How can a foreigner open a company in Poland?
In accordance with Polish law, in principle, a foreigner is allowed to perform a business activity in the form of limited liability company. Moreover, there are also no restrictions in reference to the possibility of foreigners sitting in the bodies of the company in question.
In the further part of the article, I show the ways to establish the limited liability company in Poland and what you need to pay attention to when establishing this type of company.
Two ways of establishment a Polish limited liability company
Polish legislation provides two ways of establishing a company:
- Traditional way – requires personal presence at Polish notary office, during the visit a deed of incorporation is signed before a notary, afterwards it is required to prepare and submit to the right registry court appropriate applications with attachments which needs to be sign by simple signature;
- Online – does not require personal presence in Poland, but it requires from the foreigner to own an electronic signature, a deed of incorporation is created on the basis of a certain template made available in the online environment, the company registration itself is also carried out through the online system.
Differences between the methods of establishing a company
Considering two methods of establishing a company, two factors should be taken into account, to be more specific – the amount of the registration fee and the time necessary to register the company.
When choosing a notary option, you should be prepared for a waiting time of approximately one to three months depending on the workload of the registry court. Additionally, there is a necessity to pay a fee in the amount of 600 PLN which is about 135 EUR. However, with regard to the online option, the waiting time is approximately 7 days and the fee is half the amount indicated in the notary option.
Can the foreigner be represented by power of attorney during the visit at notary office?
The answer is yes although this method of processing is associated with much higher costs. First of all, we are dealing here with the necessity to grant a power of attorney before a foreigner in the country where he is currently staying. Sometimes it may be connected with the necessity to legalize the document or to affix it with the apostille clause. In addition, the power of attorney in order to be used before the Polish notary, must be sworn translated into Polish, which again accumulates the cost.
How to obtain the electronic signature?
In order to obtain an electronic signature enabling company registration through the online system, the foreigner should pay the appropriate fee, go to a notary public in his place of residence, who will certify the relevant documents and sign a contract with the service provider. Presence on the territory of Poland is not required. Everything is done remotely and by correspondence. The signature is usually issued within 7 days from the moment the supplier receives the original documents.
Moreover, it is worth noting that the company’s financial statements can currently only be submitted in an electric form. This means that in a situation where a foreigner is the only member of the management board, he or she must have a qualified electronic signature, otherwise the company will not be able to fulfill all its obligations imposed by applicable law.