British Virgin Islands

Company formation and compliance in British Virgin Islands.

Incorporate a BVI Business Company with the Registry of Corporate Affairs through the VIRRGIN system and a mandatory licensed BVI registered agent: one shareholder and one director, which may be the same non-resident individual or a corporate entity, corporate directors permitted, no minimum share capital, no local-director requirement and no public register of members. The agent signs the memorandum and articles as incorporator, so a founder cannot self-file and signs nothing at the Registry. A BC is tax-neutral — section 242 of the BVI Business Companies Act exempts it, and the dividends, interest, rents and royalties it pays, and capital gains on its shares, from the Income Tax Ordinance, and exempts instruments relating to its shares and business from stamp duty — so there is no corporate income tax, capital gains tax or withholding tax to register for and no corporate return to file. The real annual burden is fees and registers rather than tax: the tiered government fee due 31 May or 30 November depending on the incorporation half-year, an unaudited annual financial return filed with the registered agent within nine months of year end, an economic-substance report to the International Tax Authority where a relevant activity applies, and beneficial-ownership information filed to the register on VIRRGIN and kept current at a 25% threshold, with a legitimate-interest access regime opening. Trade marks are national under the Trade Marks Act 2013, filed through an FSC-registered agent at US$200 for the first class — there is no EUIPO or Madrid route into the BVI — and patents are only re-registrations of granted UK patents at US$100. English is the sole official language and the language of the Act, the Registry and the FSC, so an English-speaking founder is fully served.