Bahamas - IBC Company Incorporation

Company Type	Time to Incorporate	Cost
IBC	3 days	£1630

A Bahamas IBC, (International Business Company) can be incorporated in three days. As the Bahamas is a part of the British Commonwealth your IBC can be incorporated in an economically and politically stable country, where income, capital gains, inheritance and transaction tax is not imposed for a period of 20 years from the date of incorporation. Another feature of incorporating an IBC is that only one director is required. This may be an individual or a corporation, and meetings of directors may be held in any country. Your IBC may conduct its business in any foreign currency it chooses free of Bahamian Government regulations or restrictions.

Documents and Information

To start incorporating your offshore company in the Bahamas we require the following:

• Your Company Name
• The Director/s full name, date of birth, address and nationality
• The Shareholder/s full name and address

Documents you are required to provide:

1. Proof of identity. Either passport, national identity card, photographic driving licence
2. Proof of residential address. Gas/electricity bill or credit/debit card bank statement dated within the last 3 months

Company Name

When choosing your IBC company name please note:

Your IBC can be in any language using the latin alphabet, as long as the relevant translation is approved first. An IBC will need to end with a suffixes to denote limited liability: Ltd, Corp, Inc, GmbH or similar. Certain words are prohibited such as names suggesting the patronage of any Government or country. Name restrictions apply for the names that have been previously incorporated with existing company, or are similar to an existing name. The name approval process takes less than thirty minutes, and a name may be reserved for 10 days.

Directors

• Directors may be of any nationality and may reside anywhere.
• Only one director is required.
• The names of directors do not appear in public records.
• There is no requirement to appoint a local resident director.
• Nominee Directors are allowed. Formacompany can provide you with this service.
• The director can be a person or a corporation.

Shareholders

• Shareholders may be of any nationality and may reside anywhere
• Only one shareholder is required.
• The sole director can be the same person as the sole shareholder.
• No upper limit to the number of shareholders.
• Nominee shareholders are allowed. Formacompany can provide this service.
• The shareholder can be a person or a corporation.

Registered Office

All Bahama IBC's must have a registered office. The registered office is where documents may be legally served on the company. The registered office must be a physical address in the BVI.

Features of a Bahamas International Business Company:

• Competitive incorporation and maintenance costs and fees
• Fast incorporation procedures and simple ongoing administration
• Minimum ongoing compliance requirements
• May carry on transactions in whatever currencies they choose
• Only one director and two shareholder are required - the sole director can also act as a shareholder.
• Directors and shareholders can be either corporations or individuals
• Directors, officers and shareholders details remain confidential
• No limitations as to nationality or residence of company directors or shareholders
• Full exemption from taxation on any business activity or transaction carried out outside BVI
• All dividends, interest, royalties, rents and compensations are exempt from the payments of income tax
• Tax efficiency - exemption from capital gains tax, inheritance tax and death duties
• Shares may be denominated in any currency
• No issued share capital requirement
• No foreign exchange control
• The only documents required to be filed at the Companies Registry are the incorporation documents which include details of the registered office and registered agent
• No requirements for preparing and submitting accounts, filing annual returns