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Croatia gives a foreign owner an EU company that invoices in euro, the currency since 1 January 2023, inside the single market and the EU VAT system, with the Parent-Subsidiary and Interest and Royalties Directives and Croatia’s own treaties behind it. It suits a trading or service business with customers in Croatia or elsewhere in the euro area, a regional base on the Adriatic, or a company holding shares in other EU companies, provided the structure has a real commercial purpose. The usual vehicle is the društvo s ograničenom odgovornošću, the d.o.o., a limited liability company whose members are not liable for its debts; almost every foreign founder registers one, and ready-made Croatian companies are sold in this form.
| Form | What it suits | Minimum capital |
|---|---|---|
| d.o.o. (društvo s ograničenom odgovornošću) | The standard company for owners of any nationality, with one or more members and one or more directors | EUR 2,500 of share capital |
| j.d.o.o. (jednostavno d.o.o.) | A start with very little money, on the notary’s fixed forms, for up to five members and a single director | EUR 1 of share capital |
| d.d. (dioničko društvo) | A joint-stock company for larger projects that issue shares | EUR 25,000 of share capital |
The j.d.o.o. is a d.o.o. created on standard forms, and until its capital reaches EUR 2,500 a quarter of each year’s profit goes into reserves. Every form becomes a legal person only on entry in the sudski registar, the court register that anyone can search at sudreg.pravosudje.hr. The founding route is on our page on company formation in Croatia.
| Tax | Position in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Corporate income tax (porez na dobit) | 10% for a year with revenue up to EUR 1,000,000 and 18% once revenue reaches that figure; the return is due four months after the year end |
| VAT (PDV) | 25% standard rate, with reduced rates of 13% and 5%; entry in the VAT system once taxable supplies pass the EUR 60,000 threshold |
| Dividends paid abroad | 10% withholding tax, not charged to an EU parent company that has held at least 10% for 24 months without a break |
| Tax treaties | 66 comprehensive double taxation agreements in application; no treaty with the United States in force yet |
| Currency | Euro since 1 January 2023 |
The 10% rate turns on revenue, not profit, so a growing company should watch the EUR 1,000,000 line. Treaty and directive relief is never automatic: the principal purpose test of the Multilateral Instrument and Croatia’s own anti-abuse rules both apply.
Croatia sets no nationality or residence condition. Members can be individuals or companies from any country, and one non-resident may own the d.o.o. and form its whole management board (uprava). What Croatia does require is an OIB, the permanent eleven-digit number issued by the Tax Administration, for each director and each individual member, and it turns away founders, buyers and directors who owe Croatian public levies, personally or through a company in which they hold 25% or more. A director must be a natural person; a non-EEA national who moves to Croatia to run the business needs a stay and work permit under immigration law.
Beneficial owners are entered in the Registar stvarnih vlasnika, run by the Financial Agency (FINA) for the Ministry of Finance under the anti money laundering act. It covers any individual with more than 25% of the shares, votes or ownership interest, directly or indirectly, or other control; the entry is due within 30 days of court registration and of each later change. Unusually for the EU, Croatia still lets the public consult the register, but only through an e-Građani login, so in practice with a Croatian or other EU electronic identity.
Croatian law also recognises nominee directors and shares held for another person’s account, and we arrange such a nominee only through a provider listed in the Ministry of Finance register of trust and company service providers or through a lawyer, notary, auditor or accountant working within their profession, with the nominee director carrying the full liability of Articles 252 and 273 of the Companies Act and the publicly accessible beneficial owner register showing the real owner.
Croatian company law creates no company secretary. Its duties are shared by the management board, a notary and the bookkeeper, and helping with them is what corporate services for a Croatian d.o.o. usually means. A normal year contains:
Our page on corporate services in Croatia takes that cycle institution by institution: the court register, the Tax Administration and FINA.
A Croatian company banks in euro with an HR IBAN inside SEPA, and its deposits at a Croatian bank are insured by the Croatian Deposit Insurance Agency up to EUR 100,000 per depositor per bank. Remote opening is limited for directors from abroad: Addiko’s online business account requires a Croatian identity card, and the state START system, which can send an account request together with the registration, is open only to Croatian citizens. Payment providers such as Wise and Airwallex accept Croatian companies online. What each bank asks for is set out on bank accounts for Croatian companies.
Both routes lead to the same d.o.o., taxed the same way, and both need a notary, OIBs and a beneficial owner filing.
We form new d.o.o. and j.d.o.o. companies and supply ready-made ones. On either route we draft the founding or transfer documents, prepare the filings for the court register and the beneficial owner register, and help assemble the bank application. If we have a working contact at a bank that suits the business, we can introduce you; whether an account is opened is for the bank alone to decide.
Usually the registered seat and the official post received there, the decisions and notarial filings when directors, members, the name or the seat change, the beneficial owner entry at FINA, and coordination with the bookkeeper who prepares the annual statements and tax returns. None of it is a statutory office: the duties stay with the company and its management board, which may hand the practical work to a provider.
No. The Companies Act gives a d.o.o. a management board, a members’ assembly and, where the law requires or the members choose, a supervisory board, but no secretary. The board keeps the book of business shares and reports changes of members to the court, so what English-speaking clients call secretarial services means, in Croatia, help to the board with records, decisions and deadlines.
It abbreviates društvo s ograničenom odgovornošću, a company with limited liability, and the registered name must contain those words or the letters d.o.o.; the simplified form carries j.d.o.o. The court register also shows two numbers for every company: the MBS, its register number, and the OIB, which it uses with the tax authority, banks and counterparties.
Largely, yes. Anyone may inspect the court register without giving a reason, and it shows the members and directors. The beneficial owner register at FINA is also still open to the public, unusually within the EU, but only through an e-Građani login; it shows the owner’s name, month and year of birth, country of residence, citizenship and the nature and extent of the interest.
Weighing Croatia against another country? Tell us what the company will do, who will own and run it and where they live, and we will tell you whether a new d.o.o., a j.d.o.o. or a ready-made company fits. Contact us, or write on Telegram or WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.