How to register as a sole trader in Sierra Leone

Every business must be registered with the office of the Administrator and Registrar General (OARG) at Roxy Building, Walpole Street, Freetown.

A business owned by a single person must be registered as a sole proprietorship, while that owned by more than one person, must registered as a partnership.

Here are the steps you need to take to register as a sole trader in Sierra Leone:

1. It takes about one to two days to register a business as a sole proprietorship or partnership.A fee of Le 2,000 is paid for an application form for business names search and Le 30,000 for the issuance of a business registration certificate.
2. The business name registration certificate ensures that your preferred Business name is available. The OARG officer will advise you how to obtain the certificate. Total costs for business name registration are Le 32,000.
3. The business registration fee is Le 20,000–60,000 depending on the Classification of the business made y the NRA officer (class A (Le 20,000), B (Le 40,000), or C (Le 60,000). It must be paid to the NRA officer on the ground floor or the OARG building.
4. A tax clearance certificate is issued by the NRA officer on the ground floor of the OARG building. It is issued for free and takes about one day to obtain. The NRA requests an estimation of annual business income and turnover and conducts an interview. No advance taxes are required to be paid.
5. The NRA tax clearance certificate and the receipt for business registration application must be submitted to an OARG officer on the ground floor of the OARG premises.
6. It takes not more than 20 minutes for an OARG officer to process the application and issue the business registration certificate.

Please note that some of the fees are subject to change.