If you wish to conduct business in Timor-Leste as an international firm, you must create either a subsidiary or a permanent representation in the country. If you are a nonnational, you must establish a subsidiary or a permanent representative in the country. The representative may be Timorese or a non-national resident of Timor-Leste.
To establish a subsidiary in Timor-Leste, you must satisfy a number of fundamental standards outlined in Law No.4/2004 on Commercial Companies.
You must register your subsidiary with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Environment and receive a business license. To begin, you must incorporate your company as a Private Limited Liability Company. Typically, registration takes around two weeks. The license will cost you around USD 115.
To begin conducting business in the nation, you must follow the procedures outlined by the governing regulations. To begin, you should deposit a little amount of money in a bank. Then you must register your company and apply for several certifications and licenses, such as a:
1. Certificate of registration
2. Business license
3. Tax identification number
The SERVE (Service for Registration and Verification of Entrepreneurs, or Serviço de Registo e Verificaço Empresarial) platform streamlines the registration procedure in Timor-Leste. By law, your application should be assessed within five business days, but in reality, it may take longer if you have questions or require clarification on any area of your application.
You should upload the following papers to the single-service SERVE platform:
A. Identification of corporate entities
B. Memorandum of Association Acceptance Letters for each member of the corporate body
C. Taxpayer identification numbers for shareholders (TINs)
D. IDs of shareholders, as well as evidence of marital property, if relevant
E. Locations of your company's registered offices are shown on a map.
F. Documents attesting to the company's capital deposit
G. Certified copies of previous business authorizations, where relevant
H. SERVE will issue numbers to your stockholders if they do not have TINs.
You are responsible for verifying your registration with the Ministry of Finance after you have acquired a TIN. You may wish to have a corporate stamp made by a private seal maker since you may need one in the future when dealing with government organizations. The last stage in the setup procedure is to register your business and workers for Social Security, as required by law.