janan
Junior Member
Posts: 18
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Post by janan on Mar 23, 2010 14:05:03 GMT 1
We had to form a company to buy our holiday home, and unfortunately the lawyer we used was useless, and once she had our money she stopped responding to our emails and calls.
We left all our company docs and the company stamp with her, and since she's being so unhelpful, we now we need to buy another company stamp in a hurry, in order to make our company returns at the end of the month.
Is is possible for us to get another company stamp? Does anybody know what we would need and how we would go about it?
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Post by gmh on Mar 23, 2010 14:12:03 GMT 1
You simply need the name of your company, and a brief description of what the company does, like, 'trade for business and other services'. I guess it has to be as it is on your business registration papers. The company owners name and address. You give this info to a stamp maker and he makes you a stamp.
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janan
Junior Member
Posts: 18
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Post by janan on Mar 23, 2010 14:18:52 GMT 1
thanks GMH. Do I have to go to some sort of "official" stamp maker in Croatia? Or can i just take the imprint of our company stamp to any stamp maker in the world and ask them to replicate it?
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Post by crojoe on Mar 23, 2010 14:19:43 GMT 1
janan... first, go pickup all your documents, stamp and everything or demand that your lawyer hand it back (if your lawyer is lazy or incompetent), or get a friend to go pick it up with a POA from you. This is all too common in this fine land, lawyers doing a bad job (not all). Isn't difficult to get a replacement stamp, you just need your company papers, so again, go collect them from your lawyer. If your house in under the company name, then once again, get on a plane, train or automobile (even a ski-jet) and get those papers into your hands. You’re opening yourself up to being abused or misused, and it happens here. All documentation should be in your hands at all times, and any business you get done by lawyer or accountant should have a legal contract, signed and registered (with stamps).
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Post by crojoe on Mar 23, 2010 14:23:26 GMT 1
janan... you can go to any stamp maker in the "world" and get them to make a duplicate (just keep that info under your hat). Only in Croatia and maybe a few other countries do they require you to have official papers to make a stamp. In Croatia, the stamp is considered more important then the signature. You can't just sign a document here, it has to be stamped.
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janan
Junior Member
Posts: 18
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Post by janan on Mar 23, 2010 14:42:44 GMT 1
Thanks Crojoe, I have a lot of medical treatment coming up over the rest of the year, so travelling to Croatia to collect documents and stamp is not an option for me - I'll just get a replica made and keep quiet about it.
I wonder what companies do when they only have one stamp and it gets lost though? Surely there must be some way of getting a second one?
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Post by mambo on Mar 23, 2010 14:51:57 GMT 1
Agree with Crojoe,
Officially you have to bring up to date registration papers of your company (no older than 6 months), go to one of the companies which also makes prints, house nameplates etc. They will charge you roughly 150 Kuna for a simple stamp and it will take maybe a day.
Or................
You go to Metro in Italy or wherever you live, buy a 'Do it yourself stamp' for 5 euro, with which you get all the letters in the world, make your own stamp and off you go. Needless to say that I went for this version.
As for the unwilling lawyer...........as long as your company is officially registered you don't need this lawyer anymore. Copies of the court registration you can also take from the internet yourself or go to a notary. One thing I would advise though is to find yourself a reliable bookkeeper and that part is extremely difficult since anyone who followed a 6 week course can call him/herself a bookkeeper. Bookkeepers tend to have a huge love for your money and will do as little as possible for as much money as they can get. Fees can vary between 500 and 2000 Kuna per month for the same amount of work. One tip: 'Don't ever give your bookkeeper control over your bank account'. They will tell you that it is easy when you are not in Croatia, but you will not be the first one who will end up with nasty surprises. These surprises can vary from emptying your bank account to using your house for a loan for themselves.
Be careful in this country, people are extremely creative and will do anything to get to your money.
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Post by mambo on Mar 23, 2010 15:00:29 GMT 1
@ Janan,
You can make as many stamps as you want, but if you do it officially it will cost you 150 Kuna for each stamp.
That is why the 'Do it yourself stamp' is so perfect. You can make any stamp that you want, you can change it if something changes and it won't cost you a single penny, plus you don't need to provide yourself with the company papers.
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Post by Madgolfer on Mar 23, 2010 15:08:36 GMT 1
I think that your company stamp must now include your OIB number.
Not 100% sure, but the last three we have had made, the printers (aka stamp maker) have insisted on it.
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Post by Madgolfer on Mar 23, 2010 15:11:12 GMT 1
Janan,
I agree with the other posters here, you should be in possession of your company paperwork and not your lawyer.
Its not a huge amount for them to post to you, if you have no one here who could pick it up for you.
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Post by crojoe on Mar 23, 2010 15:15:15 GMT 1
You just think ahead and get two made, either that or hold onto that stamp like your passport. Even when my accountant does the books I then take my stamp to stamp the official papers, have quick look over the papers first (just to make sure it doesn’t say I bequest all my worldly goods too...) and then stamp (thankfully my accountant is very nice, speaks excellent English and a normal person, and gets the job done).
I actually designed my company stamp on my computer (JPG format) then just gave the stamp maker the file. This would be the easiest way to go about it, as any copies you then need in the future can be made here or maybe somewhere else (what some might term abroad).
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janan
Junior Member
Posts: 18
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Post by janan on Mar 23, 2010 15:31:29 GMT 1
Mambo, that's very reassuring to know that somebody else has done this! ;D
When you say "up to date registration papers of the company", are these the copies of the court registration that I can get from the internet? Do you have a link for this?
We currently have a bookkeeper sorting out the accounts, but when the bookkeeper contacted the lawyer, the lawyer said she didn't have any documents relating to our company, which is why we're trying to replace whatever we can. I could get a friend to go in to pick them up but with the lawyer claiming she has nothing, there isn't much point, and we're running out of time to get the accounts submitted
Thanks so much to all of you for all this advice and info
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Post by Madgolfer on Mar 23, 2010 19:14:49 GMT 1
Might I suggest you post the info on this lawyer so others may be warned.
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Post by happy on Mar 23, 2010 19:50:03 GMT 1
Welcome to Croatia. The Mediterranean as it once was! (Still)
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Post by Carol on Mar 23, 2010 21:46:12 GMT 1
When you collect the papers from the court they have to be signed for. It may be that the notary whom your lawyer would have had to hire has these papers. Ask the lawyer which notary she/ he used and work from there. You really need those papers though, they are very important. Do you know 100% for sure that your company was established at all?
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