Register a company in Timor-Leste

Partly. SERVE takes files only in person, so you sign a power of attorney and our Dili team hands the file in. The roles are the harder part. Timorese law requires a legal representative with permanent residence in the country, and SERVE lets a foreigner sit on the board only with a working or permanent residence visa. If you stay abroad, those roles go to people who live there, and we settle who before anything is signed.

Registration starts from $2,900. Official certificate and licence fees and a legal address, if you need ours, are quoted separately. With an EMI or online bank account, from $4,800. SERVE itself charges nothing to register, and the US$1 minimum capital is deposited with a bank before filing.

Corporate income tax at a flat 10% (30% for oil and gas contractors), and no VAT. Imports carry 2.5% import duty, plus 2.5% sales tax on taxable goods, while local sales carry 0%. Hotels, restaurants, bars and telecoms add a 5% services tax above US$500. Dividends to resident shareholders carry 0% withholding. For non-residents PwC gives 10% on Timor-Leste-source payments, and we confirm the dividend rate before the first payout. Employers withhold wage income tax at 10% and pay it over monthly.

SERVE quotes 1 to 5 days for the registration itself, and TradeInvest says it typically takes up to 5 working days. The time before that goes on translations and the capital deposit, and because the file must reach SERVE within 15 days of signing, the articles are signed last. Our preparation time depends on your papers, and we confirm it in the quote. The commercial licence follows: approval within five working days if the file has no irregularities, then an inspection. Where an environmental permit is needed, TradeInvest warns it might take up to six months.

In two separate steps. For registration, the law requires cash capital to be deposited with a bank to the order of the company's management, and the money is released once the company is registered. For trading money, the Company + Bank Account package opens an account with an EMI or online bank remotely, and we quote a local bank account on request. The US dollar is the national currency. Under the 2017 Private Investment Law, investors have the right to transfer profits and capital proceeds, through the banking system and under Central Bank rules.

This is the main practical hurdle. Directors must be individuals, and SERVE accepts a foreigner on the board only with a working visa or permanent residence visa. The Lautém municipality's SERVE checklist also asks for proof that at least one director lives in Timor-Leste. Separately, the law requires a legal representative with permanent residence in the country, registered with SERVE, who receives official notices. A director or another individual can take that role. Working visas run up to one year and can be renewed, according to the 2023 Investment Guide.

Timor-Leste is not a party to the Apostille Convention (HCCH status table, checked 9 October 2026), so the route for legalising your foreign papers is confirmed for your case. Everything filed must be in Portuguese or Tetum, and a translation counts only if certified by one of the five bodies DL 16/2017 lists. Its document list, as published in 2017, also asks for each partner's tax number, and we settle how a foreign partner meets that before filing.

In most sectors, yes. SERVE allows 100% foreign ownership except in petroleum and media communication, and the 2017 investment law requires no prior approval for a lawful activity. TradeInvest's 2023 guide lists five sectors closed to all investors, including postal and courier services, and five where foreign stakes can be limited, such as insurance and gambling. Land is the hard limit: only Timorese nationals may own it. Foreigners lease, and State land can be leased for up to 50 years, renewable in 25-year periods up to 100.

Yes, through the single-member Unipessoal, Lda, with the same US$1 minimum capital. If a single-member company becomes insolvent and its assets were not used only for its own obligations, the sole partner can be held personally liable (Art. 86 of the company law). Separate accounts and clean books are the practical defence. A foreign company can instead register a branch (R.P.) with at least US$5,000 of allocated capital and a legal representative who usually lives in Timor-Leste.

Yes, under the 2017 Private Investment Law, for projects that obtain a benefits declaration or a special investment agreement. The income tax exemption is 100% and lasts 5 years in urban Dili, 8 years outside it and 10 years in Oe-Cusse Ambeno and Ataúro. Capital goods are also exempt from sales tax and import duty, and services tax is waived. Minimum investments are set by government decree. The 2023 Investment Guide gives US$500,000 for foreign investors and US$250,000 for qualifying joint ventures.