Company Set Up

[lesmona]

Can anyone recommend a good lawyer in Dubrovnik that has experience with property law.
I am currently setting up a company in Dubrovnik - I would also like to get an accountant.

So if anyone can recommend either of them that would be much appreciated.

[pk]

Are you setting up the Company to buy an apartment ?

If you have not already bought the apartment, and are interested buying a ready made company which has a modern, newly built apartment with clean papers, then please refer to my E mail "Rental Company for sale". You will save an enormous amount of money and hassle.

For lawyers here is a link that might help

ukincroatia.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/when-things-go-wrong/if-you-need-lawyer/dubrovnik-consular-district

Just make sure that you get a fixed fee quote agreed in writing. Even lawyers have a habit of "refering to the law" in terms of what they can charge. But everything is negotiable.

As regards accountants you will never find a decent one. They are all pretty much the same - overcharging reactive (rather than proactive) bookkeepers !

Good luck
PK

[Cam W]

i have a few options for both lawyer and accountant. i will pm them to you opposed to posting their info on the board.

[siriwan]

Jan 12, 2009 17:10:27 GMT 1 lesmona said:

Can anyone recommend a good lawyer in Dubrovnik that has experience with property law.
I am currently setting up a company in Dubrovnik - I would also like to get an accountant.

So if anyone can recommend either of them that would be much appreciated.

I went my own way with the company set up, with the help of my er, "skills" in Croatian and that of the two nice ladies of Hitro.hr in Karlovac... Time consuming in a way but I have a problem with delegating work to a lawyer :-))

As for accountants, well, you should get to know about the rules yourself and don't forget to tell him/her (well, the one you'll eventually hire) what he/she has to do :-))

Cheers

Christine

[Madgolfer]

[/quote]

I went my own way with the company set up, with the help of my er, "skills" in Croatian and that of the two nice ladies of Hitro.hr in Karlovac... Time consuming in a way but I have a problem with delegating work to a lawyer :-))

As for accountants, well, you should get to know about the rules yourself and don't forget to tell him/her (well, the one you'll eventually hire) what he/she has to do :-))

Cheers

Christine
[/quote]

Unless you can speak fluent Croatian I would strongly recommend that you employ professionals to do this work for you.

I understand Christine's comments, but if you are a novice at this, then you really are walking in a minefield blindfolded! Please do take care.

Do try explain fully what you want and what you expect people to do for you and try to keep it simple. Quite often so called "professionals" will do EXACTLY what you ask of them, no more and no less and in most cases do not think ahead or "outside the box" so to speak.

[siriwan]

Jan 15, 2009 13:52:23 GMT 1 Madgolfer said:

Unless you can speak fluent Croatian I would strongly recommend that you employ professionals to do this work for you.

I understand Christine's comments, but if you are a novice at this, then you really are walking in a minefield blindfolded! Please do take care.

Do try explain fully what you want and what you expect people to do for you and try to keep it simple. Quite often so called "professionals" will do EXACTLY what you ask of them, no more and no less and in most cases do not think ahead or "outside the box" so to speak.[/quote]

I don't speak fluent Croatian yet, but a lot of goodwill on both sides certainly helps. I had to have a court interpreter for signing at the public notary, etc. but other than that, it went fine.

As for walking on a minefield, I know enough people who had problems with their lawyer not doing his/her job properly and having to do it all over again, so I thought I might as well give it a try and go for the lawyer if things went wrong, lol :-))

But yes, it depends on your level of Croatian, of the time you have for all that - I set up the company and looked for property at the same time, thus making my time "between" document signing, etc. worthwhile.

Of course, go with what you're most comfortable or safer... I'm a little adventurous

Cheers!

Christine

[lesmona]

Thank you for the advice so far. I am still looking for a recommendation for a good lawyer and accountant in Dubrovnik. Preferably from someone from the UK who has gone through the process of setting up a croatian company.

Also, can anyone confirm how long it takes to set up a company. One company in Dubrovnik who offers this service is suggesting it can be done in 3-4 days, but all the information I've seen on different websites says it takes 3-4 weeks.

And finally, can anyone tell me if the company bank account must be in the same name as the company or can we use a personal account in the Croatian bank?

Many thanks for any advice you can offer!!

YP

[Carol]

You need a notary not a lawyer to establish a company for you.

Part of the process is obtaining commercial court approval for your application to establish a company. that takes as long as it takes but I'd look at weeks not days.
You need to deposit 20000 kuna min in an escrow account at a Cropatian bank first in the name of your company. this is done prior to the submission to the commercial court.

You cannot confuse personal money and company money so its a no to the personal account question.

After the commercial court approval you need to open a company bank account and arrange for the 20,000 to be transferred in there.

Then you need money laundering clearance if you plan to put any more money in your company and that takes about a week. Your accountant obtains it for you from HNB in Zagreb.
Also you need to get a company stamp made up and to obtain a tax number (statistical number).
When all that's done then your company is ready to do business.

[Madgolfer]

Hi Lesmona,

Using "HITRO" (A Govt. dept/office) the whole thing can now be done in 24 hours if need be, but 2-4 days is the norm!

Setting up a business bank account varies a good deal from bank to bank. Zagrebacka banka is immediate or at least the same day, while Raifaisen and Privenda usualy take 2-3 days. As far as I am aware, you must have a buisness bank in the name of your company and you cannot use your personal account for the purpose.

You can set up a "temporary business account" with any of the banks while your company is being set up and HITRO will need to see proof that you have at least done this before issuing your documentation.

[Madgolfer]

Sorry my last post should have read.....

"HITRO will need to see proof that you have at least done this before ACCEPTING your documentation.

[upthevilla]

2 weeks before you are ready for your trip you should get your agent / lawyer / accountant or who ever you are using

A.decide on a name for the company
the name is then given to hitro and within 24 hours you will get to know if the name can be used and if it is available

B.ask the public notary to prepare the paper work for setting up the company with your company name,

C. within a few days the papers will be prepared you then ask for them to be officially translated , this takes 24 - 48 hours
This makes sure that you know what you are signing, it is not required by law but for tha sake of 300 - 500 kina why wouldnt you.

D. The documents are scanned and emailed to you for checking and amending if required and then letting the public notary know of any changes. this will save lots of time.

E. Arrive in croatia, go to public notary and sign papers, you will need a court translator and the public notary will provide if notified in advance. The signing takes aprox 1 hour

F. they then stamp it lots of times and officially prepare the paper work go for a coffee and return in 1 hour.

G. return to public notary and pay and collect

H .take documents to the tax office or Hitro( hitro is best)
if you go to hitro then they will open ALL accounts for banking for you and take away a lot of time and stress.

I. pay 20,000 kuna and lots of other little taxes

J. if not hitro then go to bank and open a personal croatian account and pay in 20,000 kuna. and the other taxes into bank and keep receipts.

K. Then open a croatian company account in the name of your company, apply for internet banking. and transfer the 20,000 kuna into it.

L. pay all taxes and take proof back to tax office / hitro.

My record so far is doing all that in 4 hrs 20 minutes but i did have 2 coffee breaks instead of 1

You are now in the system and after aprox 3 - 4 week hitro will notify your representative that your papers are complete and ready for signing. You then return to Croatia to collect them ,

In pula they are very fussy and they insist thet YOU personally come and sign for the collecting of the paper work , but i have heard in other areas they are not as strict .

A2. Collect the paper work from Hitro / tax office and your new company number MBS number

B2 Go to a shop that makes and sells the company stamps, order a minimum of 2, go for a coffee and wait an hour and then return ,collect and pay. You will need your new company name and number to get the stamp

C3. If with hitro and there banking then they will do it if not return back to bank and officially open the company with your new company number and stamp .

D4, go to acountants and give them one of your company stamps and then give them copies of your invoices

finished.
In all you can do it in 2 visits providing you prepare yourself 2 weeks before.
1st day takes most of the day
2n visit takes about 3 hours.

when setting up the company make sure it is for exactly what you want and try and include as much as you can, make sure you explain to whoever your represenative is Exasctly and specifically what your company is intending to do.

[lesmona]

Thank you Carol and Madgolfer for the info! - very helpful and much appreciated. I noticed that you had slightly different opinions on the timing - not sure why that is. The rules keep changing, so perhaps the process has become quicker recently - just guessing.

Carol you mentioned that we need a notar to form the company. Thats four options I've heard of now from reading around. Some people suggest using an accountant, some a lawyer, some say a property consultant, and you are saying a notar. I'm thinking a lawyer might be best as they can deal with the notar when neccessary and I don't feel good about giving anybody else power of attourney.

I'm familiar with Raifaisen bank, there is a branch in Dubrovnik. They seem pretty well organised and set up for business, so I'll probably use them for the bank account.

Presumably the 20,000 KN does not need to remain in the account?

[upthevilla]

it is the public notary that does the contract, by employing a lawyer to do it you will pay twice as much as it really costs but at the end of the day you have to employ somebody to do it

[lesmona]

Thank you upthevilla!! Very much appreciated. About as comprehensive as I could ever hope for. Thank you!

[Carol]

The 20,000 kuna is called the company foundation capital. You put it into an escrow account (aka temporary company bank account) prior to applying for establishing the company. Then you transfer it to your company account which you can only set up when you have the approval to establish the company. Then you can do what you like with it AS LONG AS IT IS COMPANY BUSINESS. So you can't take it out and spend it on a holiday for yourself but you can use it to buy a property, pay legal fees, pay the accountant etc. You will need receipts for everything you spend the money on.

I'm surprised about HITRO too. Until recently my company offered a company set up service so i thought my info was very up to date and comprehensive but Madgolfer seems to know something I don't. Maybe he can explain?