A Ukrainian Joint Stock Company under the laws of Ukraine has the status of a separate legal entity. This is a common option for banks and large-scale businesses. According to the Ukrainian JSC Law, all JSC’s shall be established as either “public” or “private”.

• Public JSC’s shares are traded publicly and on the stock market. This legal form is recommended for businesses intending to collect substantial capital by a public emission. The majority stake in a Public Joint-Stock Company is granted by 75%+1 share.
• Private JSC’s shares can be traded only by its shareholders. This legal form is commonly chosen for the cases of financing by shareholders.

SHAREHOLDER STRUCTURE

The number of shareholders may only be 2 and more. The existing shareholders might have a pre-emptive right to purchase another’s shareholder’s shares if the charter document state that. The general shareholders’ meeting, the executive board, consisting of at least one director, and the audit committee are mandatory for a Ukrainian Limited Liability Company. Shares must be registered with the State Securities and Stock Market Commission.

CHARTER CAPITAL:

The minimum seize of the charter capital of a Ukrainian Joint Stock Company is is appr. 148.000,- USD.
TAXATION:

Currently (as of April 2012) it is 21% on profit, which is going to be gradually reduced to 19% on January 1, 2013 and to 16% on January 1, 2014. Value Added Tax is 20%. Have a look at our article on the new procedure of the VAT-Payor registration.

Please ask us for advice before taking any action. You can do it here, it this blog right after this post. We are always happy to help.

Sincerely yours,
Alexei Sandakov
CEO, Lobusch Consulting
www.lobusch-consulting.com

Should you choose to set up a Ukrainian LLC of your own, push the button below and proceed to the online company registration form. You will get a free consultation upon submitting your data.

SHAREHOLDING STRUCTURE

The number of shareholders is limited to 10. Once they are 11 or more, Ukrainian LLC has to be converted into a Joint Stock Company. The existing shareholders have a pre-emptive right to buy another shareholder’s shares. The General Shareholders’ Meeting is the highest governance body of any LL.C., its resolutions are adopted with the 60% shares majority.

CHARTER CAPITAL

As of April 1. 2012 the minimum charter capital of a Ukrainian LLC amounts to appr. 130,- US dollars. It might seem quite few, but consider the practice for instance. As soon as your Ukrainian company has been set up, it is going to have to report to the Ukrainian Tax Authority on a monthly basis. Such reporting as well as other expenses are required to keep the company working. 130,- US dollars cannot be sufficient for this and different other cash needs. Common types of subsidiaries financing like mother to daughter company loan are hurdled by the bureaucratic loan registration with the National Bank of Ukraine.

EXECUTIVE BOARD:

Every Ukrainian limited liability company must have at least one director who is responsible for its functionality. For a newly registered company, a foreigner cannot become the director if she/he has not yet obtained the permit to be employed in Ukraine. In such cases an interim director is assigned till the non-Ukrainian director obtains the work permit and the director switch occurs legally. If you do not have any special candidature for the temporary director, one of our employees can take over the function.

TAXATION:

Currently (as of April 2012) it is 21% on profit, which is going to be gradually reduced to 19% on January 1, 2013 and to 16% on January 1, 2014. Value Added Tax is 20%. Have a look at our article on the new procedure of the VAT-Payor registration.

Please ask us for advice before taking any action. You can do it here, it this blog right after this post. We are always happy to help.

Sincerely yours,
Alexei Sandakov
CEO, Lobusch Consulting
www.lobusch-consulting.com

Ukrainian authorities often have certain requirements to the documents and their legalization. One of that is Apostille.

The Apostille treaty is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It specifies the modalities through which a document issued in one of the signatory countries can be certified for legal purposes in all the other signatory states. Such certification is called an apostille (French: certification). It is an international certification comparable to a notarization in domestic law.

If your country is a member of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, you will not have to legalize respective documents with the Ukrainian Embassy in your country (which is unfortunately a costly and lengthy procedure). Your documents will have to be notarized by your local notary, then your notary should thereby provide the apostille.

See the list of countries members as well as their reservations and limitations of the Hague Conference on Private International Law here.

Please ask us for advice before taking any action. You can do it here, it this blog right after this post. We are always happy to help.

Sincerely yours,
Alexei Sandakov
CEO, Lobusch Consulting
www.lobusch-consulting.com