Offshore company in St. Kitts and Nevis IBC

Establishing a company in a jurisdiction other than the country of residence allows you to perform various financial and commercial operations. The main function of these offshore companies (societies de domicile or non-residence companies, international business companies, trusts or foundations) is to possess the legal property/assets/funds or cash with complete anonymity.

A correct way of using these offshore companies is to put on the name of these companies personal or corporate assets such as bank accounts, investments, houses, ships and cars. In order to protect your assets it is preferable to have it on the name of a company rather than on the name of a physical person.

First of all, it is important to know that from the financial point of view, using this scheme you are able to save on tax considerably due to the fact that "an individual cannot pay taxes on something that does not belong to him or is not on his name" and because the owner of the assets will be the company incorporated outside the country of residence of beneficial owner, in this case you. With this additional protection and privacy with respect to your assets it is impossible to know who is the owner or final beneficiary of a company registered abroad.

From the legal point of view, the principles applied in these offshore territories are derived from the common law that states that the residence of a company is not where it has its registered office, but where it is managed and controlled. Therefore, the offshore status of a company is achieved by the fact that the directors and owners reside in other countries.

Based on the Anglo-Saxon law there are 2 types of companies

• Domicile Company: The company is constituted and domiciled in a country with low or zero taxation, but performs commercial activities in another jurisdiction either onshore or offshore. Therefore, by not generating incomes on the territory of a country of zero taxation and since the directors manage and control the company from abroad, the income of this one is not subject to tax. From a tax point of view the domicile company should be taxed in the country where it is managed that could be a country of high taxation or other tax haven. A clear example of this type of company is “IBC” International Business Company.
  
  
• Exempt Companies: The Company is registered in a country of low taxation where it has its headquarters, it is owned by non-residents and gets the benefits from external commercial activities while directors or legal representatives do reside in the jurisdiction offshore. In this case there is no tax on profits since the company is owned by non-residents and in addition does not perform commercial activities on the territory of low tax jurisdiction. This type of companies could be found in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Gibraltar.

Company formation in St Kitts

In order to establish an offshore company it is obligatory to list it in the company register of an offshore country. That can be done only through a lawyer or a specialized agent accredited and registered in the offshore jurisdiction. In order to present all the documentation the company formation agent must necessarily live in the country where the company will be registered. The same requirement is applied when opening an offshore bank account without the physical presence of the client.  

Another one of the most important points when registering your company is to choose its name that must be approved by the registrar of companies in chosen jurisdiction. There are several restrictions that one can be faced with when trying to find a correct one. For example, it cannot infringe upon the public morals or to be identical or very similar to the name of any company that has been already registered. In some jurisdictions the usage of the words "international", "investment", "Bank", "Trusts", “insurance" and "holding" may need special licenses or a minimum capital.

The documents of company

The records of Constitution (“Certificate of Incorporation", "Articles of Incorporation", "Memorandum of Association") indicate the purpose and object of the company. It may be restricted to one or several activities, depending on the jurisdiction, legal domicile and capitalization that can be of paid-up capital or number of shares.

Articles and Statutes (“Articles of Association") indicate why the company is constituted and who form and represent it. The owners are the shareholders of the company, not the administrators, and depending on the jurisdiction there can be only one single shareholder or two and more. In complex structures or schemas, the shareholders of the company may be other companies or "trusts".

To give greater privacy and security some jurisdictions issue bearer shares or shares warrant to bearer. In this case, as the legal owner of the company is the carrier of the shares and its name doesn’t appear in any record, the whole scheme becomes more opaque. It is quite common to keep these shares in a safe deposit box or in hands of the administrator.

Uses of offshore IBC company in St Kitts

The main objective of an offshore company is to be listed as an owner of a business, real estate, bank accounts, participation in companies, houses, boats, cars, intellectual property or patents making it more difficult for authorities to figure out who is that physical person to whom it really belongs and who stands behind it.

This is one of the reasons why this type of offshore companies are also known as "screen companies", "subsidiaries" or "shell companies" because they strengthen and increase the opacity making it impossible to know who is the actual owner of the company.

Banking uses

The usage of an offshore company offers a wide range of possibilities aimed to seek for a higher degree of discretion and privacy. Here are some example of that you can use:

• Setting up an offshore company, for example, in St. Kitts & Nevis you are not obliged to inform the Registry who is the beneficiary or true owner of the company. Thus, while the client is the beneficiary, it is not registered as a main shareholder, or director or administrator of the company.
• Once the company is registered an offshore bank account can be opened in any jurisdiction with high banking secrecy: Panama, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong and Lithuania. The account holder is the company and the beneficiary is the owner of the company whose signature is authorized by the bank.
• The beneficial owner may receive money to its offshore account through transfers, checks, cash or other methods.
• The funds can be transferred through the current bank account to any jurisdiction. The records related to any activity of this account are not linked directly to the owner, an individual, but to the company. The use of companies abroad as well as bank accounts is perfectly legal and necessary in some cases. Companies operating abroad save tax and maintain the identity of beneficiaries anonymous. In addition to these advantages the offshore company can also offer the following benefits:

Hiding ownership of goods and assets

You can transfer the capital and the goods to an offshore company. The heritage can be invested through the offshore company to any other country. Being a non-resident offshore company the income derived from its commercial activities is not subject to tax payments.

Strategic Triangulation of Companies

The operations derived from the export and import, altering the price, can be carried out in the following way. The same beneficial owner, or a group, opens two companies in offshore, preferably two different countries. One company imports goods at the price agreed with the third party seller. Then these goods get sold at the minimum price difference and later exported by another company that also belongs to the same owner as the first one. The profits of the difference in the price correspond to an offshore company that is not subject to taxes. The goods will travel from one country to another without touching the enclave.

Financial use

Another way to use an offshore company is a loan. A company can export onshore funds abroad reducing a debt with a subsidiary company in a tax haven. For a company located in an offshore center it can be more profitable to invest in herself from the outside, as foreign investor. In some countries to obtain financing for a company can be achieved with an offshore affiliate through a loan.

Intellectual property

The offshore companies are also used to possess an intellectual property. The rights of industrial or intellectual property (patents, trademarks, industrial processes) of a company can be transferred to another company-subsidiary registered in offshore center where royalties payments received from third parties are not subject to any tax payment and all the profits will be paid to an offshore bank account.

Service provider

This is the most common form of use of offshore companies. A physical person or a company, resident of a country with high taxation, outsources a work/service from another company registered in offshore center. The payments for these services will be made to the offshore company and the benefits are not subject to tax. Many professionals such as artists, online entrepreneurs, designers, programmers, consultants business advisers etc. can work at the international level and can own an offshore company and receive their wages abroad.

Heritage

The high-income individuals can benefit from putting all their property on the name of an offshore company established in a tax haven, gaining privacy and protection; this could also be applied in the register of ships or aircraft.

Management of image rights:

The elite athletes who receive large amounts of money use companies domiciled in countries of low taxation to save taxes on their image rights.

These are some of the many operations that can be performed with an offshore. If you need more information please contact us.

International Business Companies "IBC"

The International Business Company or non-resident Company is the most commonly used type of an offshore company and the offshore product par excellence. The IBC can be the holder of a current account located in the same jurisdiction where the company is open or in another jurisdiction or own bearer and registered shares. Regular IBC is not authorized to perform certain banking services or manage investment funds (in the case that it would like to do it, it would have to open special licenses). Also an IBC is not allowed to carry out any commercial activity with any local company in St. Kitts & Nevis. All the incomes of the company should come from abroad. 

Advantage of IBC Company in St. Kitts & Nevis

St. Kitts & Nevis offer to its investors and all of those who want to incorporate a new company in this jurisdiction a large variety of advantages. The commercial law of St. Kitts & Nevis is very flexible and favorable when it comes to for non-resident companies and its beneficial owners. Here are some of the advantages that this territory can offer you when developing a new business:

• Tax Free: The IBC companies in St. Kitts and Nevis are exempt from all possible tax payments. The beneficial owner of the company is not required to pay taxes on dividends, income, capital distribution and wages. Therefore, his fortune grows and he can use the savings on the development of its business creating this way a strong competitive advantage in the market.
• Remote Access: As in many offshore jurisdictions in St. Kitts & Nevis the company can be registered without the physical presence of the client in the country. The resident agent who is authorized by Nevisian law carefully manages all the process or incorporation. In St. Kitts and Nevis the minimal requirements are: to assign at least one shareholder, one or three directors (depending on the type of the company), a registered agent and registered office.
• Privacy: High level. The law recognizes as crime the disclosure of any official information regarding the company and its beneficiary and may be disclosed only by court order under extremely limited circumstances.
• Appointments: The Nevisian law allows the appointment of shareholders, administrators and directors when registering a new company. This means that instead of the beneficial owner, using the nominee service, the third parties can act as directors or administrator keeping the name of the real person unrevealed.
• Bearer shareholders: The IBC St. Kitts and Nevis is allowed to issue registered or bearer shares. While the owner of registered shares is listed in the books of the company, there is no requirement to register the bearer share. Whoever has it is automatically considered as an owner of the company. A good example of a bearer instrument is the cash: if you have it in your hands then it is considered to be yours.

Characteristics IBC company in St. Kitts and Nevis

* Incorporation of an offshore company IBC in Saint Kitts and Nevis with a bank account in the name of the company without a physical presence in the country. All arrangements will be made through e-mail and / or certified mail.