When you create a company, you must create a name for it. The name must be unique and specific to help build the company's visibility and distinguish it from other companies. To familiarise yourself with the naming conditions, on the Enterprise Register (UR) website, in the “Register” section, click “Name of inspections” when choosing the legal form of the companies of interest to you. You can verify that the company name you choose is not already registered by typing the name in your website search.! It is important to remember that the name you choose will need to be given in the same way in all submissions. In order to make sure that the relevant trade mark is not already protected in Latvia, you can search for trademarks in databases on the website of the Patent Office. For more information about trademarks, refer to the “trademark” section of the life situation description “Home production”. To familiarise yourself with the conditions for registering a registered office, select the legal form, click “verification address” in “establishment” — “registration in the Register of enterprises”.

When starting a business, it is important to define the specific sector in which an enterprise intends to carry out economic activities. For this purpose, a statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE) is envisaged, where you can consult the list of sectors and a description of each sector. Once you have defined the business sector of the company, you must decide which form of business to choose. Economic activities may take the following forms of business: joint stock company (AS), limited liability company (SIA) (including a SIA with a share capital of less than EUR 2 800), the partnership, limited partnership, cooperative society, individual (family) company, farm of the farmer or fisherman. However, a natural person may perform economic activity as an individual merchant. Similarly, a natural person may exercise his economic activity as a self-employed person.

A start-up enterprise, which in accordance with laws and regulations has to establish and pay up equity capital, needs to open a temporary current account with the payment service provider institution before registering with the Enterprise Register (UR) in order to make a contribution of equity capital of the enterprise. Banks offer the possibility to carry out this activity remotely, for example by signing an application with a secure electronic signature (e-signature). Once the company is registered, it is possible to draw up a temporary account as a permanent current account. For more information, read the website of the selected payment service provider. To register a company, you must submit documents to the UR. Registration can be performed electronically on the UR service portal in registrs.ur.gov.lv, where a person can electronically submit an application signed with an e-signature and other documents for registration of the company, as well as will be able to submit different applications for registration in the future. Only applications that are not provided for in the E-service portal registrs.ur.gov.lv (electronic application channels) may be sent to the e-address or e-mail of the we. In paper format, documents can be submitted by sending them to the UR by post. When submitting documents signed with an e-signature to the UR, notarial services for certification of signature the application for registration of entrepreneurship may be prepared in free form, including all the information specified for registration in regulatory enactments. In order to facilitate the preparation of applications, sample forms are available on the UR website, which include all the information specified in regulatory enactments that is necessary for making registration entries. If, however, the application for registration records is filled out in free form without using the forms of our forms, make sure that the application contains all the necessary information. It is possible to download the forms to be submitted for business registration on the UR website in the section “registers”, where, when choosing a business form, you can view both a brief description of it and find out, for example, the steps required for establishment by choosing a legal form (for example, SIA) on the UR website, then choosing the section “establishment”.

A social enterprise is one whose main objective is to address social problems of major importance to society and to create positive social impacts, with both the enterprise and society benefiting. The status of a social enterprise shall be granted by the Ministry of Welfare. To get Social Enterprise status: an existing SIA shall submit an application to the Enterprise Register (UR) for the articles of association to be supplemented with a social objective. Information on changes to the SIA Statutes is available on the UR website; a newly founded SIA shall indicate the social objective in its articles of association and register with the UR. Once you have taken a decision to acquire the status of a social enterprise and the social objective is included in the articles of association of the enterprise, submit an application to the Ministry of Welfare for granting the status of a social enterprise (description of the process). May submit a submission: by electronic means using an E-address; by post (if the application does not contain personal data of a specific category); face-to-face; by signing with a secure electronic signature (if the application does not contain personal data of a specific category), it may be sent by e-mail to the registracija.su@lm.gov.lv). The documents and explanations necessary for the submission can be found on the website of the Ministry of Welfare.

If employees are admitted to your company, then when establishing employment legal relationships, the requirements of the Labour Law and other related laws and regulations shall be observed during the existence of employment legal relationships, as well as when terminating such relationships. Different ways can be used to find suitable employees - one of the most effective is to advertise a vacancy electronically on the State Employment Agency's resume and vacancy portal cvvp.nva.gov.lv.You must be a profile administrator or user to use the resume and vacancy portal and make changes to your company profile.

In accordance with the Labour Protection Law, the employer has a duty to perform training and instruction of employees in the field of labour protection. The staff Member should also be trained to carry out his duties safely. Workers whose state of health is affected or may be affected by factors of the working environment harmful to health or special circumstances at work should be subject to the mandatory Health Check (OVP).

Sometimes, due to the specific nature of the company's operations or certain activities, special permits or licenses are required to ensure business. The granting, extension or cancellation of special permits (licences) shall be supervised by the State authorities specified in the Law. The UR has established a list of licences and permits issued by the State authorities, which summarises the information in which these documents are issued to the authorities, as well as the laws and regulations regarding the acquisition of licences and permits. The Ministry of Economics issues various special permits (licences) related to construction, electricity generation, etc. Most common special permits (licences): special permits (licences) for excisable goods issued by the State Revenue Service for commercial activities with excisable goods; a music public performance licence issued by the AKKA\/LAA for the use of copyrighted works at public events, public places; registration or recognition of a food undertaking shall be performed by the Food and Veterinary Service regarding undertakings involved in any stage of the food chain; registration of medical treatment institutions shall be performed by the Health Inspectorate (VI), in which conformity of the medical treatment institution with the mandatory requirements is evaluated. More information on the registration of medical treatment institutions can be found on website VI; when commencing the provision of the service, beauty service providers shall notify their economic activity VI by completing the application form and submitting it to VI. For more information on beauty service provider notifications, please visit the VI website.

A unit is a territorially separated economic unit where an economic activity is carried out. A website or mobile application that accommodates sales systems for goods or services (such as an Internet store), an order system or a billing system shall also be considered as a business unit. Registration with the State Revenue Service (SRS) shall be performed by a taxpayer who has established a structural unit. This can be done in the “registries” section of the electronic declaration system. More information is available on the SRS website and Cabinet of Ministers regulations.

The term “micro-enterprise” (MU) refers to a form of taxation, which is not a business type. Several conditions must be met to obtain MU payer status. The right to become a micro-enterprise shall be: an individual merchant; an individual undertaking, a farm or a fishing holding; a natural person registered with the State Revenue Service as a performer of economic activity; those persons are not registered taxable persons for value added tax. The right to choose to pay micro-enterprise tax is granted if the expected turnover does not exceed EUR 40 000 and the micro-enterprise does not intend to become a registered value added tax payer until the value added tax registration threshold is reached. That it complies with all the requirements of Section 2 of the micro-enterprise tax Law. Read more also on the SRS and Ministry of Economics website. In order to obtain MU payer status, you can create an application for MU status at THE same time as the business registration application, or in the application, in the “Macrobusiness taxpayer status” section, note that you want to apply for status. For more information about registering MU, see the SRS website and the we website.

Value added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax that is included in the price of a good or service. The performer of the business must register with the VAT taxable persons Register of the State Revenue Service (SRS) before commencing transactions subject to VAT or receiving services subject to VAT inland, for which he or she has to pay VAT as the recipient of such services. Register if the transaction value exceeds the specified threshold (read more on the SRS website). At the same time as business registration in the relevant register of the Enterprise Register (UR), it is possible to apply for VAT status. In order to apply for the status of a VAT payer, it is necessary to fill in an application for registration in the SRS VAT payer Register. Documents for registration in the VAT register of the SRS may be submitted: electronically using the SRS electronic Declaration system (SRS EDS); electronically, signing documents with a secure electronic signature and sending the SRS using an E-address; in any SRS Customer Service Centre, submitting a relevant submission (the applicant must present a personal identification document); electronically, signing documents with a secure electronic signature and sending the SRS to the SRS e-mail address; The re electronically, signing documents with a secure electronic signature and sending the re, using the e-service “registration in registers kept by the Enterprise Register” on the portal Latvija.lv, or sending them together with registration documents to the re Only applications not provided for in the “registration in registers kept by the Enterprise Register” e-service may be sent to an e-mail address. For more information on VAT registration, see the SRS website

Excise duty is a specific consumption tax applicable to certain groups of consumer goods produced or imported into the country. The following goods are subject to excise duty in Latvia: alcoholic beverages; tobacco products; tobacco substitute products; petroleum products; non-alcoholic beverages; coffee; natural gas; liquid used in electronic cigarettes, ingredients for preparing it. Harmonised excise goods in the European Union are: alcoholic beverages; tobacco products; petroleum products.

Programmes implemented by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia; Planned support measures of the Ministry of Economics (EM); Support measures administered by the CFLA; Advice on raising funding is available in LIAA Customer Service units and LIDA Business incubators, as well as in ALTUM and Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFLA) Customer Service centres; Export aid — LIAA export services as well as ALTUM export credit guarantees; Support for innovation development — LIAA innovation vouchers Start-up and Development assistance programmes – AS “Development Finance institution Altum” Aid for processing agricultural and fishery products — Rural support Service Employment services — State Employment Agency Horizonts 2020 Research and Innovation Programme Startup information platform “Labs of Latvia” Start up Latvia ERASMS for young entrepreneurs: Erasms-entrepreneurs. EU Parallel (mezzanine) loans AS “Development Finance institution Altum” Credit guarantees AS “Development Finance institution Altum” Export credit guarantees AS “Development Finance institution Altum” Companies in the hazardous sector have the possibility to receive free assistance in the implementation of labour safety requirements (description of the Latvija.lv, description on the website of the SLI) - ESF project of the SLI “improvement of practical implementation and supervision of labour safety regulatory enactments” Support for networking European Business support Network (EEN) – European Business support Network in Latvia European territorial cooperation programmes: Central Baltic Sea Region Programme Baltic Sea Region Programme Interreg Europe interregional cooperation programme EUREKA programme to promote international cooperation between commercial companies and scientific institutions.

For a more convenient start-up, there are a variety of e-services and platforms that enable you to quickly, easily complete formalities for successful start-ups.