DOING BUSINESS
IN RUSSIA

When a foreign company or individual plans to start-up a business in Russia the form of legal presence should be selected first. Depending on the type of business, business structure and model the available forms of legal presence in Russia are:

• Establishing a representative office of a foreign company;
• Establishing a branch of a foreign company;
• Formation of a legal entity (subsidiary company).

Branches and representative offices are not legal entities under Russian law, but unincorporated extensions of a parent company. The difference between branch and representative office is in the fact that functions of representative office are limited to conducting liaison and support activities while branches are entitled to conduct business activities in Russia.
Representative offices and branches need to be accredited. Accreditation may be obtained at several state authorities, such as the State Registration Chamber attached to Ministry of Justice, the Chamber of Trade and Commerce, including its regional divisions, and various Ministries of the Russian Government. It should be noted, though, that Unified State Register of Representative Offices and Branches is kept by State Registration Chamber.
The choice of form of legal presence influences substantially the scope of business activities that a foreign company can carry out, the taxation regime of a company and repatriation of profits.
Our services include:

• Advising on the form of legal presence for a certain business project;
• Preparing the documentation required for accreditation of representative offices and branches;
• Filings to the state authorities and support of the accreditation process;
• Assistance with opening accounts with Russian banks;
• Advising on taxation issues.