[ESTABLISHING A BUSINESS ENTITY IN GREECE] 228
As with the other companies, the Assembly is convened at least once per year, in order to approve the financial statements and the decision and the financial statements are registered at the General Commercial Registry. The Ltd has to register several data at the General Commercial Registry, such as name, address, tax number, commercial registry number, the legal representation of the company and the data of the legal representatives, the annual financial statements of the company, the articles of association and their amendments etc., which are uploaded to the Registry’s website and are accessible to the public. 3.1.4 The General Partnership and the Limited Partnership At the Partnerships, each general partner administers and represents separately the company, even without the consent of the other partners (unless otherwise provided by the articles of association- e.g., to appoint one of the partners as administrator/legal representative). The above administration refers to day-to-day management. For any additional action (e.g., amendment of the articles of association, establishment of a branch or sale of important company assets) the consent of all the partners is required (even of those who are excluded by the administration). The same applies for any action that lies out of the purpose of the company. Although the above decisions have to be unanimous, the articles of association can provide that a majority is sufficient. 3.1.5 Audit Requirements The Audit of the financial statements of the companies may be mandatory or non- mandatory. The Greek law distinguishes the business entities, based on their size, into i)
“very small entities”: a. total equity≤ €350,000, b. net turnover ≤ €700,000, c. personnel ≤ 10 (2 out of 3 criteria are sufficient). The Partnerships are considered very small even if only their net turnover ≤ €1,500,000; ii) “small entities”: a. total equity ≤ €4,000,000, b. net turnover ≤ €8,000,000, c. personnel ≤ 50 (2 out of 3 criteria are sufficient); iii) “medium entities”: a. total equity ≤ €20,000,000, b. net turnover ≤ €40,000,000, c. personnel ≤ 250 (2 out of 3 criteria are sufficient); iv) “big entities”: a. total equity ˃ €20,000,000, b. net turnover ˃ €40,000,000, c. personnel ˃ 250 (2 out of 3 criteria are sufficient). The annual audit of the financial statements is mandatory for the Partnerships when all the partners are legal entities with limited liability (e.g., S.A, P.C, Ltd), the S.A., the P.C. and the Ltd, provided that they are considered either Medium or Big Entities. The audit of the financial statements constitutes a prerequisite for the financial statements to be approved from the (General) Assembly. The Small Entities may (non-mandatorily) include a provision for audit at their articles of association or it can be provided by a decision of the (General) Assembly. Furthermore, the requirements regarding the form/content of the financial statements vary depending on the size of the business entity. 3.1.6 Tax Obligations All the above-mentioned business entities have several obligations to the Tax Authorities. The major are the submission of an income tax return/declaration annually and the submission of a tax return/declaration regarding the VAT (the latter is submitted periodically, during the year).
ILN Corporate Group – Establishing a Business Entity Series
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