Services · Company formation

How to register a company in North Macedonia as a foreigner

Updated 5 October 2026

The registry registers a company in 4 hours and free of charge, but a foreigner files through a local agent and the director has to visit the bank. We cover the DOOEL and DOO forms, the EUR 5,000 capital, the 10% tax and the 0% relief for small business, reporting, accounts and the limits for Russian and Belarusian citizens.

Is North Macedonia a good place to register a company

Four hours is how long the one-stop-shop law gives the Central Registry to decide on a company registration, and the registry charges no fee for an electronic filing. A standard limited liability company needs share capital of EUR 5,000, but not on day one: the law allows a year to pay it in. The denar (MKD) is the national currency; the National Bank's middle rate in 2026 stays at about 61.5 denars per euro.

Tax is the second argument. Corporate income tax is 10%, the same as in Bulgaria and below Serbia (15%) and Greece (22%). Companies with annual income of up to MKD 3 million (about EUR 48,800) pay no tax at all, and those earning between MKD 3 million and 6 million (about EUR 97,600) may choose 1% of turnover instead of 10% of profit.

Now for what the brochures leave out. In practice a foreign founder can file with the registry only through a registration agent. The bank usually expects the director in person. North Macedonia is an EU candidate, not a member: a Macedonian company gets no EU VAT number and no freedom to provide services across the EU. The country does, however, back EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus.

A good fit for those who trade with the Balkans, hire staff in Skopje, build a factory in a free economic zone or run a small service business with turnover of up to EUR 100,000 a year.

A poor fit for those who need a company inside the EU, anonymity (the trade register is public and ultimate owners go into a separate beneficial ownership register) or a company whose director will never travel to the bank.

Which company type to choose in North Macedonia: DOOEL, DOO or a branch

One form covers almost every task a foreign founder has: the limited liability company. The Macedonian Law on Trade Companies (Закон за трговските друштва) calls it drushtvo so ogranichena odgovornost: DOOEL (ДООЕЛ) with a single member, DOO (ДОО) with two or more. Article 30 of the law lets a foreigner hold 100% of the shares on the same terms as a citizen.

There are also the sole proprietor (трговец поединец, TP) and partnerships, where the owners answer for debts with all their personal assets. A foreign investor rarely needs them.

The simplified LLC looks tempting, but it has more limits than it seems. Only an individual can found it, not a company. Once its capital reaches EUR 5,000, it lives by the general rules. If EUR 5,000 can be found within a year, an ordinary DOOEL is simpler: no mandatory reserve and no mark in the name.

Can you register a company in North Macedonia remotely and do you need a local director

You can register remotely, but you cannot fully launch remotely. The registry accepts applications only in electronic form through its e-registration system, and they must carry an electronic signature. A foreign founder usually has no such signature, so the application is filed by a registration agent (регистрационен агент), an intermediary authorised by the Central Registry to use the system and holding its own electronic signature.

The founder does not have to travel. Article 170 of the Law on Trade Companies allows the founding document to be signed by a representative under a notarised power of attorney. A power of attorney issued abroad is notarised where the founder lives, apostilled and translated into Macedonian by a sworn translator. Passport copies of the founder and the director are, as a rule, notarised as well.

If the founder is a company, an extract from its home register is needed, also apostilled and translated. For some states bilateral legal assistance treaties waive the apostille; this is checked before the documents are prepared, so that nothing is paid for twice.

The person who usually does have to travel is the director, to the bank. The law describes the opening of the first account as an electronic exchange between the bank and the registry, but the bank lets the signatory use the money only after identification. Banks in North Macedonia normally do that in person.

A local director is not required: the director (the law calls this role upravitel, управител) can be any individual with legal capacity; the law sets no citizenship or residence test. Article 231-a requires Macedonian citizenship only for companies owned by the state. One director is enough, and the director may also be the sole member.

A registered address in the country is mandatory: the seat, meaning a place with a street and house number, is written into the founding document and the trade register. The law does not require a company secretary. Nor a seal: the law expressly bars state bodies from demanding a stamp.

A person banned by a court from this activity cannot be a director, and the owner or manager of a Macedonian company with a blocked bank account cannot found a new one until the block is lifted (Article 29). Each founder files a personal statement with the registry confirming that no such obstacle applies.

The director's right to work in the country is a separate matter. Owning a company and signing documents from abroad requires no residence permit. A foreign director who lives in North Macedonia and runs the business on site every day needs a temporary residence permit with the right to work. The Ministry of Interior issues it, and a shareholding does not grant it automatically.

How to register a company in North Macedonia: steps and timeline

Registration itself is the shortest part of the journey: Article 41 of the one-stop-shop law obliges the registry to issue its decision within 4 hours of receiving a complete file. The weeks go into what comes before and after: apostilles, translations, the bank.

Four hours is the statutory norm for a complete and correct file. In practice registration takes from a few hours to one or two working days: if the documents contain an error, the registry requires a correction and the deadline shifts.

Voluntary VAT registration can be requested in the registration form itself. The tax authority sends the VAT number to the registry within the same 90 minutes.

How much does it cost to open a company in North Macedonia

The state takes almost nothing: for an entry founding an LLC filed through the e-registration system the Central Registry charges MKD 0. The real money goes not to Skopje but into preparing documents abroad and into the mandatory capital.

Capital is not a fee: once paid in, the money stays in the company's account and covers its expenses. But the contribution cannot be postponed forever. Until it is paid in full the member is liable to the company for the amount promised, and the law charges interest on late payment.

The recurring costs after registration are a registered address, bookkeeping and reporting. The annual accounts are filed electronically with the electronic signature of the person who prepared them or of the director, so the books are kept locally, not from abroad.

What taxes does a company pay in North Macedonia

A small company can lawfully pay no corporate income tax at all: with total annual income of up to MKD 3 million (about EUR 48,800) it is exempt. The conditions are micro or small enterprise status and ordinary commercial activity: banks, insurers, financial and gambling companies cannot use the relief. The exemption does not cover dividends: on a payout to the owner the company withholds 10%.

A worked example. A service company earned MKD 5 million (about EUR 81,300) in a year and chose the simplified regime: the tax is 1% of turnover, or MKD 50,000 (about EUR 813). The same company under the general regime with a profit of MKD 2 million would pay MKD 200,000. The simplified regime is a bad deal for low margins and losses: the 1% is charged on revenue, not on profit.

In the year of registration income is annualised. A company opened in October with income of MKD 1 million over three months does not fit the MKD 3 million limit: on a full-year basis that is MKD 4 million.

Manufacturers should look at the technological industrial development zones (технолошко-индустриски развојни зони), free economic zones run by a state directorate. According to the state agency Invest North Macedonia, zone users get 10 years without corporate income tax and without personal income tax on salaries, and import equipment free of customs duties.

Personal taxes and relocation programmes are collected on the North Macedonia page.

Accounts, audit and the beneficial ownership register: what to file every year

A forgotten company in North Macedonia does not sleep, it disappears: a company that has filed neither its annual accounts nor a notice of inactivity by the last working day of the year is struck off the trade register by the Central Registry. That is Article 477 of the Law on Trade Companies.

• Annual accounts (годишна сметка). To the Central Registry by the end of February of the following year, or by 15 March in electronic form. Medium and large companies file electronically only.
• Tax return. For corporate income tax or for the tax on total income, the same deadlines: the end of February, or 15 March electronically. Corporate income tax advances are paid monthly, by the 15th.
• VAT. Those who crossed the MKD 2 million threshold during the year apply for registration by 15 January.
• Audit. Mandatory only for medium and large LLCs and joint-stock companies, and for companies whose securities are listed on the stock exchange. A company counts as small if it meets two of three tests: up to 50 employees, annual income below EUR 2 million, assets below EUR 2 million.
• Beneficial ownership register. Any change in the ultimate owners is entered within 15 days. The basis is the 2022 law on the prevention of money laundering.
• Changes in the trade register. A new director, address, members or capital are registered through the same agent.

A company with no turnover still reports: it files accounts on the prescribed forms and a written notice that there was no activity. Three inactive years in a row also end in removal from the register.

Bank accounts and business in North Macedonia for Russian and Belarusian citizens

The Law on Trade Companies does not sort founders by passport, but the bank does. North Macedonia aligns itself with the EU Council decisions on restrictive measures against Russia and Belarus, as the statements of the EU High Representative in 2025 and 2026 record. For a company owner with a Russian or Belarusian passport this means not a ban but scrutiny: the bank screens founders and beneficial owners against sanctions lists and asks for proof of the source of funds.

What a bank, as a rule, asks from a new company with a foreign owner:

• the Central Registry decision on registration and the tax number;
• passports of the director and the ultimate owners, proof of residential address;
• documents on the origin of the capital: contracts, statements, tax returns;
• a description of the business: what the company does, who the counterparties are, which countries the payments will come from.

Banks, as a rule, identify the director in person. The decision to open an account rests with the bank, so the account should be discussed with it before registration, not after. Macedonian banks look especially closely at payments linked to Russia and Belarus, and building settlements with those countries on such a company is a bad idea.

The good news concerns payments with Europe. Since October 2025 North Macedonia has operated within SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area: euro transfers between Macedonian banks that have joined the scheme and EU banks follow the same rules as inside the union.

Two more practical points. Russian citizens need a visa to enter the country, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia admits holders of a valid multiple-entry Schengen C visa without one for up to 15 days, and in 2026 also holders of multiple-entry US, UK or Canadian visas. Second, by Order No. 430-r of 5 March 2022 the Russian government put North Macedonia on its list of unfriendly states, so Russian residents need to check deals with a Macedonian company - loans, dividends, payment for shares - against the Russian restrictions in force.

More on accounts: business account in North Macedonia and personal account.

What we do

The registry takes four hours. Everything else - apostilles, translations, structure, the bank, bookkeeping - takes weeks. That is the work we take on.

• we match the task to the form: DOOEL, DOO, a simplified LLC or a branch, and say so plainly if North Macedonia is the wrong choice;
• we calculate the taxes in advance: whether the business fits the MKD 3 million and 6 million limits, when VAT kicks in, how much is left after dividends;
• we prepare the founding documents, decisions, statements and the power of attorney, and arrange translations and legalisation of the founders' documents;
• we file the application with the Central Registry through a registration agent and obtain the decision, the EMBS and the tax number;
• we help with a registered address in Skopje or another city;
• we enter the ultimate owners in the beneficial ownership register within the 15-day deadline;
• we bring in Murblz accounting and tax specialists: monthly calculations, returns, annual accounts for the Central Registry;
• we prepare the file for the bank and support the account opening;
• we handle changes in the register: director, address, members, capital.

Legal representation - notarial acts, representation before the Central Registry, the tax authority and the courts - is handled by Murblz specialists together with locally licensed partners.

To compare North Macedonia with its neighbours, see company registration in Serbia, in Bulgaria and in Montenegro. All jurisdictions are in the company registration section, and the general process is on the company formation abroad page. Those thinking about the country's passport will find the analysis of North Macedonia citizenship useful.

See also

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

FAQ