Naya Antoniou presents Incorporating in Greece & Cyprus

1. to...
om e
W elc
Andrew Dimitriou, Aristeidis Papathanasiou, Christina
Tsakona, Manos Tavlas, Nayia Antoniou
Colab Athens | January 12, 2012

2. Incorporation in
Greece and Cyprus
Nayia Antoniou, Attorney at Law

3. Questions
Where do I incorporate?
Which are the options?
What is the cost?
What do I need to know?

4. Contents
Incorporating in Greece
Practical Matters
Incorporating in Cyprus
Highlights

5. Incorporating
in Greece

6. Company types in
Greece
low high
cost OE EE EPE AE cost
personal limited
liability liability
sweet
spot

7. Company types in
Greece
minimum notarial
publicity accounting
capital deed
OE 0 no no low
EE 0 no no low
EPE 4,5k yes medium medium
AE 60k yes high high

8. Practical
Matters

9. Practical matters
Registered office
Capital
Funding
Branch

10. Greek Legal Dead-End
Gives Requires Gets
Investor Money Equity Equity
Entrepreneur Time Equity Nothing

11. Capital
Capital must be deposited
You get what you pay (equity Vs money)
Do you have a business idea ? YES
Do you have $ money $ ? NO
Can you participate in a capital company?

12. Funding
Investor
Money
Limited Liability
Equity
Shareholders Agreement

13. Solution:
New Legal Entity
No principal place of business required
Almost zero initial capital
Equity not related to capital contribution
Coming soon...

14. Branch
Formal existence in Greece
Employ people in Greece
Taxed like a Limited company or an S.A
Company
Registered office
Obligatory to declare your income from any
country

15. Incorporating
in Cyprus

16. Benefits of Cyprus
Limited bureaucracy
‘Shelf’ companies
Low taxation
Flexibility

17. Cypriot Limited
Company
No minimum capital / deposit required
Limited liability of partners
Nominee shareholders
Managers / Secretary / Registered office
required (cost factors) $$$

18. Highlights

19. Tax in Greece Vs Cyprus
Distributed
VAT Profits
Profits
Greece 23% 20% 25%
Cyprus 15% 10% 0%

20. So, how to decide?
Set Up cost (assume 1-4k)
Running cost (assume 1-4k annually)
Efficiency
Taxes

21. Remember...
Do not panic!
Each jurisdiction has pros and cons
The decision is yours
Choose your team wisely

22. Thank you!
Nayia Antoniou
na@nantonioulaw.com