The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are a dependent territory of the United Kingdom, situated in the Caribbean region on an archipelago consisting of 50 islands. The main island is Tortola, with a population of 16,000. Officially the Head of State is the Queen of the United Kingdom, but local power is exercised by a governor appointed by the Queen under the constitution of 1967. The main sources of revenue are tourism and the financial and offshore sector.
In 2004, former BVI legislation (the International Business Companies Act 1984), had been replaced with new one - the BVI Business Company Act 2004, which states total exemption from corporate tax for all types of BVI companies. Based on this, the BVI is rightfully considered to be one of the most popular classic offshore jurisdictions in the world.
| GENERAL INFORMATION | Total area - 153 sq km
Population - 20,000
Location - click here to see the map of offshore jurisdictions
Political status - Member of British Commonwealth.
Capital - Road Town
Official language - English
Official currency - USA Dollar (USD)
Time zone - GMT - 4 |
| Company type | Business Company (BC) |
| Directors/Officers | BVI BC companies require a minimum of 1 Director, who may be a natural person or a corporate body from any legal jurisdiction.
There is no statutory requirement for a Company Secretary to be appointed.
Each BVI BC company must file a Register of its Directors with the Register of Enterprises of the BVI. |
| Shareholders | BVI BC companies require a minimum of 1 shareholder, who may be a natural person or a corporate body from any legal jurisdiction.
Each BVI BC company must file a Register of its Shareholder/s with the Register of Enterprises of the BVI. |
| Authorised share capital | Standard authorised capital = USD 50,000.
There is no statutory requirement for capital to be fully or partly paid on incorporation. |
| Company Names | The name of a BVI BC company must end with the words "Incorporated", "Corporation", "Limited", or suffixes such as "Inc.", "Corp.", "Ltd.", "S.A.", etc.
Company names containing restricted words such as "Bank", "Insurance", "Trust", "Assurance", "Imperial", "Royal" etc. will not be permitted unless an appropriate national operating licence has been obtained by the company. |
| Beneficial Ownership information | Information with regard to ultimate beneficial ownership must be disclosed to the Registered Agent of the Company in the BVI and is held by the agent on a confidential basis. |
| Filing of Annual Return | There is no requirement to file an Annual Return. |
| Filing of Financial Statement | There is no requirement to file Financial Statements in the BVI for BC companies. |
| Corporate Taxation | BVI BC companies are not subject to corporation tax in the BVI. |
| Tax Treaties | BVI does not have treaties with any other jurisdictions dealing with the avoidance of double taxation for non-resident companies. |
| Timeframe for incorporation | 6/7 working days. A complete set of company documents can be delivered in 4/5 weeks. |
| Takeover of management & secretarial services for an existing BVI BC company | Possible, following verification of Beneficial Ownership and agreement with and discharge of liabilities to previous corporate service provider in the BVI. |
| Description of incorporation documents | Click here for itemised description of company documents. |
| "Ready-made"("Shelf") companies | Today we have 15 "Ready-made" companies available in this jurisdiction (click here for list of companies) |
| Price of BVI BC company | USD 1,890, including incorporation costs, full domiciliary (Registered Agent/Office) costs, Nominee services and legal support services for one year. |
| Cost of annual support services | USD 1,180 per year, including full domiciliary (Registered Agent/Office) costs, annual Government Duty, Nominee services and legal support services for each year. |
