seal in their daily practice.
As of January 2015, IKE is required to keep electronically its c’ category books and records. There is no obligation for handwritten company’s books and records sealed by the competent Tax Authority.
Register with EFKA (Unified Social Security Institution)
Once the company has been incorporated, The entrepreneur has to register with EFKA in its capacity as an employer. At the same time, the Director of IKE is legally obliged to registered with EFKA while the registration of other members of IKE is optional. Registering more members of the IKE costs an additional EUR 111.10 per person.
Fully covering the start of the new business, our office undertakes:
1. The formation of All types of companies
2. At the beginning of the company, in cooperation with experienced partners, we undertake:
3. For organizing the company's accounting department we support:
→By selecting appropriate PCs and peripherals
→By selecting appropriate softwares and personiling it according to their needs
→By selecting the right human resources.
4. Finally, for the good operation of the business:
