Cyprus company formation cost: the official fees, and what a provider adds on top

The government fees for forming a Cyprus company come to €175. The Registrar of Companies charges €10 per proposed name for name approval and €165 for the incorporation filing. Accelerated handling costs €20 more per name and €100 more for the incorporation, so the expedited total is €295.

Everything else in a formation quote is the provider's own price. It covers drafting the memorandum and articles of association, the company's founding documents. It also covers arranging the lawyer's statutory declaration and dealing with the Registrar for you. This guide separates the two parts, so you can read any quote and know what you're paying for.

What does the Registrar of Companies charge?

Two fees, at two stages, both published on its own fee pages. Name approval comes first and costs €10 for each name you propose. The incorporation filing follows, for a fee of €165. That filing is form HE1 with the memorandum and articles, plus form HE2 for the registered office and form HE3 naming the first directors and secretary.

These fees are the same for everyone. A solo consultant and a fifty-person group pay the same amounts, in every district, whoever files the paperwork. If a quote doesn't show the government fees on their own line, ask for them. It's the quickest way to see what the provider itself is charging.

Why the name fee is charged per name

Because €10 buys one name check, every rejected name costs you another €10. That's where formation budgets quietly grow. The Registrar rejects names that aren't distinctive, that mislead, that imply a regulated activity you're not licensed for, or that sit too close to a name already on the register. Submit one name you love, have it rejected, and you pay again for the next attempt.

The founders who pay once prepare a shortlist of two or three names they'd genuinely accept. They check them against the register before filing anything, and treat the first choice as a preference. Once a name is approved, it's reserved for you while you complete the incorporation. That's why the name always comes first in the sequence we walk through in how to register a company in Cyprus.

Is the accelerated track worth paying for?

Often, yes, if a signed contract or a client is waiting on your company number. The extra €20 on the name and €100 on the incorporation are small next to the cost of a stalled deal.

What the Registrar sells is a place in a faster queue. It publishes the acceleration fees but no processing times, standard or accelerated. So any precise day count in formation marketing is the provider's estimate of typical practice, never an official commitment. Budget the fee if speed matters, and start earlier than feels necessary either way. Use the wait for the things that don't depend on the certificate, such as your books, your banking shortlist and your first invoice template.

What does a provider charge on top, and why does it vary?

It depends on how the legal work is billed and what comes with it. A Cyprus incorporation always involves a licensed professional. The HE1 includes a statutory declaration sworn by the lawyer handling the formation, and the memorandum and articles are filed in Greek. So legal work always happens. Four things move the price:

When you compare quotes, ask each provider for the total for your actual situation, and what would change it. A starting price with conditions attached tells you little until you know the conditions.

Our own formation service keeps the whole job in one place. We check the name, prepare and submit the registration paperwork, and register the company with the Registrar. We also handle its tax and VAT registrations and prepare the bank account application. Your Sumly books open the day you order, so what you spend while the filing is processing is captured from the first receipt. You follow the registration status live in your dashboard. If the company isn't approved, you get your money back. A registered office address is available as an add-on. The current price for all of it is on the company formation page.

What is not included in a company formation fee?

Usually the tax and VAT registrations, the registered office, the bank account and the running costs. Registration gives you a legal entity. Several of the things that make it an operating business are separate steps with their own timelines. Our own fee covers the tax and VAT registrations and the bank account application, and the registered office is a yearly extra. Elsewhere, expect these to sit outside the formation fee:

• Tax registration. The company gets its tax identification number from the Tax Department after incorporation. It's a separate step in a separate system.
• VAT registration. It isn't automatic and isn't part of forming a company. The obligation comes from what the business turns over, once taxable supplies pass €15,600 over 12 months. You can also register sooner, voluntarily.
• The registered office, ongoing. Every Cyprus company must keep a registered office in Cyprus from incorporation. That's a real address where official notices are served. Providing that address as a service is a recurring arrangement with a recurring cost.
• A bank account. Onboarding runs on the bank's timetable, and it's where non-resident founders meet the most friction. No Cyprus law requires the company to bank locally, so an account with any EU or EEA bank or licensed e-money institution works.
• Bookkeeping, the annual accounts, and the audit or review. These are the real running costs, covered next.

What does a Cyprus company cost to run?

Plan for four recurring items: the annual return, the financial statements with their audit or review, tax on profits, and the bookkeeping itself.

Every year the company files an annual return, form HE32, with the Registrar. The filing fee is €20. You file the return within 28 days of its made-up date, the date its details refer to. The first one falls due about 18 months after incorporation. We cover the details in the HE32 annual return guide.

One cost you can cross off. The €350 annual company levy was abolished from 2024 by Law 25(I)/2024. Some guidance online still treats it as payable. It isn't, though levies owed for 2011 to 2023 are still due.

The company must also keep proper accounting records from day one and prepare annual financial statements, which a statutory auditor audits. The smallest private companies can have a review instead of a full audit. That applies where net turnover stays at or under €300,000 and gross assets at or under €500,000, both for two years in a row. The company pays corporate income tax on its profits at 15% from tax year 2026, with 2025 profits still taxed at 12.5%. Once the business crosses the VAT threshold, quarterly VAT returns follow. Sales to businesses in other EU countries bring monthly VIES submissions, a statement that lists those sales customer by customer.

The bookkeeping line is the one you control. It can be a monthly bill from an accounting firm, or software you run yourself. Sumly plans start at €39 a month, with the detail on the pricing page. The plan you choose is a separate decision from who forms the company.

Can you deduct what you spend before the company exists?

Not against income tax. It's worth being clear, because the opposite claim circulates widely. Cyprus income tax law has no special window for expenses from before the company exists. The ordinary test in art. 9(1) of the Income Tax Law decides what's deductible. An expense must be incurred wholly and exclusively in producing income. The formation costs themselves are capital in nature, so they're not deductible at all.

VAT is where a real look-back exists. On its first VAT return the company can recover input VAT, the VAT it paid on its costs, on services received up to 6 months before registration and goods bought up to 3 years before. The goods must still be on hand and the invoices kept. So the paperwork habit pays from the moment you decide to start, and it's one reason we open your books before the certificate arrives. The full picture, including what counts and what doesn't, is in pre-establishment expenses in Cyprus.

Questions people ask