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Starting Business

At a Glance : Starting a Business

2020 Ranking: 70 (2019 Ranking: 152)

2020 “Starting a Business score”*: 89.3  (up from 77.33 in DB2019)

Regional Average (East Asia Pacific):  Starting a Business Rank-99,  Starting a Business Score 83.9

More information on Myanmar’s performance in Starting a Business - Click Here

* The ease of doing business score captures the gap between an economy’s performance and a measure of best practice across the entire sample of 41 indicators for 10 Doing Business topics (the labor market regulation indicators are excluded).​ (Source; World Bank)

What it measures

Procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital to start a limited liability company

Why does it matter?

For the company

  • When firms formally register, they secure more gains in profits, investments and productivity.
  • Informal entrepreneurs tend to employ fewer workers and have less access to business financing than their formal sector counterparts.
  • Employees can benefit from protections provided by the law.

For the economy

  • Where formal entrepreneurship is higher, job creation and economic growth also tends to be higher.
  • Informal firms may deprive governments of potential revenue through income and labour taxes.
  • Lower costs for business registration encourage entrepreneurship and enhance firm productivity.

Procedures

Step Details Time Required/Charges
1. Apply for company registration certificate Create a MyCO account (https://www.myco.dica.gov.mm/public/setupaccount.aspx). Enter the required information into an online form, make payment online and submit. Information tabs to be completed as follows:
  • company details
  • directors (upload a copy of National Registration Card or passport for every company director)
  • secretary (upload a copy of National Registration Card or passport)
  • registered office
  • principal place of business
  • shares
  • members
  • constitution (if you choose not to adopt a model constitution, which is available on the MyCo home page, you will need to upload your company constitution)
  • signature
  • payment

More information can be found at www.myco.dica.gov.mm and www.dica.gov.mm

Company registration certificate will automatically be issued after the DICA has approved it. 

1 Day

MMK 150,000
2. Register for commercial tax Further details of procedures, including required documents etc. are available here (hyperlink)

1 day
No Charge
3. Registration  of employees at the labor office in township  Further details of procedures, including required documents etc. are available here (hyperlink) 

1 day
No Charge
4. Registration with the Social Security Board for social  security benefits  Further details of procedures, including required documents etc. are available here (hyperlink) 

1 day
No Charge

 

What has improved

In the 2014 Report, Myanmar’s ranking was 189 (out of 189 economies).  It has improved to 70 (out of 190 economies) in DB 2020.
In 2015 DICA made starting a business easier by eliminating the minimum capital requirement for local companies and streamlining incorporation procedures
On 1 November 2016 DICA halved the cost of registering a company from MMK 1,000,000 to MMK 500,000
The requirement for local companies to provide proof of bank account was removed in December 2016
On 1 April 2018 DICA halved the cost of registering a company from MMK 500,000 to MMK 250,000
On 1 October 2019 DICA reduced again the cost of registering a company from MMK 250,000 to MMK 150,000.

On 1 August 2018 the new Companies Law came in effect and the new online companies registry (MyCO) was launched. Only one online procedure is now required to obtain a company registration certificate (reduced from eight in-person procedures). There is now no need to obtain the signature of the directors before a lawyer or certified public accountant and no more need to obtain a company seal or a rubber stamp. and no need to provide a company constitution (applicants may adopt a model company constitution which is provided on the MyCO webpage. Applicants wishing to provide their own constitution may still do so)

 

Action Plan

Action Item Timeline Status
Conduct extensive public education on reforms resulting from implementation of the Myanmar Companies Regulations 2018 Short Term Ongoing
Design a single submission form for company registration that includes required information for DICA, IRD, Department of Labour and Social Security Board. Medium Term Started
Create a single company identification number which can be used by all relevant Government agencies. This is known as a unique business identifier (UBI). Long Term Started. Company registration number and Tax Identification Number (TIN) already merged
Expand the company registry to create a unified online platform for registration for tax, social security, labour and SME registration. Consider possibility of including import/export licensing and industrial licensing. Long Term Ongoing
Review the cost of registering a company. Annually  

 

Lead Person

U Thant Sin Lwin

The Starting Business Indicator Support Group is headed by the Director General of the Directorate  of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relation

Our Partners

Registering a company

www.myco.dica.gov.mm

Myanmar Companies Online (MyCO)

DIRECTORATE OF INVESTMENT AND COMPANY ADMINISTRATION

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