Doing business in Montenegro

Hi Julien,

foreign investor are what is keeping Montenegro alive, so they are more then welcome.
Procedure for opening the company is quite easy, I say quite since it is much easier then 10 years ago, but still there are some paperwork to be done in couple of institutions. I presume you are interested in opening LLC. So, start capital is minimum 1e, and you need lawyer to finish all paperwork for you, and they charge around 500e, and also with this you get one year residency  as manager of company. Monthly expenses for bookkeeping, office, communal taxes can be around 300 (if you need big office, them for sure more, here I am talking about minimum expenses) and you have deductions like 150e per month for manager and 100e for every employee (if foreigners you also need one year residency for them, which agencies charge 200e with taxes), also this is minimum amount if your book minimal wage in Montenegro for all employees.
Corporate tax is 9%, generally speaking!
If your question is to recruit employees, my answer is yes since there is a lot of unemployment here and in region.

If you have more questions feel free to ask!

Hi Julien,
I agree with most of the information provided by Nemanja.
Having set up a few companies myself here, I can say that the process is quite easy.
Indeed foreign investors are welcome here.
Accountant fees alone should be around 100eur + vat. Also, it is not necessary to hire a lawyer to set up the company, since the accountants can take care of that (statutes, etc). But if you need some more sophisticated statutes for ex. you'd use a lawyer.
It is not so easy to recruit in the sense that there are not many recruitment agencies, and the national one is very national-focused... For ex. their website is only in local language and impossible to navigate through when you don't speak the language (google translate can help though...). However it is true there is quite a lot of unemployment, so many potential workers on the market.
There are a few organisations that can help foreigners through investing or setting up businesses in Montenegro, such as the MIPA (Montenegro Investment Promotion Agency) which provide free assistance to investors coming to Montenegro and has a very friendly and efficient staff and a lot of very useful documentation available on their website.
Also, to assist french and english speaking investors in Montenegro, we have recently launched the "Franco-Montenegrin Business Club" on the initiative of the French Embassy. I am myself one of the founding members.
Hope this will help future investors!
Cheers!

Julien wrote:

Hi,

are foreign investors welcome in Montenegro?

Is it complicated to register a company in Montenegro? What is the procedure?

What is the corporate tax rate in Montenegro?

Is it easy to recruit?

Any advice you would share with us?

Thank you very much for your participation,

Julien

Thanks for your posts !

Hi there, your contribution on this post has been very helpful. Can you recommend any accountant/registrar who is trustworthy and can  help register a company/get residency permits for people who are abroad.
Thanks

Hi Tsarine,
Can you suggest any accountant in Budva or Podgorica to help in registering the firm as well as guide on the visa forlmalities to move and start the business.
Best Regards
Narender

Hello there,
I can't recommend an accountant in Budva (I am based in Tivat), however I can recommend one agency to assist you with Residence Permit Procedure:  artemon.me/
Maybe you can contact them and ask if they have an accountant to recommend to you.

The residence permit procedure has become more complicated this year, which you can understand by looking at this very useful list one of our fellow expats has put together: lake-skadar.com/muppet-list

About setting up a company, you should find useful information here:
- mipa.co.me/starting_business this is a state agency which purpose is to assist foreign investors in Montenegro. They were very helpful to me when I moved here 7 years ago.
- doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/montenegro/starting-a-business (also good online source of info)

Cheers!

Hi Tsarine,

This is very helpful. Will follow up with the links provided by you.

Thanks and Regards
Narender Singh

I can highly recommend an accounting company in Podgorica.  Great people, very helpful and very easy to contact and keep in contact with.  They patiently talked me thru the whole proceedure step by step.  They have been my accounting company now for nearly two years. 

Ekonomik

Vasa Raičkovića 4A, 81000 Podgorica

Poslovni studio Ekonomik

mob. 068 222 188

fixed line. 020 238 730

ekonomik.me/en/

E-mail: info@ekonomik.me

Their web-site is in English, just scroll to the bottom of the page to change language.

Hi Karelia,

Thanks a lot for your guidance and support.
I will coordinate with them for the next steps.
Regards
Narender Singh