Company formation in Lithuania

Company formation in Lithuania: who does what

Part of the work belongs to public bodies and to notaries; the rest is coordination you can buy.

Party	Role in a formation
Centre of Registers	Keeps the Register of Legal Entities, runs the Self Service, decides on the registration and holds the shareholder (JADIS) and beneficial owner (JANGIS) data
Notary	Prepares and submits the documents when the founders do not file online
Bank	Holds the accumulative account for the initial contributions, then the operating account
Owner of the premises	Signs the consent for the registered office
State Tax Inspectorate (VMI)	Taxes, VAT registration and returns
Accounting firm	Bookkeeping, tax returns, payroll, annual financial statements
Law firm	Tailored articles, shareholder agreements, licences for regulated activities
Corporate services provider	Coordination, document handling, registered address

Only the register makes the entry. A provider can promise a complete, correct file; it cannot promise the register’s decision or a bank’s approval.

Online filing or a notary: why it matters for your provider

The route decides how much work you buy. In the Centre of Registers’ Self Service, a foreign founder logs in with a Lithuanian e-resident card or an EU electronic ID under eIDAS, and the system generates the deed of incorporation and articles from model templates. Each founder must sign with a qualified electronic signature. A provider in this route mainly checks the data, arranges the address and the bank, and stays on for the accounts.

When even one signatory cannot sign electronically, the file goes through a notary in the notary office. Founders abroad then usually sign a power of attorney so that a representative can attend for them, and documents from abroad need an apostille or legalisation and a translation signed by the translator. This is where a provider’s coordination saves the most time, and where its quote should be most detailed.

Ask at the first contact which route the provider assumes, and why.

What a formation provider takes on

A full mandate starts with the structure and ends when the company can invoice, pay staff and file returns. Expect it to cover:

• Structure advice: UAB, small partnership (MB) or a branch of your foreign company, and how each affects liability, accounts and banking.
• Name check and reservation: a search against registered names, reserved names and trademarks, then a temporary entry if you want one.
• Documents: the deed of incorporation and articles, from the model templates or drafted for several shareholders, investor rights or share transfer rules.
• Registered office: an address in Lithuania with the owner’s signed consent, often the provider’s own or a partner’s.
• Capital and bank: the accumulative account for the initial contributions and, later, the operating account.
• The filing: the application to the Register of Legal Entities, online or through the notary.
• Shareholder and beneficial owner data: the JADIS entry and the JANGIS list.
• Tax set-up: the first steps with VMI and, where needed, VAT registration.

Matching the firm to your project

Company formation is offered by 114 of the firms Accountanty lists in Lithuania. By type, 91 are accounting firms, 18 corporate services providers and 5 law firms. Most are small (92), 15 are medium-sized and 7 belong to a large network.

• Accounting firms suit founders who want the formation and the next years with one team. Of the 114, 110 also offer accounting, 108 tax compliance, 69 payroll and 61 VAT services.
• Corporate services providers suit groups that need coordination across countries, document handling or an address. Among the 114, 37 offer a virtual office and 48 corporate secretarial work.
• Law firms suit companies with several shareholders, outside investors or an activity that needs a licence, where the articles and side agreements need real drafting.

Of the formation firms, 34 state a focus on foreign clients; they also appear on accountants for foreign clients in Lithuania.

Credentials worth checking

Ask who on the team will do the work and what qualifies them for it. A few firms listed in Lithuania state membership of a professional body, such as the Lithuanian Association of Accountants and Auditors (LBAA); treat a membership statement as a starting point and confirm it with the body itself. For audited accounts, ask whether the firm or a partner is a registered audit firm. A law firm drafting shareholder agreements should tell you which lawyer is responsible.

What to bring to the first meeting

An accurate quote needs accurate facts. Have these ready:

• The business: what you will sell, to whom, from where, and whether you will employ anyone in the first year.
• The people: passport or identity card copies of every shareholder and the planned manager. For a foreign shareholder, JADIS asks for a copy of the passport or identity document.
• The capital: the amount, its source and the bank you would like to use.
• The signature: whether each signatory has a Lithuanian e-resident card or an EU electronic ID.
• The address: whether you have premises in Lithuania or need one provided.
• Residence plans: whether a founder will move to Lithuania, which adds a permit application to the work.

How to read a company formation quote

Request every offer in the same three parts, each with its own price, and the comparison becomes simple.

Official charges

• Register fee. For a UAB, the Centre of Registers charges €14.02 online and €30.83 on paper; a small partnership costs €17.13, and a branch or representative office of a foreign company €41.75.
• Name. A temporary name entry costs €6.75.
• Notary. In the notary route, ask for the notary’s own fee estimate; it is not a register fee.
• Pass-through items: apostilles, translations, register extracts from your home country and courier costs.
• The capital itself. For a UAB the authorised capital is at least one thousand euros. It belongs to the company, not to the provider, so it should never appear inside a fee.

The JADIS list and the JANGIS beneficial owner list carry no state charge, so a quote should show only the provider’s time for them.

The provider’s fee

Structure advice, documents, the address arrangement, the bank work, the filing and the post-registration entries. Ask what is excluded: drafted articles, a second shareholder, a corporate shareholder, rush work and changes after the draft are common extras.

Recurring costs

Registration is a single charge, while the monthly work continues for as long as the company exists. Ask for a price covering the first two years of:

• bookkeeping and the tax returns;
• VAT returns once the company is registered for VAT;
• payroll, when the company employs staff;
• the annual financial statements filed with the Register of Legal Entities;
• the registered address, if the provider supplies it.

Of the formation firms listed, 48 publish some pricing. Asking for quotes through Accountanty is free of charge, and the firms that reply set their own prices.

Questions to ask before you sign

• Which route do you assume: online filing or a notary? What do you need from me for it?
• Who provides the registered office, and who signs the owner’s consent?
• Which bank will hold the accumulative account, and what will it ask me?
• Are the register, notary and translation charges inside your quote or billed to me?
• Who files the JADIS and JANGIS data, and who reports later changes?
• Who handles the first steps with VMI and decides when VAT registration is needed?
• Who is my contact after registration, and in which languages?

On language, 73 of the 114 formation firms offer Lithuanian, 60 English and 33 Russian.

When a foreign company is the shareholder

When the shareholder is a company rather than a person, much of the extra paperwork comes from the parent’s own country. JADIS asks for an extract from the parent’s home register, legalised or with an apostille, and the bank will want an ownership chart up to the individuals. The board resolution approving the investment and naming the signatory usually needs the same treatment.

Two decisions shape the price. First, a subsidiary or a branch: a branch avoids a new company, but the founder is liable for the obligations of a branch, and a parent from outside the EEA needs at least one person acting for the branch who lives in Lithuania. Second, who manages the Lithuanian entity: a manager sent from the group, a person hired locally, or both.

Services after incorporation

Once registered, the company has deadlines every month. Many owners keep the firm that formed it; others add specialists listed for:

• accounting and tax compliance for the books and returns;
• VAT for registration, returns and cross-border invoices;
• payroll once staff are on the books;
• audit, if the company’s size or its investors make an audit necessary;
• bank account assistance, offered by 26 of the formation firms;
• residency and visas, offered by 20, for a founder who moves to Lithuania.

Warning signs

• No view on the signing route. Without it, nobody can plan the documents or the timeline.
• One total with no breakdown. You cannot set it against another offer, and items left out tend to be billed afterwards.
• The capital mixed into the fee. The share capital is the company’s money.
• A bank account presented as a sure thing. Only the bank can approve an account, and it does so after reviewing the owners and the business.
• Tax rates quoted without conditions. Reduced rates depend on conditions in the law; ask how they apply to you.
• No questions about you or your money. The bank and the register will ask about identity and funds in any case.

Choosing a provider

Send the same brief to two or three firms and compare their signing route, their fee blocks, their plan for the address and the bank, and the people who would keep your books. Of the 114 formation firms listed, 73 are in Vilnius and 41 in Kaunas. With one free quote request you can reach several at once: Accountanty checks your brief and passes it to firms suited to your company formation in Lithuania.