The Cyprus company operating manual
Most guides stop the day your company is incorporated. These start there — every deadline, filing, tax, and fee involved in actually running a Cyprus limited company, written in plain English and verified against current rules.
The Cyprus company compliance calendar: every deadline in 2026
Every filing and payment deadline a Cyprus limited company faces in 2026 — annual returns, provisional tax, VAT, UBO confirmation — in one month-by-month calendar.
Read the calendarDeadlines & filings
The HE32 annual return
How the Cyprus annual return works in 2026: the reference date, the filing deadline, the financial statements that go with it, and the real cost of missing it.
Provisional tax
How Cyprus temporary tax works: the 31 July and 31 December instalments, the 10% surcharge trap, and how to revise your estimate before it costs you.
The TD4 tax return
What goes into a Cyprus corporate income tax return, when the TD4 is due, how the self-assessment payment works, and the penalties for filing late.
Audit & financial statements
Every Cyprus company needs financial statements — but not every company needs a full audit. The thresholds, the deadlines, and how the review option works.
The UBO register
Who qualifies as a beneficial owner of a Cyprus company, how the annual UBO confirmation works, and the fines that apply when nobody files it.
VAT
Running the company
Company tax residency
What makes a Cyprus company tax-resident in 2026 — the management-and-control test, the incorporation rule's two phases, and what they mean for a founder abroad.
The government portals, mapped
Which Cyprus government system handles what in 2026 — Tax For All, TAXISnet, the Tax Portal, the Registrar's e-filing, the UBO register and CY Login — and who should hold the keys.
Invoice requirements
The mandatory fields, the 30-day issuing rule, credit notes, foreign-currency invoices, reverse-charge wording and record keeping — Cyprus invoicing rules in one page.
Hiring your first employee
ERGANI's one-day-before rule, 2026 contribution rates and the minimum wage, what an employee really costs on top of gross salary, and the monthly cycle that starts on day one.
Dormant companies & strike-off
An inactive Cyprus company still files annual returns, accounts, tax returns and UBO confirmations. What dormancy really costs, and the voluntary strike-off route out.
Switching providers
What to collect before you give notice, the two 14-day filings, how portal access moves (TFA, UBO, e-filing), and the handover timeline that avoids missed deadlines.
Money & owners
Dividends for non-resident owners
What actually gets deducted when a Cyprus company pays dividends — SDC, GESY, withholding — depending on where you live and whether you're non-dom.
Provider fees, decoded
A worked breakdown of the €4,000–8,000 a year a simple Cyprus company pays in professional fees: what each line item is, and which parts you can see and check yourself.
Salary vs dividends
The founder's pay question, worked through with 2026 numbers: PAYE, social insurance and GESY on salary versus SDC and GESY on dividends — by residency case.
The 2026 tax reform, decoded
Enacted 31 December 2025, effective from tax year 2026: the 15% corporate rate, SDC cut, deemed distribution phase-out, stamp duty abolition, and the new deadlines — founder edition.
Non-dom & the 60-day rule
How founders become Cyprus tax residents on 60 days a year, what non-dom status exempts, the 17-year clock, and the 2026 changes that made the rule easier.
Special regimes
Director & shareholder loans
Borrowing from your own company triggers a 9% deemed benefit; lending to it raises transfer pricing questions. The rules on both directions, updated for the 2026 reform.
Transfer pricing & the SIT
Cyprus transfer pricing rules don't only hit big groups. When the documentation thresholds apply, what the Summary Information Table is, and what filing late costs.
Every guide is verified against primary sources — Cyprus Tax Department, Registrar of Companies, and current legislation — and carries the date its facts were last checked. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.