Expanding into
Cyprus
Global expansion is a step to make for any business, regardless of what you wish to achieve. The opportunities that can come with an expansion can be both incredibly exciting as well as intimidating and confusing, especially when you consider all of the registration procedures that needs to be done and documentation required.
Get the Support You Need
Expanding to countries such as Cyprus – which is characterized by a highly-skilled and productive workforce, complex employment and tax laws, an infrastructure network linking to the rest of Europe Asia and the Middle East, and leading sectors in ICT, tourism, shipping, energy, industry, construction, and agriculture – can bring both excitement to the possibilities, but also significant stress to ensuring the entity with the country’s rigorous legal structures and laws.
Ensuring compliance without the sufficient knowledge of the country’s laws also adds to the stress of getting your new entity off the ground and ready to test new markets. Going at it without the proper support can increase the costs, time and risks involved.
Each new markets bring new challenges, and these can be worked through more efficiently and cost-effectively with the support of an International Professional Employer Organization (PEO) such as Bradford Jacobs, especially through our Employer of Record (EOR) framework.
This can be best utilized when businesses are just beginning their expansion process and require more information before committing to incorporating an entity and fully establishing themselves in that market.
Hiring Staff
in Cyprus
Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean. With an advanced, high-income economy and a very high Human Development Index, the Republic of Cyprus has been a member of the Commonwealth since 1961 and was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement until it joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone and adopted the euro as its official currency.
The Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty over the entire island, including its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, with the exception of the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which remain under the UK’s control according to the London and Zürich Agreements.
However, the Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts: the area under the effective control of the Republic, located in the south and west and comprising about 59% of the island’s area, and the north, administered by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering about 36% of the island’s area. Another nearly 4% of the island’s area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the northern part of the island to be territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces.
Since 1983 the economy of the Greek Cypriot sector has flourished, and unemployment and inflation have remained relatively low. Tourism has provided the main leverage of economic growth, and many areas have undergone technological upgrading. In the 1990s the Greek Cypriot sector increasingly transformed itself into a center of international transit trade, merchant shipping, banking, and related services.
The republic’s Greek-run government established special tariff arrangements with the European Union, whose member countries account for about half of the island’s imports.
The Turkish-occupied area has not experienced the same prosperity, however, and the Turkish government has had to subsidize its economy. The Turkish area still depends heavily on agriculture. Trade between the two areas ceased in 1974, and the two economies have remained independent. However, the southern zone continues to supply the northern zone with electricity, and the northern zone still processes the sewage of Greek Nicosia.
Small and Medium-Sized Companies
SMEs are the backbone of the Cypriot ‘non-financial business economy’. Their contribution to total value added and employment is striking, at 76.3% and 83.8% respectively. Both are substantially higher than the respective EU averages of 56.4% and 66.6%.
Cypriot SMEs employ 3.9 people on average, consistent with the EU average. The average annual productivity of SMEs in Cyprus, calculated as value added per person employed, is €32,900 — almost three quarters of the EU average.
Sectors dominated by SMEs include construction and professional activities (particularly legal and accounting).
Social Security Number
Tax Identifier Number (for businesses)
VAT Number
Hiring Staff
in Cyprus
The Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty over the entire island, including its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, with the exception of the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which remain under the UK’s control according to the London and Zürich Agreements.
However, the Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts: the area under the effective control of the Republic, located in the south and west and comprising about 59% of the island’s area, and the north, administered by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, covering about 36% of the island’s area. Another nearly 4% of the island’s area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the northern part of the island to be territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces.
Since 1983 the economy of the Greek Cypriot sector has flourished, and unemployment and inflation have remained relatively low. Tourism has provided the main leverage of economic growth, and many areas have undergone technological upgrading. In the 1990s the Greek Cypriot sector increasingly transformed itself into a center of international transit trade, merchant shipping, banking, and related services.
The republic’s Greek-run government established special tariff arrangements with the European Union, whose member countries account for about half of the island’s imports.
The Turkish-occupied area has not experienced the same prosperity, however, and the Turkish government has had to subsidize its economy. The Turkish area still depends heavily on agriculture. Trade between the two areas ceased in 1974, and the two economies have remained independent. However, the southern zone continues to supply the northern zone with electricity, and the northern zone still processes the sewage of Greek Nicosia.
Cypriot SMEs employ 3.9 people on average, consistent with the EU average. The average annual productivity of SMEs in Cyprus, calculated as value added per person employed, is €32,900 — almost three quarters of the EU average.
Sectors dominated by SMEs include construction and professional activities (particularly legal and accounting).
Social Security Number
Tax Identifier Number (for businesses)
VAT Number
The Main Sectors of the Cyprus Economy
The country focuses on the following key sectors, which all have a significant impact on the country’s economy:
The Main Sectors of the Cyprus Economy
The country focuses on the following key sectors, which all have a significant impact on the country’s economy:
Commercial Laws in
Cyprus
Commercial Laws in Cyprus
