🇨🇾 Cyprus
Cyprus combines a 15% corporate rate, a generous IP Box and a non-domicile regime — a long-standing favourite for holding and IP structures.
Who it suits
Who it does not
Living
A sunny Mediterranean island with English widely spoken, a relaxed lifestyle and a popular non-dom regime for relocating entrepreneurs and investors.
Business
A private limited company is quick to incorporate, and Cyprus has a deep professional-services sector built around international structuring.
Tax
Corporate tax rose from 12.5% to 15% on 1 January 2026 under the Cyprus tax reform, aligning with the OECD global minimum. The IP Box can still cut the effective rate on qualifying IP to about 3%, the treaty network remains extensive, and non-doms keep their exemptions on dividends and interest.
Figures are indicative and change over time. We confirm the current rules, rates and requirements for your specific situation before you commit.
How incorporation works
- Name approvalClear the company name with the Registrar — a short step that fails more often than people expect, usually because the name sits too close to one already on the register.
- StructureSettle shareholders, directors, company secretary and registered office. Where management will actually sit is decided here, because that is what makes the company tax resident.
- SigningThe shareholder signs the memorandum and articles and the incorporation form, and sends the originals to Cyprus.
- FilingA Cyprus lawyer certifies the documents and files them with the Registrar of Companies.
- RegistrationThe Registrar issues the registration number and the certificate of incorporation.
- Tax registrationRegister with the Tax Department for a tax identification code, and for VAT and VIES where turnover or EU trade require it.
- UBO registerEnter the beneficial owners in the register of ultimate beneficial owners.
- Bank accountOpen the bank or EMI account with the corporate pack, ownership evidence and a business description written the way compliance reads it.
What we need from you
- Passport copies for every shareholder, director and beneficial owner
- Recent proof of address for each of them
- CV or professional profile for the directors
- A description of the business, its customers and where its money comes from
- Source-of-funds evidence for the share capital
- Two or three preferred company names, in order
- Bank reference where the structure calls for one
- Powers of attorney where we sign on your behalf
What you end up with
- Certificate of incorporation
- Memorandum and articles of association
- Certificates of directors, secretary, shareholders and registered office
- Tax identification code, plus VAT and VIES numbers where registered
- Registered office and company secretary
- Share certificates and the statutory registers
- A corporate pack banks and counterparties will accept
Every year after that
- An annual return (HE32) to the Registrar, filed with the previous year’s financial statements
- Financial statements prepared under IFRS and audited — dormant companies included
- A corporate income tax return, with provisional tax paid during the year
- An annual general meeting
- VAT and VIES returns where the company is registered
- Keeping the UBO register current whenever ownership changes
Common questions
How long does it actually take?
Clearing the name is quick. The whole process — signing, sending originals to Cyprus, filing, the registration number, tax registration, the UBO entry and a working account — is realistically four weeks and up. Banking is the part that decides whether it is four weeks or more.
Do I have to live in Cyprus?
No. But where your directors sit and where decisions are genuinely taken is what makes the company tax resident in Cyprus, and tax residency is usually the whole point of the structure. A company registered here but run from somewhere else is a different, weaker position.
Is the audit really required every year?
Yes. A Cyprus company files audited financial statements with its annual return, and that applies to dormant companies too. Budget for it from the start rather than discovering it in month eleven.
Can the bank account be opened remotely?
Usually yes — but with two caveats. The bank may still ask for a meeting in person, and the signed forms have to reach it physically whatever happens. What moves a file is evidence: who owns the company, where the money comes from, and a business description that matches what the company will actually do.
Does the non-dom regime still apply?
Yes, and it is a personal regime, separate from how the company is taxed. The two interact, so we look at the company and the individual together rather than solving one and breaking the other.
What does the IP Box actually require?
It reduces the effective rate on qualifying IP income, but qualification turns on development activity, not on owning the asset. Buying IP and parking it in Cyprus does not pass the test.
Set up your company in Cyprus
Tell us about your business and we will confirm whether Cyprus is the right fit — and handle the full incorporation.
- A reply within one working day
- The first consultation is 30 minutes
- Confidential, no obligation