Register a company in Mozambique

It depends on your documents, so we confirm it for your case before you pay. The Code requires every member, or their legal representative, to sign the company contract with the signature notarially recognised. Mozambique is not a party to the Apostille Convention, so papers signed abroad cannot rely on an apostille. We agree the signing and certification route first. The EMI or online bank account in our second package is opened remotely.

Registration starts from $2,900. Official registry and notary fees and a legal address, if you need ours, are quoted separately. With an EMI or online bank account, from $4,800. Publication in the Boletim da República is also paid by the company. The share capital is the company's own money, stated in meticais and held at a bank authorised in Mozambique.

We do not put a number of days on this page. The registry's official timeline is confirmed when we file, and our own preparation time, which depends on how quickly your documents are signed and certified, is set out in your quote. After registration the deadlines are fixed. Capital is paid in within a year of definitive registration (up to three years where it is MZN 750,000 or more), and proof of title to your investment is due within 90 days of the date in the contract. CIT returns go in by the last working day of May for a calendar-year company.

Corporate tax of 32% on worldwide income, with three payments on account in May, July and September and a special payment on account in June, August and October. VAT is 16%, or 5% for private health, education, vocational training and tutoring. When the company pays non-residents it withholds 20% on dividends, interest and royalties before treaty relief, and 10% on digital goods and services. On salaries, the employer pays 4% social security and the employee 3%, with no ceiling. PwC's figures were last reviewed in August 2026, and we recheck them against current law before your first filing.

Plan on two accounts with different jobs. The share capital is stated in meticais and held at a bank authorised in Mozambique, and the bank that receives your money registers it as foreign investment. For international payments, our second package adds an EMI or online bank account opened remotely. We look at how that account will be used before it is opened, since the exchange law requires every foreign-exchange operation to be registered. Residents may not pay each other in foreign currency inside the country. A resident company with a proven link to the exterior or to a non-resident may also hold a foreign-currency account in Mozambique.

Exchange control, mostly. The 2024 notices freed a list of capital operations from approval, but cross-border money still moves through banks and on the record. Every foreign-exchange operation is subject to registration, and exporters must bring their proceeds home in foreign currency through an authorised bank. The 2024 rules give them 90 days and require 30% to be converted into meticais. A central bank notice of 9 April 2025 then set an exceptional regime for export proceeds, and we check its terms for your case. The other catch is the rate. At 32%, Mozambique's corporate tax is the highest in our comparison table.

Yes, through a bank, with a file. The bank asks for the requester's identification, an independent auditor's declaration where one applies, the general meeting minutes approving the distribution, proof of tax compliance and the foreign-exchange registration letter. Withholding on dividends to a non-resident is 20% without a treaty. The treaty rates in PwC's table run from 0% for the UAE to 15% for Italy, with South Africa at 8% or 15%.

An apostille will not do it: Mozambique does not appear in the HCCH status table for the Apostille Convention. Which certification each foreign document needs, and whether it must be translated, is agreed document by document before you sign. One rule is clear in the Code: a company name in a foreign language is admitted only with an official translation attached, unless an exception such as a registered trade mark applies.

The Code allows four company types: the sociedade em nome colectivo de responsabilidade limitada, the sociedade por quotas (Lda), the sociedade anónima (SA) and the sociedade por acções simplificada. Our packages cover the Lda, the private limited company. A foreign company that wants to operate in Mozambique for more than a year must set up a permanent representation, and a Mozambican company may open branches or agencies at home or abroad. If your plans or your investors call for another form, we say so in the consultation.

Any minimum for your form is confirmed when we draft the contract; the general part of the Code sets how capital works. The amount is stated in meticais and held at a bank authorised in Mozambique, and cash capital can be withdrawn only by those who bind the company. It must be paid in within a year of the contract's definitive registration; where capital is MZN 750,000 or more, that period can be extended to up to three years.