Incorporation Of a Private Limited Company in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a culturally rich nation. It enjoys a diverse population and natural beauty. The high employment rate among the working class and freedom of doing business make a good business portfolio for foreign and domestic entrepreneurs.

You can get these benefits from starting a Business in Sri Lanka:

Sri Lanka’s international business owners/investors can take part 100% in the investments they make the country proud of its bilateral investment protection.
The geo-strategic location is ideal for starting a business in Sri Lanka. It allows you to enter new markets and open transactions by embarking on transportation routes.
Company incorporation in Sri Lanka is smooth, digital, and cost-effective and the country has a good business environment with easy availability of skilled workers.
Sri Lanka has relaxed trade laws and lowest tax rates.
Sri Lanka is the only country with free trade agreements with India and Pakistan.
In South Asia, Sri Lanka is the most liberalized economy. Some open market economies and trade policies make it a great place to do business.

1. Types of business that can be started in Sri Lanka

These are the several types of business structures in Sri Lanka:

sole proprietorship
partnership
limited liability company
public limited company
overseas company
offshore company

2. Why should you register your business as a Company?

If you are operating a business as sole traders, partnerships, the fact of matter is that you must be registered with the company’s registry.

Benefits of registering a business in Sri Lanka.

you will limit your personal liability
you will minimize your tax liability
you can avoid conflict with your founders
legitimacy and brand awareness
you can raise significant capital

Company registration is not a hard procedure. Now you can do it step by step by online easily. The Government has recently introduced “e ROC”, a service where you can register your business online, instead of visiting the Department of the Registrar of Companies (DRC) to submit the forms, one by one.

3. How to register a private limited company in Sri Lanka?

Check whether your company name is available.

Your company have to unique name for register. (It can be done online through the website of the Department of the Registrar of Companies)
If you are checking for your company name through the e-ROC website, all you need to do is type the company name you have picked to see if it’s available.

If another company already exists with the name you have chosen, the website will show it to you.

Otherwise, the website shows you this:

Make sure to grab a domain name identical to the name your company is going to be registered under.

Click “register as a member”
Chose country or origin
Fill out your details and click on “Next”

Enter a valid email address
Then create a strong password and click on register.

After that you will need to verify your email address.

Now you have an account.

Name reservation

Have you thought of the perfect name for your company? select the type of company and enter your desire company name.

If the company name is available and you’d like to reserve it, click on ‘Proceed Now’.

Your company name is approved, you should receive an email with the name approval number.

Next steps:

Fill company details.
Give shareholder details.
Download and fill relevant documents.
Upload completed documents.

Complete payments

Give public notice of incorporation.

After everything else is done and confirmed, the final procedure is to give public notice.
This procedure is done by publishing a small notice on the local papers. This is definitely something to be done and your registration would not be accepted if this step isn’t completed.

What should be included for this:

Company registration number
Registered office address
Name of the company

This should be on at least one issue of the gazette and in at least one issue of a daily newspaper in the Sinhala, Tamil and English languages.

4. You need any support to handle the Incorporation process.

If you have any problems in this online company registration procedure, we are ready to help you in any way. We are ready to provide solutions to any problem that may arise to you.

5. Who we are?

VTAS Associates is a firm of Chartered Accountants in Sri Lanka. Our Head office is situated in Colombo 08 and the Branch office is in Kadawatha. Our firm is providing Tax Consulting, Accounting, Book Keeping, Inventory Verification Services, ERP Systems and Implementations, HR and BPO Services, Company Incorporations and Secretarial Services.