SAL · Code of Commerce, arts. 77 onward
Shares that can move.
A joint stock company with a board, a chairman and shares that transfer. The structure investors and regulators expect. Formed end to end for $3,450.
Six to ten weeks. Three shareholders, always, not only on day one.
A Lebanese SAL is a joint stock company under the Code of Commerce, articles 77 onward. It may serve clients anywhere. It requires three shareholders, minimum, for the life of the company, not only at incorporation. Minimum capital is LBP 30,000,000, about US$335. A quarter of the nominal value of each share is paid at subscription. It pays 17% corporate income tax on profit and 10% withholding on distributed dividends. A statutory auditor is always required. Formation takes six to ten weeks.
Brought to you by taktek, in collaboration with Hobeich Legal.
Why this structure
For real shareholders and regulated work.
01
Shares that transfer
A joint stock company. Shares move without the approvals a SARL transfer needs.
02
The form regulators require
Banking, insurance, savings schemes and scheduled air transport are closed to a SARL and require an SAL.
03
A quarter paid at subscription
Capital is LBP 30,000,000, about US$335. Only a quarter of each share falls due at subscription.
04
A board and a chairman
A board, and a chairman who is the company's legal representative. The shape investors expect.
Honest first
Most companies do not need this.
It works if
- You need outside investors or freely transferable shares.
- Your activity is closed to a SARL and requires this form.
- You can find three shareholders, and keep three for the company's life.
It does not work if
- You are realistically one person. A SARL takes one partner. An offshore SAL takes one shareholder.
- Every client you invoice is outside Lebanon. An offshore SAL is exempt from tax on profit.
- You want to avoid a mandatory auditor. An SAL always requires one.
If something else is right for you, you hear it before you pay anything beyond the $500. And the $500 comes back.
How it works
Four steps. The first one is refundable.
-
$500 opens the file
You pay $500 and answer three questions: what you do, where your clients are, and roughly what you invoice a year. Nothing else is due yet.
Day 0 -
Hobeich Legal reviews the case
Gracia reads what you sent. She checks your intended activity against the rules for an SAL. If this is the wrong structure for you, she says so. The $500 is refunded in full. Nothing proceeds until she has signed off.
Days 1–3 -
Documents drafted and notarised
She drafts the founding documents and the appointments. She sends exact signing instructions, then legalises before the notary. Wet ink, blue pen, three originals. The balance falls due here.
Weeks 2–5 -
Bank, registry, Ministry of Finance
Capital is deposited and certified. The file goes to the Commercial Registry of Beirut for your number, then to the Ministry of Finance for your tax number. You get the certificate and the register extract.
Weeks 4–10
The registry keeps its own clock. Documents that come back late are rejected. So are documents signed in the wrong colour pen. Redoing them can cost a month, and filings made late attract penalties. Everything after your documents arrive is ours to chase.
Price
One number, with the government fees shown.
$500 opens the file. Hobeich Legal reviews your case and your documents before anything else happens. If this is wrong for you, the $500 is refunded in full. The balance falls due when your documents are ready to sign.
This is the standard price. It covers most formations. Some businesses need a licence or a regulator’s consent. Some documents need legalising abroad. A few activities carry conditions of their own. If yours is one of those, you hear it at the review, in writing, with the cost, before anything beyond the $500 falls due.
Then, every year
Reference
Where all of this comes from.
Every figure on this page comes from the texts below, and from the firm’s own guides. Gracia writes and reviews those, and they are free to read. If you want the law rather than the offer, start there. Nothing here replaces them.
The governing texts
- Lebanese Code of Commerce, Legislative Decree No. 304 of 24 December 1942, as amended by Law No. 126 of 29 March 2019.
- Lebanese Code of Commerce, articles 77, 78, 83 and 84 on the joint stock company.
- Lebanese Income Tax Law: corporate income tax at 17% on profit, withholding at 10% on distributed dividends.
- Commercial Registry of Beirut filing practice.
The firm’s guides on this
- Company types in Lebanon: the comparison table setting an SAL against the other three forms
- Registering a company in Lebanon: the documents, the sequence and what sets the pace
- Company tax in Lebanon: the 17% and the 10%, and the auditor thresholds
- Glossary of Lebanese company law: mufawwad al-muraqaba and the rest of the terms you will meet
The full Lebanese company law reference · Glossary of Arabic terms · Hobeich Legal
General information, not legal advice. Statutory references are stated in good faith as at September 2026 and change.
Questions
The ones people actually ask.
Gracia Hobeich of Hobeich Legal, licensed by the Beirut Bar Association. You sign her engagement letter. She owes you the duties a lawyer owes a client. Taktek runs this website and takes the payment. Taktek is not a law firm and gives no legal advice.
The $500, in full, if the review finds this is not the right structure for you. That is the only thing you have paid at that point. Once the documents are drafted and the balance falls due, the $500 has been earned.
Yes, and not only on the day you sign. The Code of Commerce requires no fewer than three throughout the company's life. If you are realistically one person, an offshore SAL takes a single shareholder. A SARL takes one partner.
A quarter of the nominal value of each share at subscription. Law 126/2019 made that a per-share test rather than an aggregate one. You cannot pay a quarter overall and leave some shares untouched.
You can, and the link is in the nav. It is the same firm at the same legal fee. What this site adds is one total with the third-party costs shown. An intake that asks for the right documents the first time. And a card payment.
Generally yes. A chairman resident in Lebanon needs the right permit. Some regulated activities carry nationality and ownership conditions. Your object is checked against this before drafting.
Start with a call.
Fifteen minutes with Gracia before you pay anything. You will leave knowing whether an SAL is what you need. If a SARL would do, you will hear that.
Replies within one business day. Arabic, English or French.