First 90 days after registering an LLC in Russia: what to do

The obligations that hit a new Russian LLC in its first quarter — tax elections, banking, payroll and first filings — in the order they fall due.

A Russian LLC is registered in about a week, but the work that keeps it out of trouble happens in the 90 days that follow. Tax elections, banking, payroll registration and the first reports all fall due in the opening quarter, and missing them creates penalties before you have issued a single invoice. Here is the sequence, in the order it actually happens.

Days 1–14: confirm tax regime and registrations

The first decisions are about tax. Confirm or elect your tax regime, verify the INN and OGRN issued on registration, and complete statistics registration. Check your VAT position before the first invoice goes out — getting this wrong at the start is expensive to correct later.

Days 1–30: open the bank account

Nothing operational moves until the company has a bank account. Banks run their own compliance checks on the entity and its beneficial owners, which takes time, so start immediately and expect it to run in parallel with everything else. Charter capital is deposited once the account is open.

Days 15–45: set up payroll and first hires

Before anyone is paid, the company must register as an employer, prepare compliant employment contracts, and set up payroll with NDFL and social contributions. If a foreign director or specialists are joining, their HQS permits should already be in motion from around incorporation so they can be legally in post.

Days 30–90: first filings and the ongoing calendar

The first reporting deadlines arrive during this window. Meet them, then put a recurring compliance calendar in place so quarter two runs on rails rather than by memory. This is also when to confirm who is responsible for each filing — the single most common gap in newly registered companies is an unowned deadline.

The common mistake

The company is cheap to create and more demanding to run compliantly. Businesses that budget only for incorporation, and not for the first quarter of obligations, are the ones that get caught. Treat the first 90 days as a project with a checklist, not a series of surprises.