Monaco company registration begins with a government permission, not with a company. We prepare and steer the autorisation d'exercer (business authorisation, Loi n° 1.144 Art. 5) and the company that sits on it, for founders who do not live in Monaco yet.
Every file below runs off the same permission: one decision fixes the activity, the premises and the person.
A founder who relocates runs two files at once, the authorisation and the carte de séjour. The receipt confirming that the authorisation file is admissible is what opens the residence file. That route is our residency service.
The decision names the premises, so the address is settled before the file is deposited. Choosing an authorised business-centre formula, and proving the surface it gives you, is our business centre service.
Holding a family's assets through a Monegasque company is a file like any other: a form, a corporate object, premises and an authorisation. We take on setting up a family office in Monaco as that file.
Monegasque property is often held through a société civile immobilière. The constitution of one, its civil object and its administration are the subject of forming an SCI in Monaco.
Cash contributions must reach an account with a credit institution established in the Principality before the company can be registered. Assembling that file is a business bank account in Monaco.
Inside an authorised business centre the exclusive-office floor is 25 sqm for a SAM and 9 sqm for every other form. Where a company takes space of its own, start with Company in Monaco: Office Space in Monaco.
A single-member SARL takes EUR 8,000 of capital where the member is a natural person and EUR 15,000 where it is a legal person. The mechanics are in Company in Monaco: The SURL: Single-Member SARL in Monaco.
A Monegasque trade mark is filed with the MCIPO under Loi n° 1.058 of 10 June 1983, on its own timetable and separately from the company file. What that takes is set out in the trade mark registration guide.
Financial activities need a CCAF licence under Loi n° 1.338 of 7 September 2007: Company in Monaco: Financial Licence in Monaco (CCAF). Digital-asset providers fall under Loi n° 1.528 of 7 July 2022, and a Monegasque licence is not an EU licence: crypto license Monaco.
Monaco counts 38,857 residents on the 2025 census and a GDP of EUR 10,279.0 million for 2024, both published by IMSEE. The forms a foreign founder may use are few, and their capital is set by statute rather than negotiated.
| Form | Members or shareholders | Minimum capital | Authorisation needed | Where it is covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SARL | 2 partners minimum, no maximum | EUR 15,000 | Yes, and every foreign partner and gérant applies for himself (Loi n° 1.144 Art. 7) | forming an SARL in Monaco |
| SURL (single-member SARL) | 1 member | EUR 8,000; EUR 15,000 where the member is a legal person | Yes | Company in Monaco: The SURL: Single-Member SARL in Monaco |
| SAM | 2 shareholders minimum, no maximum | EUR 150,000, fully subscribed | Yes, plus its own autorisation de constitution (Loi n° 1.573 Art. 11) | société anonyme Monegasque |
| SNC, SCS and sole trader | see the page | no figure published on this page | Yes; foreign partners apply individually (Art. 7) | the sole trader and partnership guide |
| SCI | see the page | no figure published on this page | Civil object, treated on its own page | forming an SCI in Monaco |
| Branch (succursale) and bureau administratif | not applicable | no figure published on this page | Yes | Company in Monaco: Branch of a Foreign Company in Monaco |
Company forms open to a foreign founder in Monaco: members, the statutory minimum capital and whether the form needs an authorisation of its own before it can be constituted.
The clock is in the statute, not in a brochure. Loi n° 1.144 Art. 5 sets every period below, and silence at the end of one counts in the applicant's favour.
Every period the statute sets between the deposit of a file and a company that may trade. The total, about two to three months for an SARL or SURL and four to six for a SAM, is arithmetic on those periods, not a published average.
The authorisation decision lists the activities that may be carried on and the premises where they will be carried on, and it lists them exhaustively. Any change of activity, of premises or of holder needs a new authorisation under Art. 5, which is the company changes guide. Premises are not a formality: Art. 9 2° and Art. 9 8° make the loss of suitable premises, and the absence of an installation or staff permitting an effective activity, grounds for revoking an authorisation already granted. Premises and the authorised formulas: Company in Monaco: Domiciliation and Registered Office in Monaco.
No statutory period runs yet, and this is where the weeks go, because nothing is measured until the file is deposited. The Government's SARL procedure page, updated 30 July 2026, lists it: form n° 355-04-05-26, the Note de renseignements individuels, the Note de renseignements relative au local professionnel, two originals of the statutes, a civil-status document, a birth-certificate extract, a criminal-record extract under three months old, and the documents of any corporate partner. Only documents filed in French are authoritative, and every foreign partner and gérant applies for himself under Art. 7. Three criteria decide the outcome: honorabilité professionnelle, professional repute, assessed on the judicial record and after an administrative enquiry; qualification professionnelle, held in the entrepreneur's own name; and création d'un établissement stable, an infrastructure suited to the nature and size of the activity.
The file goes to the Direction du Développement Économique at its public counter, the Monaco Business Office, 9 rue du Gabian. Within 5 working days of the deposit the administration notifies admissibility or inadmissibility by registered letter. Nothing before that notice counts against the statutory clock.
The Minister of State's decision is due within 45 days of the notification of admissibility. It may be extended by at most 45 days for a complex file; it is suspended while the administration asks by reasoned request for additional documents; and it may run to six months where the administration asks a foreign body for information. If nothing is notified when the period expires, the authorisation is treated as granted. A SAM adds a second decision on the same pattern: the constitution itself needs an autorisation de constitution (Loi n° 1.573 Art. 11), with the same tacit grant under Art. 13.
Cash contributions are paid into an account opened for that purpose with a credit institution established in the Principality, and the payment is proved when registration is applied for. Loi n° 1.492 of 8 July 2020 gives a procedure rather than an outcome. The bank opens the account within 15 working days of a complete file (Art. 3); on a refusal it issues a free attestation and the Direction du Budget et du Trésor designates a bank within a further 15 working days (Art. 4). The right belongs to the company being formed in Monaco (Art. 2 4°), not to a non-resident founder personally, and the documents a bank may require are set out in Arrêté ministériel n° 2020-664 of 5 October 2020. Nobody can promise an account: the anti-money-laundering law applies throughout, and practitioners quote four to eight weeks in practice [market: healyconsultants.com and hawksford.com, accessed 2026-09-08]. The file is a business bank account in Monaco.
Registration in the Répertoire du Commerce et de l'Industrie is due within one month of the delivery of the receipt or of the authorisation for an SARL, SURL, SNC, SCS or foreign company (Loi n° 721 Art. 2), and within three months of publication of the arrêté ministériel for a joint-stock company (Loi n° 1.573 Art. 20). Miss the deadline and registration is refused: the declaration or the authorisation becomes caduque and the file is closed. The duty is EUR 55, EUR 75 or EUR 100 depending on who registers. What the register holds is the Monegasque company register.
IMSEE issues the NIS statistical identification number within 5 working days, and the tax department, the social funds and the bank all ask to see it. The declaration of existence goes to the Direction des Services Fiscaux within 15 days of the start of operations (Code des taxes sur le chiffre d'affaires Art. 66 I 1°), which is our VAT registration service. Then the notice in the Journal de Monaco, affiliation to the self-employed social funds CAMTI and CARTI, and the beneficial-owner declaration under Loi n° 1.362, named here without periods or amounts because none is published for them. A founder who is relocating opens the carte de séjour file on the admissibility receipt, and that is our residency service. Add the periods together and a complete SARL or SURL file reaches lawful trading in about two to three months, a SAM in about four to six. That total is arithmetic on the articles above, not an average: no processing statistics are published for Monaco, and no date can be promised.
Deposit of the file
5 working days to the notice of admissibility
Art. 5
45 days to the Minister of State's decision, counted from the notification of admissibility
Art. 5
extended by at most 45 days
Art. 5
suspension while additional documents are requested, and up to 6 months where a foreign body is consulted
Art. 5
tacit grant on silence
Art. 5
RCI registration within 1 month, or 3 months for a joint-stock company
Loi n° 721
NIS within 5 working days (IMSEE)
declaration of existence within 15 days of the start of operations (Code des taxes sur le chiffre d'affaires Art. 66 I 1°)
Art. 66
closing marker, visually separated: arithmetic total of about 2 to 3 months for an SARL or SURL and 4 to 6 months for a SAM
Every period the statute sets between the deposit of a file and a company that may trade. The total is arithmetic on those periods, not a published average
Our fees are on request. What the State charges is published, and these are the amounts a founder actually meets.
| Item | Who charges it | Amount or rate | Source, article and year |
|---|---|---|---|
| RCI registration, natural person | RCI, Direction du Développement Économique | EUR 55 | O.S. n° 2.853 of 22 June 1962, Art. 16 I 1° |
| RCI registration, legal person other than a joint-stock company | RCI | EUR 75 | O.S. n° 2.853 Art. 16 I 1° |
| RCI registration, joint-stock company | RCI | EUR 100 | O.S. n° 2.853 Art. 16 I 1° |
| Five-yearly declaration | RCI | the same duty: EUR 55, EUR 75 or EUR 100 | O.S. n° 2.853 Art. 16 I 1° |
| Amending or correcting declaration, or a strike-off request | RCI | EUR 25; EUR 50 for a joint-stock company | O.S. n° 2.853 Art. 16 I 2° |
| Extract of registration, or certificate of strike-off | RCI | EUR 15 | O.S. n° 2.853 Art. 16 II |
| Registration duty on a lease | Direction des Services Fiscaux | 1% | Loi n° 580 of 29 July 1953, Art. 9 2° |
| Registration duty on a transfer for value of a fonds de commerce or a clientele | Direction des Services Fiscaux | 7.50% | Loi n° 580; Government rate table, updated 28/07/2026 |
| Residence card, first issue | Section des Résidents | EUR 80 (temporaire, 1 year), EUR 100 (ordinaire, 3 years), EUR 160 (privilégié, 10 years) | monservicepublic.gouv.mc, updated 28/10/2024 |
What the Monegasque State charges on a company file, each amount with the article that sets it. None of these figures is a fee of ours.
Monaco taxes profits on where the turnover comes from rather than on the shape of the company.
No statute and no government page defines a Monegasque holding company. The only official definition located is the anti-money-laundering supervisor's: a financial vehicle for owning and controlling other assets, such as real property, shares or companies, holding the shares or interests of other companies. Published law stops there, and so does this page.
A bureau administratif, the office a foreign group opens to serve the group itself, is taxed on a notional base of 40% of its annual operating expenditure. The Government publishes that as its practice and no article of law was found behind it, so it is given here as practice. The file is bureau administratif Monaco.
The impôt sur les bénéfices is charged at 25% for financial years opened from 1 January 2022 (O.S. n° 3.152 Art. 21). It reaches an industrial or commercial business whose turnover comes "à concurrence de 25 % au moins", at least 25%, from operations outside Monaco (Art. 1er 1 a), the wording repeated in Art. 2 a) of the Franco-Monegasque convention of 18 May 1963. The Government's profits-tax page says "plus de 25%", more than; the statute controls. The legal form is neutral. The rest is Monaco's tax rates.
A business created in the Principality, falling within the scope of the profits tax and developing a genuinely new activity pays no impôt sur les bénéfices for two years, then is taxed on 25%, 50% and 75% of its profits in years three, four and five. All three conditions hold together. That is a taper granted on conditions, not a two-year holiday.
An authorisation is not a possession. Art. 9 lets it be suspended or revoked where the holder no longer has premises suited to the activity, has gone more than six months without trading and without legitimate reason, has substituted other persons in the exercise of the activity outside a location-gérance, or has no installation or staff permitting an effective activity on Monegasque territory. A dormant Monegasque company is not a lawful option, and closing one means liquidating a company in Monaco.
Name, email, the company if one exists, what you are setting up, and whatever you already know about the activity and the premises. One of us reads it and comes back with the questions the authorisation file will ask.
Buying into something that already trades is a real route in Monaco. It is not a way round the authorisation.
The authorisation is personal and non-transferable under Art. 5, and the decision names its holder, so shares can change hands while the permission stays where it is. More than six months without trading is itself a revocation ground (Art. 9 3°), which is why nothing here is offered ready to trade and no transfer time in days is quoted. The list and the rules are the existing companies guide.
A fonds de commerce, the business itself with its clientele, is bought under rules of its own and carries a registration duty of 7.50% on a transfer for value (Loi n° 580). Finding one, checking it and buying it is businesses for sale in Monaco.
Whatever is bought, the buyer's own file follows: his repute, his qualification, the activity as he intends to carry it on, and the premises he will use. Every entry in our table is marked subject to authorisation, and that wording is the accurate one rather than a cautious one.
Camille Perrin leads formation and authorisation work here, after eleven years on Monegasque business files. She writes the activity wording, assembles the founder's documents and the premises note, takes the file through the Direction du Développement Économique and the Monaco Business Office, books the notary where the form needs one, files at the RCI and follows the publication in the Journal de Monaco.
She is not an avocat-défenseur, a notaire or an expert-comptable, and this is not a law firm, an accountancy practice, a bank or a family office. We prepare and steer files; the decision belongs to the Minister of State. Meet the people who will handle your file.
Yes, with a permission first. Loi n° 1.144 Art. 5 makes an administrative authorisation a condition of carrying on business for any foreign natural person, and Art. 7 makes every foreign partner and gérant apply for himself. Repute, qualification and a stable establishment decide it.
No to both. The authorisation is personal and non-transferable (Art. 5): buying shares does not buy it. Lending a name to obtain one, or profiting from that, draws a fine of EUR 18,000 to 90,000 (Art. 15 with Code pénal Art. 26 chiffre 4). A nominee shareholding is void unless the register names principal and agent (Loi n° 721 Art. 16-1).
No official text located says a founder must appear in person, or may act wholly by proxy, so read this as an inference. Repute and qualification are assessed on the person, the premises are named in the decision, and Art. 9 8° asks for an installation or staff permitting an effective activity.
Five working days to admissibility, 45 days to the decision, extended by at most 45 days, suspension while documents are requested, up to six months where a foreign body is consulted, and silence means granted. Then one month to the RCI, three for a joint-stock company. The sum is two to three months for an SARL or SURL, four to six for a SAM: arithmetic, not an average.
The published duties are EUR 55, EUR 75 or EUR 100 at the RCI depending on who registers, EUR 25 for an amending declaration and EUR 50 for a joint-stock company, EUR 15 for an extract (O.S. n° 2.853 Art. 16). Add 1% on a lease and 7.50% on a fonds de commerce bought for value. Our fees are on request.
Required, yes: cash contributions go into an account with a credit institution established in the Principality, and payment is proved at registration. Guaranteed, no. Loi n° 1.492 gives a procedure: 15 working days from a complete file, a free attestation on refusal, and a bank designated by the Direction du Budget et du Trésor. The right belongs to the company in formation (Art. 2 4°).
Partly, and this page will not claim more than the sources say. The statutory clock runs from the deposit of the file, and only supporting documents filed in French are authoritative. Which steps of a foreign founder's file can be completed online was not established from any official page.
Three criteria: professional repute, assessed on the judicial record and after an administrative enquiry; a professional qualification held in the entrepreneur's own name; and a stable establishment, an infrastructure suited to the activity. The form adds its own: EUR 15,000 and two partners for an SARL, EUR 8,000 and one member for a SURL, EUR 150,000 and two shareholders for a SAM.
No. Profits are taxed at 25% for financial years opened from 1 January 2022, where at least 25% of turnover comes from operations outside Monaco. A genuinely new business created in the Principality gets two exempt years and a three-year taper, on three conditions. Monaco is inside the EU customs territory and a third State to the Union, and VAT applies.
The profits tax at 25% wherever the turnover test bites, with the new-business taper if all three conditions hold. An administrative office of a foreign group is taxed on a notional base of 40% of its annual operating expenditure, as published practice. Then 1% on a lease and 7.50% on a fonds de commerce bought for value.
No official statement on either label exists, so read the statutes. Trading needs an authorisation before it starts, substance is policed by Art. 9, profits are taxed at 25% once the turnover test is met, and Monaco is still on the FATF grey list, latest statement 19 June 2026, and on the EU anti-money-laundering list in force since 5 August 2025.
No official text located sets a minimum deposit or income for a Monegasque residence card. The published amounts are the first-issue card fees: EUR 80 for a one-year temporaire, EUR 100 for a three-year ordinaire, EUR 160 for a ten-year privilégié. The route is our residency service. ---
Ready to put a file in? Tell us the activity and the premises you have in mind and we will say what the authorisation file needs.