Setting up an operation in North Macedonia

Write down which functions the team will run, the hours and languages it has to cover, roughly how many people you expect after one year and after two, and what stays at headquarters. Name the person at headquarters who owns the operation and can make decisions without a committee.

Every later step depends on this one. The employment structure, the first roles, the space you need and the providers you engage all follow from what the operation is for. What to decide before you start covers this stage in more depth.

Test the location against the roles you actually need rather than national averages: which positions can be filled locally, at what seniority, and with which languages. That assessment is specific to each company, which is why this page gives no general figures for it.

Where in the country matters as much as which country. Skopje is the capital and by far the largest city. Bitola, where BalkanScale is based, is in the south-west, close to the border with Greece. It is the seat of St. Clement of Ohrid University, and six of the university’s twelve units are in the city itself. Why Bitola sets out the case for building there. It is not the right answer for every operation, and an honest assessment says so when it is not.

There are two broad routes. A licensed provider, often called an employer of record, can employ your first hires while you have no local company of your own. Private employment agencies operate under licence and appear in a public register. Alternatively, you establish your own legal presence and employ people directly, most commonly through a locally registered company such as a limited liability company, or through a branch of your existing company. Foreign investors may establish companies on the same terms as domestic ones.

Neither route is universally correct, and there is no employee count in North Macedonian law at which one becomes the right answer. The choice turns on expected headcount and growth, permanence, the control you need, sector licensing and the tax position. A representative office is not a route to running an operation: it is not a legal entity and may not carry out commercial activities.

Whichever route you choose, tax exposure follows the activity. A permanent establishment of a foreign company can be subject to North Macedonian profit tax, regardless of who runs the payroll. EOR or entity works through the decision in full.

If you register a local company, the Central Registry carries out the registration and keeps the Trade Register. Its integrated registration also enrols the new company with the Public Revenue Office as a taxpayer, and can include related applications such as VAT registration and registering first employees with the Employment Service Agency. Company founders supply a recent extract from their home-country register. The filing route differs for some entity types, including subsidiaries of foreign companies, so confirm it with whoever handles the filing.

Registration is not permission to operate in every sector. Regulated activities are licensed by the relevant authority after registration. For gaming, payments and other licensed businesses, establish early with counsel whether the functions you plan to run here need any licence, approval or notification of their own.

Once people are employed, the employer calculates, withholds and pays salary contributions and personal income tax, and files the salary declaration with the Public Revenue Office. With a provider, that duty sits with the provider. With your own company, it is yours.

Data protection is a separate workstream. North Macedonia has its own Law on Personal Data Protection, supervised by the Agency for Personal Data Protection. It is closely aligned with the GDPR but it is national law, with its own rules on transferring personal data abroad, so the data flowing between your headquarters and the team needs assessing under it as well.

Decide which roles come first, how the team is layered as it grows, and when a local lead is appointed so that day-to-day decisions do not all route through headquarters. Set pay against the current market for the specific roles, not published averages. This is where recruitment and salary benchmarking come in.

If you plan to send managers or specialists from elsewhere, check work and residence authorisation early. Temporary residence for work is decided by the Ministry of Interior, the Employment Service Agency gives an opinion on eligibility in that process, and work permits are governed by the Law on Employment and Work of Foreigners. The rules have been amended in recent years, so confirm the current position with immigration counsel before planning dates around a transfer.

Not every operation needs a dedicated office on day one. A first team employed through a provider may start in serviced or interim space. A registered company needs a registered address in North Macedonia. Where a permanent office is warranted, the decision covers location, lease terms, fit-out, connectivity, power resilience, and physical and information security suited to the work.

This page quotes no rents. They vary by building and specification, and the only figures worth planning on are quotes for the space you would actually take. Office setup covers how we approach it.

An operation here relies on several local professionals: a law firm for company, employment and any licensing matters; an accountant for bookkeeping, statutory reporting and payroll filings; a bank; insurers; and, depending on the work, IT, security and facilities suppliers. Engage them with written scopes, and keep the contracts in your own name so the providers answer to you. BalkanScale does not give legal, tax or accounting advice. Through vendor and legal coordination we identify and coordinate the qualified providers who do.