Frequently Asked Questions

Responses

As of 1 January 2015, the amendment to Article 1.74(1) of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania (supplemented by point 3) has come into force and certain transactions for the sale of shares in limited liability companies are subject to the requirement to be concluded by the notary public. This means that if you buy/sell at least 25% of the shares of a limited liability company or if the price of the shares is at least EUR 14,500, your transaction will have to be attested by the notary public. The fee of the notary public is 0.004% of the transaction value, but not more than EUR 5,792.40 (20,000 Lithuanian litas).

Notarisation of the transaction can be avoided if the securities recordkeeping of the limited liability company are kept by a company licensed by the Bank of Lithuania, e.g. a financial brokerage firm. It should be noted that if a brokerage firm is entrusted with the securities recordkeeping, fees for the registration of share and purchase transactions and the registration of ownership of shares are also applicable, but they are usually lower than fees charged by the notary public. (23/12/2015) 

Yes, there is an alternative, i.e. brokerage firms operating in Lithuania have the right to keep records of closed securities. After signing the securities recordkeeping agreement, the brokerage firm registers the share issue of the limited liability company with the central securities depository and from that moment on all registration of the securities transfer agreements is carried out by the brokerage firm, and a notarised share purchase and sale agreement is no longer necessary; a simple written form of the transaction will be enough.

Of course, brokerage services are fee-based. The specific fees are set by each brokerage firm, but for comparison we can mention that notaries charge 0.4% of the transaction value up to a maximum of EUR 5,792.40, while brokerage firms charge a fixed monthly fee ranging from EUR 30 to EUR 90 per month, and a fee for the registration of a specific transaction (the transfer of ownership of the shares), which costs from 0 to EUR 500.

Securities recordkeeping at a brokerage firm does not exempt the firm from registering a change of shareholders with the State Enterprise Centre of Registers in the electronic JADIS system.

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