Registration and starting a business in Croatia
Learn more about registration and starting a business
First option: You have freedom of establishment in Croatia if you are EU/EEA or a third-country national. Establishment may take a legal form of a craft business or a company, i.e. a branch office.Second option: If you are already established in any EU/EEA state, you are free to provide cross-border services, which is for certain business activities applicable on a temporary and an occasional basis. In these cases, you do not have to register a company in Croatia, but you have to deliver a statement on the cross-border provision of services to the competent authority, by e-mail. A proof of establishment in another EU/EEA state needs to be delivered by e-mail as well.
It is also important to check whether the sectoral requirements for performing professional and service activities in Croatia exist.
Croatian citizens
The START system enables integrated electronic start of a business, i.e. craft businesses and companies (a private limited liability company – d.o.o. and a simple private limited liability company – j.d.o.o.):- without obligation of physical presence at any of the competent authorities
- without obligation of notarial authentication with an offer of standardized versions of articles of association
- without obligation of seal
- with a fee reduced by 50 % for companies, and free of charge for craft businesses.
The registration is finalized in few days, i.e. within a maximum of 5 workdays.
The system delivers information to the selected bank, and after that it is necessary to go to the bank in person to open the account.
| The START e-service Technical requirements to access the e-service:
User support is always available. |
Establishment of other types of companies is enabled with a help of Hitro.hr service and/or a notary.
EU/EEA citizens
Considering that the START system is currently available only for Croatian citizens, EU/EEA citizens have two options for a company registration:First option: establishing electronically, along with additional steps to be done in person.
The e-Osnivanje (e-Establishment) service is available by means of the eIDAS credentials from another EU/EEA state and it enables electronic entrance of companies (a private limited company – d.o.o. and a simple private limited company – j.d.o.o.) into the Company Register:
- without notarial authentication and with an offer of standardized versions of articles of association
- without seal
- with a fee reduced by 50 % for companies
- with obligatory physical presence at the time of registration at the Tax Administration and for the obligatory social security.
The registration is finalized in few days, i.e. within a maximum of 5 workdays.
Second option: all in person
It is necessary to go in person
- to the office of Hitro.hr, which also requires going to the notary, or
- to the notary only, without going to the office of Hitro.hr
In addition to the aforesaid, it is necessary to register in:
- the Tax Administration system
- the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute system (HZMO), which then forwards the information to the Croatian Health Insurance Fund system (HZZO)
- Croatian Bureau of Statistics (free of charge) - registar@dzs.hr
EU/EEA citizens may start a craft business at county offices or at the Office of the City of Zagreb, and they are entered to the Crafts Register.
Third-country nationals
Third-country nationals may register a company and a craft business only in person, as aforesaid (under the second option).| Additional information: Change in the legal form – conversion of a company Company closure – dissolution of a company by a summary procedure, without liquidation |