We were approached by representatives of a foreign company to support the opening of accounts with one of the major domestic banks. During the consultation, we explained to the client the procedure for opening an account with this bank and the need to register the company itself with Russian tax authorities, since this is a mandatory statutory requirements for a legal entity when opening an account in the Russian Federation.

It should be noted that there is nothing surprising in the opening of a bank account in Russia by foreign companies: in this case, there are several advantages that simplify the procedure for interaction with local contracting parties.In this way, foreign companies show interest in the Russian market: the procedure for mutual settlements with Russian contractors is simplified, and Russian companies do not face complicated taxation, currency control and regulation challenges. Moreover, in this situation, foreign founders themselves enjoy financial advantages, as they do not lose interest on currency conversion payments in international settlements.

At first, it is necessary to register the company with the Federal Tax Service of Russia. For this purpose, it is required to receive 3 documents:

1. An extract from the trade register or other official state register of legal entities of the country of incorporation of the company;

2. A tax certificate, if the previous document does not contain information on tax accounting (first of all, a tax identification number of the company) in the country of incorporation of the company;

3. A Power of Attorney for persons who will follow the above procedures in Russia.Documents must be apostilled if the country of incorporation is a party to the Hague Convention (1961) or legalized under the statutory procedure.In addition, these documents shall be translated into Russian, and the translation thereof shall be notarized. The registration shall be performed with a tax authority where the bank to open an account with or its branch is registered.

This procedure takes no more than 10 days from the date of filing the documents with the tax authority.

After explanation of all required actions and receiving a package of documents, BBNP specialists performed actions to register the company.Upon the successful registration of the foreign company, a bank account was opened.

BBNP lawyers provide legal support to foreign businesses in Russia, including opening bank accounts and registration with tax authorities, with respect to both the client's objectives and the specifics of the Russian legal system.