General
The British Virgin Islands is a British Dependant Territory consisting of numerous small islands in the Caribbean approximately 60 miles east of Puerto Rico. The Principal islands of the British Virgin Islands are Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Josh Van Dyke. The capital of British Virgin Islands is Road Town, situated in Tortola. The population of the islands is about 21,000 with an ethnic diversity of AfroCaribbean, European, American and Asian.
Government
The British Virgin Islands is a British Dependent Territory which became self governing in 1967 and is a member of the British Commonwealth. It also had a democratically elected Legislative Council of thirteen members and an Executive Council comprising the Governor, the Attorney General and four Ministers drawn from the Legislative Council. The legislative council is presided over by a speaker elected from outside the council.
Judicial
The legal system is based on British Common Law and statute enacted bythe locally elected legislative council when signed and approved by the Governor. The ultimate appellate court is the Privy Council in London.
Legal Tender
The United States Dollar is the legal tender in the B.V.I and as such there are no exchange controls or restrictions on the movements of funds into and out of the Territory.
Financial Centre
The primary requirement for a major offshore centre are political stability, a sound legal system, low tax or tax free status and confidentiality.
As a British Overseas Territory the B.V.I has enjoyed years of stable government and has a legal system that is largely based on English law. In addition the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 contains provisions for exempting BC’s from B.V.I taxes and for maintaining confidentiality.
The above requirements are of prime importance to the growing number of individuals of high net worth throughout the world who are seeking to protect their wealth by establishing trusts or other financial vehicles in offshore centres. Companies also place great importance on these requirements as they set up other companies in offshore centres to protect their assets and minimize their tax liabilities.
REQUIREMENTS:
Company Name
- Must not be similar to any other resisterd name with the Registrar
- Cannot contained any restricted word such as “Assurance”, “Bank”, “Building Society”, “Chamber of Commerce”, “Chartered, “Royal”, “Trust” etc.
- Must end with the word “Limited”, “Corporation”, “Incorporation”, “Incorporated” or the abbreviations “Ltd”, “Corp” or “Inc”
- May conduct all lawful businesses,except banking, insurance,securities,drug trafficking, arms, weapons trafficking, trading of pharmaceutical products, gambling etc. or related thereto are prohibited. The company cannot carry on business with companies or individuals resident in the British Virgin Islands.
- Minimum one (1), who can either be a natural person or corporation
- Must be above the age of 18 years
- May be of any nationality
- Director may be of any nationality
- Director and shareholder can be the same person/corporation
- Minimum one (1), who can either be a natural person or corporation
- Must be above the age of 18 years
- Shareholder may be of any nationality
- Shareholder and director can be the same person /corporation
- Can either be a natural person or corporation
- Secretary may be of any nationality
- Must be above the age of 18 years
- The same director/shareholder can act as Secretary
- Must be an address in the British Virgin Islands.
- The standard authorized share capital is US$50,000.00 divided into 50,000 ordinary shares of US$1.00 par value each
- Minimum one (1) share
POST INCORPORATION
Meetings of Shareholders and Directors- There is no requirement to hold Annual General Meetings
- Shareholders’/ Directors’ Meeting if thought necessary can be held outside the Britsh Virgin Islands by any mean such as by telephone or any other electronic means of communication.
- provide the name of the person who maintains and have controls of the books and records;
- provide a physical address of the place where the records and underlying documentations (i.e. bank statements etc.) are kept;
- inform its registered agent in writing of any change to the above within 14 days; and
- keep reliable accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions; enable the financial position of the company to be determined with reasonable accuracy at any time; and allow for accounts of the company to be prepared at its registered office or such other place as the directors think fit but no requirement to file any accounts or financial statements;
- maintain ALL records of the Company for a period of at least five (5) years from the date of either: (i) the completion of the transaction to which the documents relate; or (ii) the termination of the business relationship to which the documents relate; and
- It is mandatory for each company to the Register of Director at the BVI Registrar within the stipulated timeline to avoid late penalty imposed by the Registrar however, the information is not publiciby available; and
- Updated Register of Directors due to a change of directorship or particulars of the director;must be filed at the BVI Registrar within 30 days from date of change.