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Company Setup in Iraq

Are you considering to set up a Business entity in Iraq?

What region in Iraq to pick for company registration? Or are you thinking of establishing your company in a free zone?

It is only possible to answer this question by having a clear vision of your goals and objectives and by understanding laws and rules of the two separate jurisdictions; Central South Iraq and the semi-autonomic region Kurdistan Region Iraq. Company registration in one region is not automatically recognized in the other. However, both regions offer foreigners several options and benefits to do business on the ground; not only on the mainland but also in in one of the Free Zones.

Once it is clear in which region or free zone you want to conduct your business activities, we help you set up your company.

Company forms in Iraq

• Limited Liability Company (LLC): Foreign Shareholders Shares Restriction Applicable.
• Branch Office of a Foreign Company
• Foreign Shareholders Shares Restriction Not-Applicable;
• Joint Stock Company (JSC): Foreign Shareholders Shares Restriction Applicable;
• Holding Companies. Foreign Shareholders Shares Restriction Applicable;

Kurdistan Region of Iraq

If you are doing business in the KRI, you are required to register a legal presence:

• Limited liability company (LLC)
• Foreign branch office
• Joint–Stock Company (JSC)
• Joint Venture (JV): Not Recognized as Legal entity under Iraqi’s Companies Law

Free zones

The Iraq Government currently operates three free trade zones in the country. The three free zones in federal Iraq are: Khor Al-Zubair (Basra governorate), Qaim (Anbar governorate), and Flaifil (Ninewa governorate).

Employee Leasing / Outstaffing Services

Entering a new market venture is a game-changer, especially when deploying your workforce directly region. If establishing a legal entity seems premature but you wish to harness the impact of having your own employees operating across Asian countries, Meena Business Consultancy Services has a tailored solution for you. Our clientele attests to the success of employee leasing, particularly for functions like sales & marketing, business development, distributor management, and service & maintenance.

Employee leasing offers a rapid, adaptable, and seamless solution. It allows for a smooth transition to your subsidiary when your business expands and also provides a swift exit strategy if needed. By entrusting administrative tasks and local requirements to us, our clients can concentrate on their core business development without distractions.

Key Features of Employee Leasing with Meena Business Consultancy Services :

– Fast, flexible, and smooth entry.

– Complete control over business development with a dedicated team

– Ideal for building, managing, and supporting distributors and key accounts

– Customized recruitment to align the local team with your corporate culture

– Freedom from time-consuming local administrative tasks

– Seamless market exit when required

– Integration of your employees with motivational events

– Professional business environment with a dedicated office space

Scope of Employee Leasing / Outstaffing Services:

Our comprehensive services cover every aspect of employee leasing across the GCC countries:

– Client-specific search & selection.

– Negotiation of employment conditions and contract conclusion.

– Recruitment and employment handled by Meena Business Consultancy Services’ local partners in different country.

– Provision of work and residency permits for the respective countries.

– Negotiation and payment of health insurance in compliance with local regulations.

– Professional payroll accounting within international standards.

– Expense and allowance management with client approval.

– IT infrastructure supply, including laptops, landline phones, and mobile phones.

– Support for travel visas and international health insurance.

– Mailing services.

– Work reports and KPIs

Why Entering the GCC Region is important for your business growth:

The GCC region serves as a strategic hub, boasting economic diversity, political stability, developed infrastructure, and a favorable business environment. Key points include:

1) Economic Stability:

– The GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait, exhibit strong economic stability. Their economies are largely driven by oil and gas, but concerted efforts are being made to diversify into various sectors, ensuring resilience against fluctuations in commodity prices.

2) Strategic Location and Connectivity:

– Geographically situated at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the GCC region serves as a strategic hub for businesses. With modern and well-connected transportation infrastructure, including major airports and seaports, it offers seamless access to global markets.

3) Business-Friendly Environment:

– Many GCC countries have implemented business-friendly policies, providing a conducive environment for foreign investments. Incentives such as tax exemptions, simplified business registration processes, and various free zones make it attractive for companies looking to establish a presence in the region.

4) Diversification of Industries:

– The GCC is actively diversifying its economies beyond oil and gas, with a focus on sectors like tourism, technology, finance, healthcare, and renewable energy. This diversification provides opportunities for businesses across a wide range of industries.

5) High Standard of Living and Skilled Workforce:

– The GCC nations boast a high standard of living and have invested significantly in education and skill development. This has resulted in a skilled and multicultural workforce, making it easier for businesses to find talent across various sectors.

These factors collectively contribute to the attractiveness of the GCC region for businesses seeking opportunities in a dynamic and evolving market.

Legal

Many activities in Iraq do involve legal questions. Being it the creation of an employment contract, the negotiation of a distributor agreement or in more unfortunate cases a dispute resolution. As a full-service provider, Meena Business Consultancy Services can support its international clients for those topics as well. Together with a partner we have integrated a wide range of legal services into our service offering. Our highly qualified consultants work closely together with a network of trusted lawyers in Iraq who are experts in international law as well as the Iraqi and Kurdistan Region of Iraq legal system.

• Corporate & Commercial Law
• IP Rights and Media Law
• Real Estate Law
• Tax Law
• Employment Law
• Distributorship & Franchise Law
• Merger & Acquisitions and Joint Ventures
• Foreign Trade & Legal Compliance
• Investment and Market Entry
• Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Accounting & Payroll/Book-Keeping

Focus on your business and benefit from outsourcing your accounting to Meena Business Consultancy Services.

With Meena Business Consultancy Services, you can rest assured and never fear a lack of skilled workers in accounting again due to illness-related absences or general shortages. We help you keeping your operations run smoothly. We are your new accounting department, whether you are new to an emerging market or a well-established company.

• We take care of your accounting
• We digitize your accounting
• We ensure smooth processes

Your benefits at a glance:

• We provide a plan on how to outsource accounting regardless of the shortage of skilled workers
• No risks in the event of employee absences
• Your internal costs are eliminated
• Assurance of professional quality

The bookkeeping for Iraq consists of the following service items:

1- Accounting and Bookkeeping Service:

• Bookkeeping and data processing according to (IFRS – IQ GAAP) depends on your needs  Fixed assets transactions (register, deprecation calculation, amortization)
• Monthly preparation of bank and cash reconciliation
• Accounts payable and Receivable
• Prepaid, accruals and provisions
• Expenses and revenues records
• Monthly financial statements (Income statement – Financial Position – Cash flow)
• Social security and income tax calculation
• End of month register and closing entries
• End of year register and closing entries

2- PIT (personals income tax) and Social Security services:

• Preparation of PIT on a monthly basis, and fill out the forms on quarterly basis
• PIT payment on quarterly basis
• Preparation of social security calculation on a monthly basis, and fill out the forms on a monthly basis
• Social security payment on monthly basis
• Year-end social security and PIT declarations and updates

3- Financial Statements:

• Preparation of the Iraqi GAAP Financial Statements
• Certification from Certified legal auditorImportant note: the above services provided does not include auditing, preparation of the financial statements as per IFRS

4- Tax Filing and company register renewal:

• Contracting a local statutory accountant
• Certifying the Iraqi financial Statements from the accounting syndicate
• Submission the Iraqi financial Statements to the Tax directorate
• Payment of CIT (company income tax) and obtaining a tax clearance
• Company’s register update and company’s legal documents renewal

Market Research/Market Entry Strategies

For more than 6 years, we have helped our clients understanding emerging markets by conducting market research projects. To understand your target market, we offer three approaches:

A. Market research
B. Market assessment
C. Market entry strategy

Market Research is an important tool to understand the market conditions, the market size, the competition, and the trends. This gives you important insights before entering the market, setting the strategy, or deciding on local investments. If you would like to have an easy-to-read and clear-cut formatted report which is prepared according to your questions, we are the right partner for you.

Advantages of conducting a Market Analysis with Meena Business Consultancy Services

We offer:

• relevant insight. No matter how niche your sector is, we look at the market through the eyes of our clients, talk to the right people and understand how to filter the relevant data.
• a tailor-made research scope, from answering a few questions up to a fully comprehensive market analysis.
• a flexible approach and can integrate our clients into the project steering, enabling them to dynamically adjust the research focus according to upcoming findings.
• a highly developed methodology to research the markets.

Our Market Research Methodology and Tool

We have proven methodology and tools which we can easily customize to your research needs.

Each research project can be a unique combination of:

• Desk research
• Phone interviews
• Face-to-face in-depth interviews
• Site visits
• Online surveys
• Focus Groups

Typical Scope for Market Research

• Market size
• Market structure
• Sales & distribution channels
• Key players (competition, customers and other stakeholders)
• Market shares
• Trends & developments
• Forecasts
• Cost structure
• Location analysis
• SWOT analysis

We can also provide more insight by a detailed competition analysis & benchmarking.

Business Visa

We offer you visa facilitation and advice services to Iraq. We have comprehensive experience and expertise in what we promise and deliver, and thus have no parallel when it comes to serving corporate clients. Our heritage of quality client servicing and delivering the best to clients, have made us earned the first choice of visa and residency services. We follow a series of highly advanced, precise and streamlined processes to ensure our clients’ absolute security and confidentiality and follow all national and international laws and regulations regarding private data protection such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation also known as GDPR.

Export Loans & L/C

Are you looking for export financing?

Finding suitable banks for buyer credits and confirmed LCs isn’t always easy, whether you are looking to finance your imports or are helping your buyer find inexpensive financing. This applies especially to shipments to emerging and developing countries. Our large selection of international banks ensures that you can find inexpensive financing even for difficult markets.

Would you like to simplify your search for financing?

Time is money. E-Mails and telephone calls lead to long communication chains and appointment coordination between you and your (core) banks.
What if you could forego this tedious back and forth and also save time by being able to control and analyze your financing all in one place?

Your Benefits at a Glance

When it comes to efficiency, digital platforms are unrivaled. This is why we together with our partner support, a fully automated digital marketplace. It simplifies the process of finding and analyzing financing offers.
Both experienced buyers and suppliers can make financing requests.
The marketplace was developed in close co-operation with a dozen reputable machine and plant manufacturers. Particular emphasis was put on the security of our infrastructure.

What are the conditions and fees for receiving an export loan or a confirmed L/C?

Administration fees:

1. Buyer – free of charge
2. Seller – Export loan 249 Euro per inquiry and for L/Cs 99 Euros per inquiry

Conditions:

1. A) Products and services from Western Europe to Emerging markets are eligible
2. B) Buyer credits starting from USD 5 million and a minimum term of 4 years or
3. C) Confirmed LCs of at least EUR 100,000 with a maximum term of 360 days
4. D) Products and services from exporters (companies) known to European banks (e.g., Siemens,

GE, SMS, Kaeser, Aerzener Maschinenfabrik etc.)

or

1. E) Borrower is a local Treasury or Energy Department or
2. F) Borrower is one of the 3 largest energy companies in the country or
3. G) Borrower is a larger company (sales at least (!) USD 50 million) and has an irrevocable / objection-free Payment guarantee, i.e., from one of the 3 largest energy companies in the world
4. H) For an L/C: the opening bank must be one of the three best banks in the country

Due Diligence

Our due diligence services include independent investigations in the target company’s operating qualifications, operating status, background of management staff, market risk and management risk. In addition, we conduct comprehensive review of the target company’s compliance with respect to its normal business processes. Examples include whether the target company and its internal staff, shareholders and senior management are involved in adverse litigation, corruption and bribery, and understanding the background of the target company’s investors.

Our due diligence reports are relied on by a wide range of industries. They help customers undertake compliance management, assess their partners’ compliance risk and serve as important basis for collaboration with business parties.

We leverage on our advance data, comprehensive and reliable data source as well as our team of experienced professional to conduct objective, full and comprehensive business data such as to help business decision-makers to avoid working with organizations with irregular operations, thereby preventing them from incurring financial loss or even legal penalties or administrative fines. Enterprises can rest assured that their business dealings with partners can grow in a reliable and healthy manner.

Security Risk

Our due diligence services include independent investigations in the target company’s operating qualifications, operating status, background of management staff, market risk and management risk. In addition, we conduct comprehensive review of the target company’s compliance with respect to its normal business processes. Examples include whether the target company and its internal staff, shareholders and senior management are involved in adverse litigation, corruption and bribery, and understanding the background of the target company’s investors.

Our due diligence reports are relied on by a wide range of industries. They help customers undertake compliance management, assess their partners’ compliance risk and serve as important basis for collaboration with business parties.

Together with our ISO, ANSI/ASIS and UKAS certified partner (ISO 9001:2015, ISO 18788:2015 ANSI/ASIS PSC.1-2012, UKAS) and member of SECG (Security in Complex Environments Group), we provide detailed and practical safety, health and travel reports. To carry out business operations, it is important to have an understanding of the current security situation. This might not only be a choice but a requirement from your company’s compliance department. Whether you require a report for one city, a region, or the whole country, we can tailor reports to your needs. The report may also contain a health section with a hospital list with emergency care and general travel advice on how to move and operate safely and securely inside Iraq.