How to open an s.r.o. in Slovakia in 2026: step by step and what changes on 17 August

If you were planning to start a company in Slovakia, read this today rather than next month. On 17 August 2026 a reform of the Commercial Register act takes effect, and after that date registering an s.r.o. costs roughly twice as much and becomes impossible without a notary or a lawyer.

In money the difference is about 300 euros. In process the difference is fundamental: today a company can be founded without leaving the house, and from 17 August a visit to a notary becomes mandatory.

Below is the whole sequence, honest figures, and the part almost everyone leaves too late: what has to happen straight after registration for the company to actually work rather than merely exist in the register.

What changes on 17 August 2026

There is one genuine improvement in the new rules: free trades will be registered automatically when the company is founded, without a separate trip to the Trade Licensing Office. That used to be its own step.

The conclusion is simple. If the decision to start a company is already made, it is worth being done before 17 August. If you are still deciding, one fee is no reason to rush: 300 euros is not a reason to start a business you are not ready for.

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Step 1. Decide on your trades

Everything else follows from this, because the type of trade determines both the price and the timeline.

Free trades (voľné živnosti) cover most ordinary activities: trade, consulting, IT services, marketing. No diploma required.

• electronically — 0 € each
• in person at the office — 7 € each

Craft and regulated trades (remeselné a viazané) are those where the law requires education or a certificate: construction, electrical work, accounting, food service.

• electronically — 11 € each
• in person — 22 € each

A practical note: take more than you need right now. Adding a trade later is a separate procedure and separate time. Free trades cost nothing when filed electronically, so there is no reason to be economical here.

A trade licence filed electronically is issued in 1 to 3 working days, five at the outside.

Step 2. Name and registered address

The name is checked for uniqueness in the register at orsr.sk. Check it early: a rejection over a duplicate is the most annoying way to lose a week.

The registered address (sídlo) must be real, and you will need the property owner's consent (súhlas vlastníka nehnuteľnosti) with a certified signature. If you have no premises of your own, a virtual address service is legal and widely used.

One thing for later: the address in that document has to match what you put on your website, in your Google listing and in your company details. Discrepancies stop Google from tying your company together as one entity — which affects whether you are found in searches for your own city.

Step 3. Share capital, as it actually works

The minimum share capital for an s.r.o. is 5,000 euros. This figure frightens people more than anything else, and it should not.

You do not have to freeze 5,000 euros in an account. A document called the deposit administrator declaration (Vyhlásenie správcu vkladu) is enough — the founder declares that the money has been paid into the company. Bank statements are not requested at registration, and nobody arrives to verify the cash physically.

Legally the amount sits on the company's balance sheet. This is not a fiction or a loophole; it is the procedure the law lays down.

A non-monetary contribution is permitted: property, equipment, rights. In practice it is rare, because it requires a formal valuation by a certified court expert (znalecký posudok), which is both slower and more expensive.

Step 4. Founding documents

This is where the 17 August line runs.

Before 17 August 2026. No notary is needed if you hold an eID card with a chip and a qualified electronic signature. The founding document — Zakladateľská listina for a single founder or Spoločenská zmluva for several — is signed electronically and the whole thing happens online.

From 17 August 2026. The founding document must take the form of a notarial deed (notárska zápisnica) or be authorised by a lawyer. An ordinary electronic signature, and certification at the post office or registry, are no longer sufficient.

Besides the founding document you will need: the property owner's consent, the deposit administrator declaration, the managing director's consent to the appointment, and a declaration that the founders have no tax arrears.

Step 5. Filing and registration

By law the registration court must consider the application within 2 working days of receiving correct documents and the fee.

In reality the timeline depends on how loaded that particular court is — Bratislava takes longer than the regions. Plan for 2 to 5 working days.

If there is an error in the documents, the court does not correct it — it returns the application, and the fee has to be paid again. This is the main reason people use intermediaries.

Step 6. Immediately after registration

A company in the register is not yet a working business. What comes next:

1. Get a DIČ — the tax number. Registering with the tax office is mandatory.
2. Open a corporate bank account. Some services discount the registration if you open an account with a particular bank — Firmaren, for example, charges a 1 euro administrative fee when you open an account with Tatra banka. Compare total cost, not one line of it.
3. Deal with VAT. Registration becomes mandatory above a turnover threshold, but voluntary registration sometimes makes sense — particularly if your clients are VAT payers themselves.
4. Check whether you need eKasa. If you take cash or cards from individuals, an online cash register is mandatory.

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The digital part almost nobody does in time

This is where my own ten years of work start, and where I see the same losses in every second new business.

Buy the .sk domain on the day you register the company, ideally earlier. A domain matching the company name is often already taken — and then you either change the company name or live with an awkward address for years. Check availability before you file with the court, not after.

Email on your own domain, not on Gmail. A message from company@yourdomain.sk and one from mycompany2026@gmail.com read completely differently to a Slovak counterparty. It costs nothing and makes a visible difference to whether you get a reply.

Mandatory details on the website. A Slovak company must state its IČO, DIČ and registration details. Their absence is not only a formal breach: both the potential client and Google notice.

Common mistakes

Registering the minimum number of trades. Adding one later costs another procedure and another wait.

A registered address that nobody checked. The owner's consent has to be certified — an ordinary signature is refused.

Filing right before 17 August without margin. If the court returns the application after that date, you will be re-filing under the new rules, at the new price.

Treating the register entry as the finish line. Tax number, bank account, VAT, cash register, domain, email, website details — none of it happens by itself.

If it is easier to have someone do the digital part

The company registration itself is best handled by a specialist service or a lawyer — I do not do that. What I do is everything that comes after: a domain in your name, email on your own domain, a website with the mandatory details, a cookie banner that meets the rules, and analytics that measures enquiries rather than visits.

I have lived in Slovakia for over ten years and launched 12+ websites for Slovak companies. I work as a Slovak s.r.o. and issue a faktúra with an IČO you can put through your books.

Related: živnosť or s.r.o., VAT registration in Slovakia and mandatory details on a Slovak company website.

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