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A Cyprus company almost always means a Ltd: a private company limited by shares under the Companies Law, Cap. 113, entered on the register kept by the Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property. Cyprus is an EU member state, so a Cypriot company can register for VAT and use the Parent-Subsidiary and Interest and Royalties Directives alongside about 65 double taxation agreements. Owners use it as a holding company, to own intellectual property under the IP box, and as a trading company with an EU base.
Cyprus has no separate offshore form and no LLC. A company owned and run from abroad is the same Ltd at the same 15% rate, and since 1 January 2026 its tax residence follows a new rule, explained below.
| Form | Main rules | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Private company limited by shares (Ltd) | One to fifty members; at least one director and a secretary; no statutory minimum share capital; articles that restrict share transfers and bar any public offer | Holding, trading and IP companies; the form sold ready-made |
| Public company limited by shares | Seven members or more and two directors or more; EUR 25,629 as the minimum capital offered for subscription; the Registrar’s certificate of commencement of business before trading starts | Groups raising capital from the public or seeking a listing |
Name approval, the lawyer’s HE1 declaration and the Greek-language constitution a new Ltd requires are explained on our page on Cyprus company formation.
| Item | Position from 1 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Corporate income tax | 15% on taxable profit, up from 12.5% before 2026 |
| IP box | Four fifths of the qualifying profit earned from a qualifying intangible asset can be deducted, so roughly 3% tax remains on it, within the nexus rules |
| Losses | Usable against profits of the following seven years |
| Dividends to Cyprus tax-resident, domiciled individuals | Defence contribution at 5% where paid out of profits of 2026 or later, and 17% where paid out of older profits |
| Dividends to non-resident companies | 5% defence contribution if the recipient is resident in a low-tax jurisdiction, 17% if its jurisdiction is on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions |
| Stamp duty | None on documents signed from 2026, after Law 239(I)/2025 repealed it; papers signed by the end of 2025 stay under the old rules |
| VAT | 19% standard rate; compulsory registration above the EUR 15,600 threshold of taxable supplies, and from the first supply of services to businesses elsewhere in the EU |
| Tax treaties | Around 65; Russia suspended most articles of its treaty with Cyprus in August 2023 |
Residence changed most for owners abroad. Under Law 244(I)/2025 a company is resident in Cyprus if it is managed and controlled there, or simply because it was incorporated there, unless a double tax treaty points elsewhere; the old proviso that it counted only if resident nowhere else has gone. A Cypriot Ltd whose board decides in another country can therefore be resident in both, and only a treaty between them, where one exists, settles which wins.
Cap. 113 has no nationality or residence condition, so one person living anywhere can hold every share and sit as sole director. Directors must be at least 18 and are named on the public register. The company needs exactly one secretary, also 18 or over, who may be the sole director only where the company has a single member, and a registered office in Cyprus, which may not be a mailbox. A new Ltd is incorporated through a lawyer, whose sworn HE1 declaration goes with the application.
Anyone holding more than 25% of the shares, votes or ownership interest, or otherwise in control, is entered by one of the company’s own officers in the Register of Beneficial Owners kept by the Registrar: within 90 days of incorporation, within 45 days of the company learning of a change, and confirmed every year between 1 October and 31 December. The register has been closed to the public since 28 November 2022; competent authorities and obliged entities such as banks can search it, and the legitimate interest route written into the law has no working channel yet. EU sanctions add limits that company law does not, as our Cyprus company guide (in Russian) explains.
The secretary, and any director or nominee shareholder you want, we arrange only through an eligible person under Law 196(I)/2012: an administrative service provider holding a CySEC licence, or a lawyer or accountant under the supervision of the Cyprus Bar Association or ICPAC. Such a director bears an officer’s full liability, because section 197 of the Companies Law voids any clause excluding it, and you are entered as beneficial owner in the BO Register.
Cyprus is among the countries where our offer page lists ready-made companies with an existing account as available, for a buyer the bank accepts: the account stays with the company, while the bank re-examines the new owners, directors and signatories and may keep it, ask for more or close it. A new company opens one after registration. Either way the bank applies the Central Bank of Cyprus directive of 2025, under which a company with nothing in Cyprus beyond a postal address and a secretary is a shell company, to be refused or exited if it also lacks tax residence or is resident in an EU-listed non-cooperative jurisdiction. See bank accounts for Cypriot companies and shelf companies with bank accounts.
Form a new Ltd when the name, articles and share structure should be yours from the start; the Registrar gives no processing time for either stage, though it offers an accelerated procedure. A Cyprus shelf company has those stages behind it, a registration date anyone can check and normally a tax number already issued, and since 2026 its share transfer carries no stamp duty. It brings no trading history, the same 15% tax and the same bank review, plus duties such as the next levy and annual return. Cyprus and Malta are set side by side in our comparison of Cyprus and Malta.
We can form a new Cypriot Ltd or supply a ready-made one, prepare the formation or transfer documents, the filings with the Registrar and the beneficial owner entries, and help you put together the bank application. Where we have a working contact at a suitable bank, we can introduce you; whether an account is opened or kept is for the bank alone to decide.
Through the Registrar of Companies’ electronic search, by company name or registration number. The result gives the registration date, type and status, the registered office, the current directors and secretary, the documents filed and the date of the last annual return; a detailed historic search adds earlier names, officers, members, share capital and charges. Beneficial owners are not shown, as that register is open only to authorities and obliged entities.
The rate rose to 15%, losses became usable for seven years, the deemed dividend distribution ended for profits from 2026, stamp duty was repealed and incorporation now makes every Cypriot company resident unless a treaty says otherwise. The Tax Commissioner can also freeze shares of taxpayers with large overdue tax debts, and Law 2(I)/2026 raised the turnover limit for an audit review to EUR 300,000.
It can be. A Cyprus tax-resident holding company is covered by the EU Parent-Subsidiary and Interest and Royalties Directives and about 65 treaties, subject to the principal purpose test, and dividends it pays to companies abroad bear defence contribution in the low-tax and non-cooperative cases the tax table shows. The practical tests are substance and banking: treaty partners look for management in Cyprus, and banks apply the shell company rule described above.
Company law allows it, since Cap. 113 has no nationality test. The limits come from EU sanctions and bank policy: Regulation 833/2014 caps deposits from Russian nationals and residents and from entities they own, restricts trust and nominee services and bans certain services to Russian-established entities, exempting EU, EEA and Swiss nationals and holders of residence permits there. Our page on Cyprus (in Russian) sets out these rules in detail.
Considering a Cyprus company? Describe the activity and where the owners and managers are based, and we will explain what forming or buying one involves, residence and banking included. We also answer on Telegram and WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.