The sequence
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Declare the beneficial owners
It goes first because it is the one with a clock on it. Every company has to declare who is behind it in the beneficial owners register, run by the central bank. For a newly registered company the deadline is twenty business days from registration.
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Register the economic activity with the tax authority
In TRIBU-CR, in the virtual office. This is where your activity is defined — and with it, which taxes apply to you. Picking the wrong code is not a detail: everything else follows from it. How the registration works.
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Get the signing certificate and the credentials
If you are going to invoice — and almost everyone is — you need both, and both come from TRIBU-CR. Step by step.
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If you are going to hire: social security and insurance
Register as an employer and take out the workplace risk policy. Both are compulsory as soon as one single person is employed, and neither is optional or deferrable. What an employee costs.
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If you are going to have premises: land use, health, licence
The order matters and almost nobody says so: first the land use certificate from the municipality, then the health operating permit, and with those two in hand, the municipal licence. Asking for the licence first is a wasted trip. The three permits in order.
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Set up the bookkeeping from day one
Not when the first return falls due. The documents issued to you from today have to be answered in time for you to be able to use them, and that starts running with the first purchase.
The two clocks already running
The other is the corporate tax: it is paid by every S.A., S.R.L. and registered foreign company, whether or not there is any activity, and it is paid in January each year. How much it is.
It is the fixed cost of keeping a company alive. If you set yours up “just in case” and are not going to use it, that cost runs all the same. And there is an annual information return for dormant companies too. What a dormant company still owes.
What applies only if…
| If you… | Then you also have |
|---|---|
| Hire someone | Employer registration and the workplace risk policy |
| Open premises to the public | Land use, health permit and municipal licence |
| Sell taxable goods or services | VAT registration and the monthly return, form 150 |
| Rent out a property short-term | Activity 551001, lodging VAT and rental income tax |
| Are not going to trade yet | Corporate tax and the dormant company return |
Four mistakes that cost money
- Believing the company ID authorises everything. It only says the company exists.
- Leaving the beneficial owners declaration for later. Short deadline, own penalty.
- Asking for the licence before the land use certificate. The municipality will ask for it anyway, and meanwhile you cannot open.
- Starting to buy before the bookkeeping exists. The documents issued to you need your reply in time to be any use to you. Without it they support neither input VAT nor an expense.
From day one, with the books up to date
The chart of accounts comes ready. The first time, you choose which account a document lands in; from then on it is remembered by the CABYS code and the supplier's ID.
See how it worksAbout this article. The sequence follows what the Ministry of Economy and the sector's sources publish, and the corporate tax appears in the tax authority's list of returns. The specific deadlines and requirements change, and the municipal ones vary from one municipality to another: confirm them before starting a procedure.
Verified as of 24 September 2026. Rules change. This is information, not legal or tax advice.
Sources: Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce Ministry of Finance