The registering authority is the Afghanistan Central Business Registry (ACBR) of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Most businesses are registered as Limited Liability Company (the only form of share company recognized under Afghan law). An LLC can have any number of shareholders. An LLC must have a president, and may also have a vice president. The president and vice president can be the same as or different from the shareholders.
A. Registration Documents:
- Application
- Proposed name of the company
- Article of Association
- President’s ID and vice president’s ID
- Office address
- Share capital
- Photos
- Educational documents
- Power of attorney (If the president is not present)
- Registration fee
B. Registration Documents:
- Take all the documents to ACBR
- ACBR will assist you with completing the application and Article of Association
- The application will ask the type of business
- ACBR will check:
- Whether the proposed name is already used
- Whether the proposed officer and shareholders are involved in any other company
- ACBR will issue inquiry letters to the Interpol Directorate of Ministry of Interior Affairs to obtain Interpol Clearance of the proposed officers
- ACBR will require a NATO Certificate from Resolute Support if the company is a defense contractor
- ACBR will process the application and send a request to the Tax Identification Number Department to issue a TIN for the company
- The business license is printed with the company’s name, name and photos of the officers, and duration of the license (which is 3 years)
C. Government Fees:
The Government fees for most business registrations are:
- AFN 2,000 for ACBR service fee (Approx. USD 27)
- AFN 100 for printing the license (Approx. USD 1.30)
- AFN 180 for bank fee (Approx. USD 2.50)
- AFN 500 for publication in ACBR annual journal (Approx. USD 6)
ACBR recently has enacted a new (substantially higher) fee scale for US and NATO contractors. License fees for contractors are AFN 70,000 (Approx. USD 900), AFN 200,000 (Approx. USD 2,250), AFN 400,000 (Approx. USD 5,100), or AFN 1,000,000 (Approx. USD 12,000), depending on the company’s sector of operation.