The Czech Republic does not have controls on share ownership of Czech Companies, but has strict controls on ownership of property by non-nationals.

Limited Liability Company - společnost s ručením omezeným - s.r.o.

A Czech company is extremely useful. It can be:

• started by a single person
• directors can be of any nationality
• a European-recognised VAT number, can be obtained extremely quickly
• no visit to the Czech Republic is needed to open the company

Some features of a Czech company are:

• companies are generally bought (ready-made) and transferred to the owner
• unusually, to register the company, you need to supply a police note, stating that you have not been guilty of offenses
• while a European VAT number is extremely easy to obtain, you do need to keep good records of the movement of goods
• we can easily activate a bank account in the Czech Republic

Shares

The shares of a limited liability company are not represented by share certificates. The ownership interests of a limited liability company may be transferred under the terms and conditions of the Commercial Code and the founder's contract of the company.

The minimum capital requirement for the establishment of a limited liability company is €8200 (CZK 200,000).

The limited liability company is the corporate forms most commonly used for the operations of foreign companies in the Czech Republic.

To be registered in the Commercial Register, a trade license must be obtained and must also maintain a reserve fund (which is principally a bookkeeping entry) to cover losses. A limited liability company is required to contribute 5% of its net profit annually to the reserve fund (10% in the first year of making a profit, but not in excess of 5% of the registered capital) until it reaches 10% of the company's registered capital. A reserve fund can only be used to settle a company's loss if such a loss does not exceed 10% of the registered capital of a limited liability company.

A limited liability company's decision-making power is normally delegated to one or several executives appointed by the general meeting, which is the body representing the shareholders; it does not have a board of directors, but may for a supervisory board.