Services · Company formation

Open a company or start a business in the Dominican Republic

Updated 5 October 2026

The state needs about USD 140 to register an S.R.L., then takes 27% of profit and another 10% of dividends. There is no minimum capital and no need to travel, but two members are required and the bank account has to be earned. Company types, steps, government fees, taxes and reporting under Laws 479-08 and 30-26.

Is it worth opening a company in the Dominican Republic

From fiscal year 2027 the Dominican Republic abolishes its company incorporation tax - 1% of authorised capital. The repeal is part of Law 30-26 of 18 June 2026, the broadest tax reform in years. A limited liability company (S.R.L.) needs no minimum capital, and the government's Formalízate portal issues a new company's documents in 3-7 business days.

A cheap entry does not mean low taxes. Profits are taxed at 27% - almost three times the rate in Paraguay (10%) and slightly above Panama (25%). Dividends carry another 10%. And when there is no profit, the company still pays 1% of the value of its assets.

The territorial principle the country is often marketed on comes with caveats. Tax applies to Dominican-source income, but resident companies are also taxed on foreign investment income and financial gains. Law 30-26 added fees for technical assistance to that list and defined it very broadly: legal, financial, accounting and administrative services, software, cloud services, cybersecurity and data-related work.

A good fit for businesses that operate on the ground: tourism and rentals, construction and real estate, imports, services for the local market, export manufacturing in a free trade zone. Not a fit for anyone looking for a tax-free company for foreign income, a company with a single corporate founder, or a bank account without a clear source of funds.

Which company type to choose in the Dominican Republic: S.R.L., E.I.R.L., S.A.S. or S.A.

The default type for a small business with foreign founders is the S.R.L.: in 2019 Law 68-19 removed its minimum capital of 100,000 pesos, leaving only a minimum par value of 100 pesos per quota. All company types are governed by Law 479-08 on commercial companies (Ley General de las Sociedades Comerciales y Empresas Individuales de Responsabilidad Limitada), as amended by Laws 31-11 and 68-19.

Amounts below are in Dominican pesos (RD$). For reference: in 2026 one US dollar is worth about 60 pesos.

The main limitation of the S.R.L. is the two-member rule. If all quotas end up with one owner, the law gives six months to find a second member or convert the company. A sole individual founder is left with the E.I.R.L., while a foreign company that wants to own a Dominican business outright needs a second member holding at least one quota, or a branch.

The S.A.S. is chosen for share classes and flexible bylaws, the S.A. when a sector law or investors require it.

Can a foreigner open a company without residency and without travelling

Yes: Law 479-08 requires neither citizenship nor residency from members and managers, and foreign ownership can be 100%. A passport is enough - both the Formalízate portal and the tax authority's guide say so. A national identity card (cédula) is needed only by Dominicans and by foreigners who already hold residency.

Travelling for the registration is not required. Filings at the Mercantile Registry are signed by the manager or by a representative under a power of attorney (gestor apoderado), with the power attached to the application. A power of attorney issued abroad must carry an apostille and be translated into Spanish: the Dominican Republic, Russia and Belarus are all parties to the Hague Apostille Convention.

Three things must be located in the country:

• The company's address. The bylaws must state the registered office (domicilio social), and registration is handled by the chamber of commerce of the province where that address is located.
• A representative for the name registration. An applicant with no address or establishment in the country must be represented before ONAPI, the industrial property office, by an individual who lives in the Dominican Republic.
• A person responsible to the tax authority. When registering for tax, the company designates an individual responsible for its tax obligations and attaches the meeting minutes recording that person's acceptance.

If a foreign company becomes a member, the tax authority will ask for its constitutive documents, registered in its home country and translated into Spanish.

A separate rule matters for anyone planning to hire a team: under Article 135 of the Labour Code at least 80% of a company's workers must be Dominican. Foreigners who hold management positions only are exempt from this limit.

The company itself does not grant residency. Investor residency is tied to an investment of at least USD 200,000 registered with the state agency ProDominicana. Options for those living on foreign income are covered on the page residency and remote work in the Dominican Republic.

How to register a company: steps and timeline

By the agencies' own service standards the whole chain takes about a week: the name - 1 business day, the Mercantile Registry - 24 hours after payment, the tax number - 3 business days when filed online. The order is fixed: without a tax number the company cannot invoice, hire or open a bank account.

For an S.R.L. or E.I.R.L., steps one to five can be completed in a single application through the government's one-stop portal Formalízate: its stated timeframe is 3-7 business days, with payment by card. The S.A.S. and S.A. cannot be registered through the portal, and not every chamber accepts documents online.

For a foreign founder most of the time goes into things the service standards do not cover: the apostille and translation of the power of attorney, shipping originals, answering the registry's comments. A realistic horizon from a complete document set to the RNC is 2-4 weeks, with the bank account as a separate stage.

How much does it cost to open a company: government fees and mandatory payments

For an S.R.L. with capital of 100,000 pesos, the state needs about 8,400 pesos - roughly USD 140. That is three payments: the name, the incorporation tax and the Mercantile Registry fee. Below are confirmed government tariffs only, in pesos.

Sample calculation. An S.R.L. with capital of 100,000 pesos and three documents to register: 4,755 + 1,000 + 2,500 + 150 = 8,405 pesos. The same company with capital of 1,000,000 pesos: 4,755 + 10,000 + 8,000 + 150 = 22,905 pesos, about USD 380. Once the incorporation tax is gone, these totals fall by 1,000 and 10,000 pesos.

Capital is not a fee: the money stays in the company. But inflating it does not pay - the incorporation tax and the registry fee, at registration and at every renewal, depend on it.

Government tariffs do not include the notary, the apostille and sworn translation of foreign documents, the address or bookkeeping. We quote the cost of our work after reviewing the documents.

What taxes does a company pay in the Dominican Republic

Out of every 100 pesos of profit paid out to the owner as dividends, the state takes 34.3 pesos: 27% corporate income tax and another 10% on dividends. The country has only two double tax treaties - with Canada and Spain. There is no treaty with Russia or Belarus.

• Corporate income tax (Impuesto sobre la Renta, ISR) - 27%. For companies with income of 1 billion pesos or more (about USD 16.7 million), Law 30-26 introduced a temporary 30% rate for fiscal years 2026, 2027 and 2028.
• Assets tax (Impuesto sobre los Activos) - 1% of the value of assets. It works as a minimum tax: it is payable when the income tax comes out lower.
• Advance payments (anticipos) - monthly by the 15th, on account of income tax. From fiscal year 2027 small companies pay advances in three instalments and micro-enterprises are exempt.
• ITBIS (Impuesto sobre Transferencias de Bienes Industrializados y Servicios) - the local VAT, 18%. Exports are zero-rated; education, healthcare, financial services and residential rent are exempt. There is no turnover threshold of the kind familiar from European VAT: the tax applies from the first sale, and the return is filed every month by the 20th, even with no transactions.
• Dividends - 10% withheld at source, a final tax for residents and non-residents alike.
• Payments abroad - 27% withholding on services and technical assistance. From 1 July 2026 a 15% rate applies to royalties, software licences, online advertising and data storage.
• Tax on cheques and electronic transfers - 0.2% of the amount.

Sample calculation. Profit before tax - 1,000,000 pesos. Income tax at 27% - 270,000 pesos. Of the remaining 730,000 pesos, 10% is withheld when dividends are paid - 73,000 pesos. The owner receives 657,000 pesos.

With employees come employer contributions: 7.10% for pensions, 7.09% for health insurance, about 1.2% for occupational risk insurance and 1% to the INFOTEP vocational training fund. An employer must also share 10% of net profit with employees, capped at 45-60 days' salary per person.

Export manufacturing and services can use the free trade zone regime (zonas francas) under Law 8-90: an income tax exemption for 15-20 years depending on the zone's location. Dividends of such companies are still taxed at 10%, and sales to the local market at 3.5%. Rates for individuals are on the page taxes in the Dominican Republic.

What a company must do every year

A Dominican company reports to the tax authority at least once a month, even with no transactions, and by 15 November 2026 all small companies and micro-enterprises must switch to electronic invoices. Keeping a company without bookkeeping does not work: late payments carry a 3% monthly surcharge.

The company chooses its fiscal year from four closing dates: 31 December, 31 March, 30 June or 30 September. Changing the date later requires the tax authority's approval.

Audit. Article 33 of Law 479-08 requires audited financial statements in three cases: the company uses bank credit, issues debt obligations, or its annual gross income exceeds 100 public-sector minimum wages. An S.A. additionally needs a mandatory statutory auditor with a relevant degree and at least three years of experience.

Beneficial owners. Law 155-17 against money laundering treats as the beneficial owner the individual who controls the company or holds at least 20% of its capital. The company discloses these individuals to the tax authority, and the bank checks them separately.

Reserve and records. An S.R.L. or S.A. sets aside at least 5% of net profit to a legal reserve until it reaches 10% of capital. Source documents and accounting records are kept for 10 years.

Bank account and citizens of Russia and Belarus

A corporate account can be opened only after the RNC is issued, and it is the least predictable stage: the bank decides for itself. Under Law 155-17 it must identify every owner holding 20% or more and understand where the money comes from, so it will ask for the Mercantile Registry certificate, the bylaws, the tax number, passports of members and signatories, a description of the business and source-of-funds documents.

The bank may request proof of address, a business plan and a meeting in person with the signatory. Foreign documents are accepted with an apostille and a Spanish translation. A company with non-resident members usually faces more questions, and the decision rests with the bank.

For citizens of Russia and Belarus. There is no ban on their participation in Dominican companies; the law's requirements are the same for all foreigners. The difficulty lies elsewhere: US dollar payments of Dominican banks run through correspondent banks in the United States, so clients are screened against the sanctions lists of OFAC (the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control). A Russian or Belarusian passport means enhanced due diligence, and a payment from a sanctioned bank will not go through.

Russian citizens do not need a tourist visa for the country; Belarusian citizens do, unless they hold a valid US, Canadian, UK or Schengen visa.

More detail on the pages business account in the Dominican Republic and personal account.

What we do

• select the company type and capital amount, and say so directly if the Dominican Republic does not fit the task;
• prepare the bylaws, the minutes of the constitutive meeting and the power of attorney, and arrange the apostille and translations of foreign documents;
• register the name with ONAPI, file with the Mercantile Registry and follow the application through to the RNC;
• help with a company address accepted by the registry and the tax authority;
• register the company as an employer with the TSS and the Ministry of Labour;
• bring in Murblz accounting and tax specialists: monthly returns, annual reporting, the switch to electronic invoices;
• prepare the compliance package for the bank and support the account opening.

Legal representation - before ONAPI, the Mercantile Registry, the tax authority and the courts, as well as notarial acts - is handled by Murblz specialists together with locally licensed partners. We quote the cost after reviewing the documents.

Other countries are covered in the sections company registration and company registration abroad. Everything about the country is on the page Dominican Republic, and buying property to rent out is covered under investment property.

See also

Business account · Personal account · Investment property · All country programs

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