How to Close a Company in Montenegro: Voluntary Liquidation or Bankruptcy?
In this article, we’ll look at the most cost-effective way to close a company in Montenegro — through voluntary liquidation or bankruptcy. Let’s start with voluntary liquidation.
Voluntary Company Liquidation in Montenegro
I’ve already written before about how to close a company in Montenegro. I won’t repeat everything in detail here — just the key points. Closing a company in Montenegro is very simple (preparing the document package takes less than an hour), very cheap (much cheaper than in most other European countries), and very fast (around a week). The only requirement is that the company must have no outstanding tax debts and all reports must be filed. In other words, if you haven’t abandoned your company, you can close it quickly and easily — elementary, my dear Watson. The total cost, including our service fee, government fees, and notarization, is around €300. Quite affordable, right?
But if you’ve abandoned the company, things get much more expensive. As mentioned above, «the company must have no tax debts and no missing reports.»
This means you’ll need to pay all taxes — for each month.
The company has a director, the director has a salary, and taxes must be paid on that salary. The fact that the director hasn’t done this for a few years, or didn’t operate the company at all, doesn’t change anything.
You’ll also need to submit all reports, which means paying an accountant — again, for every month.
As a result, if the company has been inactive for a long time, closing it becomes quite costly. To be specific — around €85 per month. If the company was abandoned, say, two years ago, you’re looking at 85 × 24 = €2040 in back taxes and accounting fees — plus the cost of closing the company.
So, as you can see, if the company is abandoned, the costs increase dramatically. Why let it come to that? Why not just close it right away, when it only costs a few hundred euros?
Bankruptcy in Montenegro
So what if the company was abandoned long ago, and now has debts in the thousands of euros?
In these cases, the founders start to think: what now? Voluntary liquidation, with all back payments and reports, becomes very expensive.
Many then consider filing for bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy is a much more complex process. While voluntary liquidation takes about a week (sometimes just two days), bankruptcy can take several years and involves multiple court hearings.
Here are the typical bankruptcy costs:
- Court fee: €600
- Court appearance: €60 per hearing (and there are usually several, so you can safely multiply this by three)
- Lawyer’s fee: from €1000
Total minimum cost: around €1780
What’s the Best Way to Close a Company in Montenegro?
The moral of the story is simple. You have two options:
- Close the company easily, quickly, and for just €300 — if you act on time and don’t let debts pile up.
- Close it through bankruptcy after several court cases, spend years on the process, and end up paying much more.
Which option to choose? That’s up to you.
