St. Vincent and the Grenadines

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  • Tax havens
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  • 29-04-2018
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St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a Caribbean country bordered with Venezuela and the Caribbean island of Grenada. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines belongs to the Commonwealth and is an active member of CARICOM and ALBA-TCP. The country is considered by many investors one of the best offshore territories to make investments in FOREX and investments in stock market.

General information

Capital
Kingstown
Official language
English
Area
389 km2
Form of government
Constitutional monarchy
Currency
East Caribbean Dollar (EC$,XCD) and US$
UTC time zone
UTC - 4
Legal system
Legislation based on English common law


Taxes for non-residents in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines maintains favorable tax laws for foreign investments in the country, it is considered an offshore jurisdiction and does not obligate to pay taxes to natural and legal persons that do not reside in the country and whose income does not come from its territory. Investors who decide to open a bank or partnership account in St. Vincent and the Grenadines will not pay taxes such as rent, corporation taxes, VAT, inheritance, donations and will not suffer the dreaded tax deductions for subsequent years. Investors who decide to choose St. Vincent and the Grenadines and repatriate the money to their country of residence may save taxes through double taxation agreements.

Characteristics of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Companies

Types of companies
In San Vicente there are two types of companies: International Business Company - IBC (equivalent to non-resident offshore companies) Limited, Ltd format (ie, limited liability companies) and Trusts.
Share capital
No minimum capital requirements
Constitution time
6-8 days
Taxes
Companies are exempt from all types of taxes if their income does not come from the territory of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Directors
1 director minimum. The director can be an individual resident of any country.
Shareholders
1 shareholder minimum. The shareholders can be individuals or companies with residence in any country.
Shares
Registered, without par value and Bearer
Legal address
IBC must have its legal address on the territory of the country. When the director of the company is a foreigner, a registered resident agent must be appointed, whose function will be to receive communications from governmental authorities.
Privacy
The law recognizes as the offense the disclosure of any type of official information related to the company and its beneficiary except for the information requested by judicial order on the criminal activities of the company.
Board meetings
Meetings of directors or shareholders are not mandatory and can be held anywhere in the world.
Accounting / annual audit
It is required to keep accounting records, however, the submission of annual accounts or auditing of accounts is not mandatory.

Financial system in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Financial services
Banks in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are specialized in Forex and stock exchange investments. The client may request any type of financial services: checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, foreign currency accounts, stock exchange accounts, credits etc.
Limitations of cash payment
There are no limitations on cash payments nor there is exchange control. Banks in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines can open accounts in numerous currencies Euros, US $, GBP, AUD, CAD, CNY, JPY.
Deposit guarantee
Banks in St. Vincent and the Grenadines cover up to $ 25,000 of customer deposits.

Automatic information exchange in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has signed the automatic exchange of information treaty that has entered into force on January 1 of 2018. Also the country has signed 40 bilateral automatic exchange agreements. 

The signatory countries of the agreement

Year 2017
Anguilla, Argentina, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Groelandia, Guernsey, Hungary , Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Montserrat, Holland, Niue, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Kingdom.
Year 2018
Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barein, Belize, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominica, Ghana, Grenada, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Marshal Islands, Macao (China), Malaysia, Mauritius, Monaco, Nauru, New Zealand, Panama, Qatar, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, San Maarten, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Vanuatu.


The treaty of automatic exchange of information does not affect the fiscal status of the country, that is, if the tax laws in St. Vincent and the Grenadines establish that non-resident legal persons and companies pay 0% of taxes, the signing of the treaty will not affect them. The treaty of automatic exchange of information is causing many problems between countries since it is NOT a treaty in which the information will be reported among the countries automatically. That is, each country will have to sign a bilateral automatic exchange of information agreement with another interested country. What does this mean? If, for example, Spain is interested in exchanging information with St. Vincent and the Grenadines but St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not interested in reporting information to Spain, there will be NO information exchange and clients privacy will be protected. Currently, 29-04-2018 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has signed 40 bilateral treaties to automatically exchange information. You can see the updated list of countries that have signed bilateral agreements to exchange information automatically with each other.

The bilateral agreements with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Year 2017
Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Holland, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay.
Year 2018
No bilateral agreement has been signed for this year.


The countries most affected by the signature of the automatic exchange of information treaties are going to be the countries of high taxation and not the offshore jurisdictions. It is expected that high tax countries sign bilateral agreements with each other with the corresponding problem that these have: competition in investments, tax competition and abandonment of investments in other jurisdictions by countries with lower or no taxation allowing legal repatriation of them to the country of fiscal residence.

Using offshore jurisdictions what can be achieved is a reduction and postponement of tax payments. As a general rule high-tax countries force natural and legal persons to declare all the world's income. But what happens when you have an offshore company and you do not divide dividends or have gone bankrupt? For example, a person has a company and bank account in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the company has generated annual benefits and the final beneficiary doesn’t want to repatriate them to his country of residence. So what happens? The answer is very simple: there will not be any kind of tax payment until the benefits obtained from St. Vincent and the Grenadines reach the territory of a tax residence of the final beneficiary. Therefore, if you are required to report benefits obtained from abroad, it is advisable to inform your tax agency so when you will be offered a tax advantage in your country of residence to repatriate them.

Advantages of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the best offshore jurisdictions to invest for the following reasons: 

  • There is no need to pay any kind of tax. 
  • Legal security guaranteed by law. 
  • Favorable laws for inheritance planning. 
  • Specialized jurisdiction in Forex and stock market. 
  • Good telecommunications infrastructure. 
  • Little bureaucracy when it comes to obtaining financial licenses, companies formation and bank accounts opening. 
  • There is no restriction by nationality. 
  • Excellent geographical location. 
  • Economically stable financial center. 
  • Easy repatriation of benefits.