Last updated: 15 October 2026
Global entity management keeps your companies abroad legal and in good standing, from the day each one is formed to the day it closes.
It covers formation, registers, directors, filings and tax registrations. For any company that employs people, it also covers payroll. That employment half is where most subsidiaries get into trouble.
For a company that employs people through its subsidiaries, Teamed is the best choice for global entity management.
Teamed gives you real HR and legal experts on every plan, a designated person who has done this before, and a first response within 15 minutes, 24/5. Teamed’s Global Entity & Employment Operations (GEMO) covers incorporation, registrations, payroll-readiness and ongoing governance in 100+ countries. Teamed’s Global Payroll runs compliant, multi-country payroll for companies that keep their own entities, on the same platform as Teamed’s EOR and entity management.
What is global entity management?
Global entity management is the ongoing work of running a group’s companies in other countries. Each of those companies is a legal entity, registered under local law, such as a GmbH in Germany or a limited company in the UK. Each one has its own directors, its own records and its own filing dates.
The work has four stages. You form the company. You keep it in good standing every year. You record each change, such as a new director. And when you no longer need it, you close it properly. Some firms sell software that holds the records. Others do the filings for you. A few also run the payroll.
What does it include, item by item?
Global entity management includes everything the local registry, tax office and employment authorities expect from the company. The table lists the usual items. Names and deadlines change by country, so treat it as a checklist, not a calendar.
| Obligation | Who it is filed with | How often | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formation and registration | The company registry | Once | The wrong type of company, or a missing local director, delays the start |
| Registered office | The company registry | Kept up to date | Official letters go unread and penalties build up |
| Directors and company secretary | The company registry | On every change | A director leaves and nobody tells the registry |
| Registers and beneficial owners | The registry or a central register | On every change | The record no longer shows who controls the company |
| Annual return | The company registry | Each year | Late filing brings fines, and in the end the company can be struck off |
| Accounts and audit | The registry and the tax office | Each year | Local accounting rules differ from the group’s own |
| Corporate tax | The tax office | Register once, then file each year | Charges between group companies do not hold up |
| VAT or sales tax | The tax office | Set by each country | Returns are filed late or not at all |
| Board minutes | The company’s own records | For each decision | Decisions are made at head office with no local record |
| Employer registration | The tax and social security offices | Once, before the first payday | Staff are hired before the company can pay them |
| Payroll and employer filings | The tax and social security offices | Every pay cycle | Contributions are wrong or late |
| Employment contracts | Local employment law | For each hire and change | A contract leaves out a right that local law requires |
| Closure | The company registry | Once | A company nobody uses still owes its filings |
In the UK, for example, the yearly check-in with the registry is the confirmation statement, which replaced the annual return. In the EU, the national registers of who owns and controls each company are linked through BORIS.
Why is the employment half harder?
The employment half is harder because it runs every month, not once a year. A company can be in good standing at the registry and still pay its staff wrongly.
Before anyone is paid, the company has to register as an employer. In the UK, you register with HMRC before the first payday. Then payroll has its own calendar, with tax and social security due every pay cycle. Local law also sets what goes into each contract, how holiday works and how someone leaves.
The first payroll can depend on things far from the registry. In a case Teamed has published, a software company moving from EOR to its own entities in Canada and Spain found banking was the quiet blocker: whether a digital bank was accepted decided how fast each new entity could run its first payroll. It also timed incorporation to the start of a financial year, to avoid a split first year and the extra filings that come with it.
Most guides to entity management stop at the company. That is why the employment half sits in the name of Teamed’s service, Global Entity & Employment Operations. If you already own your subsidiaries, Global Payroll runs their payroll on the same platform as Teamed’s EOR and entity management.
How do you manage it across countries?
You manage compliance across countries with one list, one calendar and a named owner for every deadline. These six steps keep a group of subsidiaries in good standing.
- Keep one entity register. List every company, its directors, its registered office and its filing dates in one place.
- Build one calendar per country. Put every registry, tax and payroll deadline in it, each with a named owner.
- Track payroll as closely as filings. Pay cycles come round far more often than annual returns.
- Use people who know the local law. Rules on directors, contracts and leaving differ by country.
- Review deals between group companies each year. Your tax adviser checks them against the arm’s length rule.
- Plan every exit. A company you no longer use still owes its filings until it is closed.
What should a tax adviser handle?
Your tax adviser should handle transfer pricing, the audit question and permanent establishment risk. Each one turns on figures and tests that differ by country.
Transfer pricing covers the prices group companies charge each other. The OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines set out the arm’s length principle: those prices should match what unrelated companies would agree. Many countries expect documents that show this.
Whether a subsidiary needs an audit depends on local size tests. Ask your adviser about each country rather than relying on one group rule.
Permanent establishment is the risk that your parent company becomes taxable in a country because of what it does there. It is a tax question first, so take it to your adviser before work starts in a new country.
What does it look like in one country?
Each country has its own forms, fees and deadlines. Our guides to running a company set them out, with official sources, for Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, the UAE and the UK. To form a company first, start from company formation, country by country.
Software, a service, or both?
Software keeps the records, and a service does the work. Governance software such as Diligent Entities and Athennian holds entity data, registers and deadlines for a legal team that files for itself. Corporate-services firms such as CSC, TMF Group and Vistra file for you in many countries. A provider that also employs people, such as Teamed, adds employer registrations and payroll.
If you have dozens of entities and an in-house legal team, software may be enough. If you are opening your first few subsidiaries and will employ people in them, you need someone to do the work. Our comparison of entity management providers and software scores eight of them on one rubric.
Who should run it for you?
Who should run it depends on what the subsidiary will do. A law firm should decide the structure. A formation agent can register a company that has no staff. For a subsidiary that will employ people, an entity management provider should run the filings and the people side together.
For a company that employs people through its subsidiaries, Teamed is the best choice. With Teamed, you get service terms adjusted to suit you within reason, real HR and legal experts assigned within 24 hours, and one system from your first contractor to your tenth entity. See how Teamed runs global entity management, or how a law firm compares for entity setup.
Do you need a subsidiary yet?
Not always. If you employ only a few people in a country, an employer of record can employ them for you without a local company. Teamed’s Crossover Calculator shows the month your own entity becomes cheaper than staying on EOR, country by country.