Registering a company in Timor-Leste is free, and most registrations complete within one to five working days. If your business is real, registration is the single cheapest upgrade you can give it: a registered company can open a bank account, sign contracts, apply for programs and win customers who need receipts.

Step 1 — Choose your company form

• Empresário em Nome Individual (ENI) — you trade under your own name. Simplest form; you and the business are legally the same person, so you carry the debts personally.
• Sociedade Unipessoal Lda — a limited company with one owner. The company is a separate legal person — for most serious solo founders this is the right choice.
• Sociedade Lda — a limited company with two or more shareholders. Put the ownership split in writing before you register, not after the first argument.
• Sociedade Anónima (S.A.) — for large ventures with many shareholders and formal governance. Almost no startup needs this on day one.

Step 2 — Register with SERVE

SERVE I.P. (Serviço de Registo e Verificação Empresarial) is the government's one-stop shop for business registration. Registration is free of charge, and the minimum share capital for a limited company starts at just one US dollar. You will need identity documents for the owners, a company name (have two or three alternatives ready), a business address, and a short description of your activity. Straightforward registrations are typically issued within 1–5 working days.

Step 3 — Tax identification (TIN)

With your registration certificate, obtain the company's tax identification number from the tax authority. You need it to invoice properly, to open a business bank account, and to bid for any government or NGO work.

Step 4 — Sector licences

Some activities need a licence after registration — food businesses, transport, construction, pharmacies, schools and others. Ask SERVE or the sector ministry which licence applies to you before you open the doors, not after an inspector visits.

What it costs

Registration itself: free. Your real costs are the licence fees (where applicable), a company stamp, and your time. Beware of anyone charging you large "processing fees" for something the state does for nothing.

Startups of Timor is building a step-by-step registration assistant. Until then, this guide plus the SERVE office gets you there.