A company in Latvia is a great alternative to offshore companies as the Latvian government has made numerous changes to regulations and laws in recent years. Companies in Latvia attract foreign entrepreneurs and investors who are looking for a sustainable and developing business structure and the opportunity to use multiple tax optimization opportunities for their company.

While there is an option to start your own business, there is another alternative: you can buy an existing business. A company that was incorporated some time ago and is currently inactive is known as a shelf or ready-made company. Shelf companies are either "clean", meaning that there has never been a business transaction in that company since inception, or a company with its own history, meaning it has a prior operational and financial history.

Advantages of acquiring a shelf company
Clean companies are typically formed with a single purpose and sold over time. The key advantage of such a shelf company is that the new owner of the company can be completely sure that it has no debts or other liabilities to the previous owners. In the meantime, companies that have previously operated may have some liabilities, and investors should do their own due diligence to make sure they're not buying a shelf company with a lot of debt. However, even companies with a previous operating history have their own advantages. For example, a ready-made business with a pre-existing business history is more credible and easier to get a loan or even open a bank account. Some manufacturers and even governments prefer to do business with a company that excels in longevity.

Compared to the possibility of starting your own business, the shelf company might be the right strategy for the following reasons:

Urgency – Starting a new business requires time and resources. If you want to start trading as quickly as possible, a shelf company allows you to start trading almost immediately after purchasing the shares.
Image and Credibility - Recently registered companies often seem unreliable when it comes to doing business with them. A shelf company that was registered some time ago now ensures a reliable image.
Compliance with formal requirements - in some cases, a company must be of a certain age in order to acquire certain business projects.
Process of a shelf company takeover
The process of acquiring a shelf company in Latvia is a relatively straightforward process and is usually handled by the service provider you purchased a shelf company from. The limited liability company is the most common legal form in Latvia as its shareholders have no personal liability for the company's debts except for the invested capital. In general, shelf companies in Latvia have an active registration number, VAT number, no previous activity and already registered share capital of EUR 2,800. The latter can vary depending on the service provider and should be clarified before choosing the shelf company.

The acquisition of a Latvian shelf company can be done either by arranging a notary appointment or by issuing a power of attorney remotely signed digitally with electronic signature. In general, all documents are prepared by the service provider and the customer only needs copies of the partners' passports, residential addresses and the new company name (if desired) and contacts. When all the documents are ready and signed by the service provider, he submits the application to the Trade Register, where it takes up to 5 working days to process all the changes. It is possible to expedite the process to one business day for an additional fee. After the commercial register has finished processing the changes, the service provider forwards all legal documents to the new shareholders and your company can start trading.

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