We provide company registration services Tunisia, limited liability company (LLC) , setup/ open branch office or representative office, prepare accounts and Tax return filing for the foreign investors. Over the past several years, Tunisia has gradually proved itself to be a great place to do business in. Lots of foreign direct investments are being injected into the country and they are taking small steps towards developing the nation. There are a couple of ways to conduct one’s business in Tunisia. However, in most of the cases people look to engage in limited liability companies. Foreign investors from all around the world also prefer this limited liability company format. But that’s not all, some international corporations do not want to consolidate their accounts. Thus they end up choosing another format, such as the branch office. For investors who are entering the Tunisian market for the first time, they look into representation offices.
With all that being said, listed below are more detailed information regarding the types of companies in Tunisia and all the requirements to get the business started.
| Limited Liability Company | Commonly referred to as the LLC, the limited liability company is one of the most common types of companies in Tunisia. As mentioned earlier, Tunisia has seen a rise in foreign investors. However most of these investors are operating on a small scale. Their businesses are based on the SME models. These types of businesses are often started as limited liability companies. One of the basic requirements for a limited liability company is that the company must have at least two different shareholders. Alongside that, they need one director of the company. The nationality of these two shareholders and the director can be from anywhere around the world. There is no need for them to be of Tunisian origin. As long as the paid up capital of the is USD 500 which is TND 1000, there is no systematic requirement for a foreign owned company to establish themselves. According to the state law, all Tunisian companies are required to register with the Tunisian tax authority for VAT and income tax. However, LLCs are not required to appoint a statutory auditor as long as their assets don’t exceed the USD$55000 mark. |
| Public Limited Company | Another form of limited company found in Tunisia is the public limited company. There is a minimum capital requirement in Tunisian public limited companies. The amount is set at US$3000. This is considerably lower than the rest of countries in the region. One of the requirements to set up public limited company in Tunisia is to have 7 (seven) different shareholders and 3 (three) other directors. While the minimum capital to start a PLC is quite low for foreign investors, they do not usually engage in such a company. This is mainly because foreign investors are only allowed 49% of the ownership of the company. As a result not many big named investment firms usually want to engage in this in Tunisia. |
| Branch Office | Arguably the most common forms of companies among foreign investors is the branch office in Tunisia. According to the Tunisia Companies Law, foreign investors or foreign entrepreneurs are allowed to open up a branch office in Tunisia. Everything about this branch office is more or less dependent on the parent company. The requirement for setting up such an office is a big more complex as the parent company needs to submit attested papers and documents from the embassy. The registration process for setting up the office may take up to several months. No kind of activity is allowed until registration is done. The branch office must appoint at least one resident director. The director can be from any nationality for as long as he resides in Tunisia. The advantage and one of the prime reasons for opening up a branch office in Tunisia is that there are less accounting and book keeping pressure on such companies. They have to follow whatever the parent company follows. However, any sort of loss has to be completely born by the parent company too. |
| Representative Office | As company registration services Tunisia , another common form of company that foreign investors look to set up/ open in Tunisia is the representative office. The tasks of representative offices are not to engage in trading goods and services but for mostly market research purposes. They are also known for promoting the parent company in the host nation. In short, representative offices are more or less like liaisons for the parent company. One of the requirements for such a company is to have one director who should be a resident of Tunisia. It takes usually 4 weeks to set up a representative office in Tunisia. The company is wholly owned by the foreign entity or foreign individual. They are also not allowed to buy Tunisian property for use but they can lease or rent properties. |