Lithuania is a country in northern Europe, which used to be part of the USSR, but after leaving, it made the necessary reforms and began to develop rapidly. Today it has a stable economy, sound legislation, and a good investment climate. Lithuania EMI license will be a good solution for companies that want to work legally in the EU but do not want to pay excessive taxes or spend a lot of time obtaining a license.
Benefits of obtaining a license in this jurisdiction
Lithuania is a country where getting a license is much easier than in other jurisdictions. It does not place excessive demands on applicants, does not delay decision-making, and does not require half the budget as fees.
Among the main advantages are:
- Absence of excessive requirements;
- Low fees;
- High speed of decision making;
- Low taxes and much more.
Dry statistics show that many companies prefer this particular jurisdiction to work in the EU since the conditions here are much more favorable, and the development opportunities are pretty significant.
Requirements for the applicant
The main requirements include:
- Having a good business plan;
- The excellent reputation of the owner and shareholders of the company, no criminal record, and similar work experience;
- The authorized capital is more than 350 thousand euros.
The main thing that regulators pay attention to is the reputation of the company’s founder and shareholders. None of the team members should be involved in fraud, money laundering, or financing terrorism.
In addition, your company must have good software with good protection. Government specialists want to ensure that customers’ data will remain safe in the event of a hacker attack.
Also, a company must adhere to KYC policies to obtain a license. When registering, each person must undergo verification of personal data. It will make sure that your company does not serve fraudsters or people involved in money laundering. All customer data must be provided to government authorities if they so request.
Payment of duties
Before you apply for a license, you must pay a fee. The amount of this is fixed and does not depend on your company’s size or authorized capital. It amounts to 1,463 euros. The money will not be returned to you if you do not receive a license.
High decision-making speed
In general, obtaining a license takes about a month. So, first of all, you need to register a company in Lithuania. It usually takes about 5 days. Then you have 3 months to collect the necessary documents and ensure that the company meets the basic requirements. If you start preparing documents in advance or seek help from specialized lawyers, this process can take about a week.
After you submit your documents for consideration to the relevant authorities, specialists have approximately 2 weeks to process your application. If they find errors in paperwork or non-compliance with the requirements, you have 3 more months to correct them.
Low taxation
The country’s government is interested in foreign companies opening branches here, so they introduced preferential taxation for EMI. The corporate income tax rate (0-15%) is the third lowest in the EU. There is a relatively simple principle here – the larger the company, the more taxes it pays, but this never exceeds 15% of profits.
How can you simplify the process of obtaining a license?
If you do not want to waste time obtaining a license or are afraid of making mistakes, you should seek help from specialized specialists. They will provide full advice, help with paperwork, open an office, and represent your interests in government agencies. In this case, all you require is to issue a power of attorney and provide as much information as possible about the company’s work. Specialists will assess the readiness of this for licensing and check the correctness of filling out the documents. All work, in this case, can be performed remotely. You do not need to fly to Vilnius.
However, if you own a foreign company, you must ensure that all documents are submitted in two versions (originals and translation into Lithuanian). It is imperative to perform a professional translation and legally certify it.