IBC (International Business Company) is the most common official term for offshore companies. International business companies are the building blocks on which the industry of offshore financial services is built. The British Virgin Islands company registration is not the only option. It is also possible to register an international business company in Belize, Seychelles and Nevis. You can also register a business company that will match the IBC criteria. The British Virgin Islands (BVI) now have no differentiation between local companies and international business companies. Both local companies and the international business companies in the BVI are basically the same business companies enjoying exactly the same tax advantages. Therefore, the BVI IBC can be an offshore option that looks much like a regular company. It is worth noting that the only difference between an IBC in Belize and Seychelles and a BC in the BVI and Nevis is the name.
In fact, company registration the BVI does not require you to choose between a local or an international company. The BVI offers the same conditions and benefits to companies registered to operate both locally and internationally.
This includes no taxation and a high level of personal data security.
Company registration in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) is usually chosen thanks to its flexibility, advantageous taxation, simplified accounting procedures and the personal data security.
At the same time, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) strives to meet the requirements of relevant international organizations and regulators. In particular, the country’s authorities introduced new rules to comply with the EU, OECD and FATCA requirements and not to be blacklisted.
The legislation changes came into force on January 1, 2019 and apply to companies that qualify for local residency and are engaged in the following business fields:
- Banking;
- Asset management;
- Insurance;
- Finance and leasing;
- Holding activities;
- Freight-traffic related activities;
- Headquarters;
- Intellectual property management;
- Distribution and service delivery.
All of these companies need to ensure economic substance. This means having an office, employees and running the company from within the BVI.
At the moment, it is not quite clear how the new rules will be enforced, yet the violation of those rules will be punishable by fines. The fact is that there are not enough offices and employees in the small country with a limited population for the hundreds of thousands of companies subject to the new rules.
We will be following the developments.
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Check the list of required documents, and get the details of the process, terms, and costs.
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Name of Your Business Company to Be Registered in the British Virgin Islands
When setting up a company in the BVI, it is very important to choose the right name. We will not charge you until we can issue an invoice for a business company with exactly the name you are interested in. We also reserve names for our customers when registering business companies in the BVI. Please discuss the purpose of establishing a company to be registered in the BVI and its type with our expert, as the ending of the company name is very important when starting the company formation process.
The BVI limited company name must end with the words Limited, Corporation or Incorporated. It may also end with the words Societe Anonyme or Sociedad Anonima. Abbreviations at the end of the name of a British Virgin Islands (BVI) limited liability company, such as Ltd, Corp, Inc or S.A. are also allowed.
If you need to register an unlimited liability company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), then the word Unlimited or the abbreviation Unltd should be added at the end of the company’s name.
The name of a company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), registered for special purposes and objectives only, must end with the words (SPV) Limited or the phrase (SPV) Ltd.
If a company in the BVI is registered with a segregated portfolio, then the name of such company must end with the phrases Segregated Portfolio Company Limited; Segregated Portfolio Company Ltd; SPC Limited; SPC Ltd. And if a segregated portfolio company also has limitations, and the company is registered for the implementation of certain specific tasks only, then the name must be preceded by (SPV) Limited or (SPV) Ltd.
The names of business companies in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) can also look like this: 123456 Ltd. The number will be the company registration number. Such a name may also contain various characters between the company number and the Ltd abbreviation. It is possible to name companies in such a way in the British Virgin Islands only.
We suggest you consult our experts whether a classic offshore jurisdiction could work for you, including the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in particular. Please feel free to email us at info@offshore-pro.info and request a free consultation.
If you are sure you want a BVI company, here are our rates.
The British Virgin Islands company formation starts from 2,550 USD and will take from 5 business days.
Annual maintenance of the company registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) starts from 2,550 USD.
The basic set of services for 2,550 USD includes the following:
- Company registration
- Payment of the state registration fee
- Services of the registered agent in the BVI
- Registered office (registered address)
- One set of original corporate documents*.
- Initial director appointment (it must be made within 30 days of incorporation)
- Worldwide courier delivery
What is included in the set of original corporate documents for the BC formation?
- Certificate of Incorporation
- Memorandum
- Minutes of the first directors appointment
- Director appointment letter
- Director resolution in writing
- Register of directors
- Register of shareholders
- Share certificate
We also recommend that you order a copy of all documents with a notary’s stamp and apostille for opening foreign bank accounts.
The company + a set of apostilled documents package costs 2,950 USD and takes 8 business days.
Many banks we work with on an ongoing basis will be happy to accept a complete set of copies of documents certified by a registered agent in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
Should you plan to open a bank account for your BVI company in Hong Kong or Singapore in the future, you will need an apostilled Certificate of Incumbency. Our experts will inform you about the cost. Recently, European banks also include this document in their list. Therefore, when you order a bank account opening with our support, we will know whether this certificate is required.
Next, having a seal is mandatory for all business companies registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). It can be ordered from us as well. The seal will come by mail along with the registration documents. The cost of the seal is 60 USD. We have not included the seal in the package we offer since you can order a seal in your home country. There are no special requirements for a company seal in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) except for the company name and registration number.
Obviously, if you are going to use the services of professional directors, then the cost of your business company registration in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and its maintenance costs will increase. Please see the rates including the services of professional shareholders/directors below.
Basic registration package + a set of apostilled documents + professional shareholder 5,850 USD (8 business days) which includes:
- Company registration
- Payment of the state registration fee
- Services of the registered agent in the BVI
- Registered office (registered address)
- One set of original corporate documents*, including the Declaration of Trust
- One apostilled set of the original copies of corporate documents
- Initial director appointment (it must be made within 30 days of incorporation)
- Declaration of Trust
- Worldwide courier delivery
Basic registration package + a set of apostilled documents + professional director 5,850 USD (8 business days)
- Company registration
- Payment of the state registration fee
- Services of the registered agent in the BVI
- Registered office (registered address)
- One set of original corporate documents*, including the Power of Attorney
- One apostilled set of the original copies of corporate documents
- Initial director appointment (it must be made within 30 days of incorporation)
- Notarized and apostilled Power of Attorney
- Worldwide courier delivery
Annual company renewal in the BVI will cost you 2550 USD. This price includes:
- Payment of the renewal state fee
- Services of the registered agent in the BVI
- Registered office (registered address)
- Maintenance of registers
The use of services of the professional director (including the notarized and apostilled Power of Attorney) adss 2,400 USD per year.
The use of services of the professional shareholder adss 1,750 USD per year.
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is an excellent and exemplary classic offshore jurisdiction whose companies are not actually offshore. It is with these companies that employees of foreign banks, and above all Asian banks, are most familiar. Companies from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) are great for international tax planning. But if you wish to have more data security and a company separated from your European business, it would be prudent to choose another classic offshore jurisdiction. Please consider choosing Nevis in this case.
Extra Costs to Consider When Registering and Operating a Company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI)
Extra costs per company
Extra costs per company
| A set of notarized copies of documents | $ 700 |
| A set of notarized and apostilled copies of documents | $1,000 |
| Additional Power of Attorney(notarized and apostilled) | $ 650 |
| Execution of documents by the professional director/shareholder (1 signature) | $ 150 |
| Certificate of Incumbency (no apostille, certified by RA) | $ 450 |
| Certificate of Incumbency (notarized and apostilled) | $ 700 |
| Certificate of Good standing, original (no apostille) | $ 400 |
| Certificate of Good standing, original (apostilled) | $ 700 |
| Preparation of standard meeting minutes or resolutions | $ 400 |
| Preparation and updating of the Register of Directors | $ 800 |
| Updating of the Register of Directors | $ 250 |
| Issuance of share certificates (each) | $ 75 |
| Certification by the registered agent | $ 150 |
| Notarization | $ 250 |
| Apostille | $ 350 |
| Worldwide courier delivery | $ 200 |
| Company seal | $ 180 |
| Company search | $ 550 |
| Company dissolution (preparation of documents) | $1,900 |
| Company dissolution (as official receiver, if the company is solvent, including the Certificate of Dissolution | $2,400 |
| Company name change (new M & A) | $1,000 |
| Change of registered agent (Transfer Out) | $ 800 |
| Change of registered agent (Transfer In) | $ 500 |
| Reinstatement of the company’s good standing, if the company was excluded from the register | Upon request |
| Legal opinion | Upon request |
| Financial report (up to 40 transactions per year) | $2,400 |
| Financial report (41 to 150 transactions per year) | $4,500 |
| Financial report (more than 150 transactions per year) | Upon request |
Complete Virtual Office packageMail forwarding services, dedicated land line and fax- forwarding services all in one | from $ 400 per month |
All rates are in U.S. dollars and are charged in advance. The specified rates apply to standard services. They are subject to change based on state fees, inflation, and demand for the service.
Should you wish to launch the BVI IBC registration, you will need to do the following:
1. Consult our expert in order to understand what elements of a BVI company you need to order, and whether you need to register a business company in the British Virgin Islands at all or you can do with a low-cost option. It is advisable to select a bank account during this consultation as well, as it is cheaper to order the company and the account together, as we know exactly what documents you will need and how they should be certified. Please learn more about our free consultation here.
2. Before registration, choose a name for your company in the British Virgin Islands with the appropriate abbreviation at the end. The easiest and most commonly used options are Limited, Corporation or Incorporated. For more details on abbreviations used for the BVI companies, please refer to the beginning of this article above.
The names of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) business companies may be written in any language in Latin letters. The use of names of existing companies or names similar to the existing ones is prohibited. Names that may appear offensive are unacceptable. In addition, some words in the name require the company to have a special license. Such words are: bank, building society, savings, loans, insurance, assurance, reinsurance, trust, trustees, fund management, investment fund, university, municipal, as well as their foreign equivalents or names that bring to mind the banking or insurance industry.
3. You will need to send us a scanned copy of your travel passport and your contact information such as your address, phone number (for courier delivery and e-invoice).
We will send you the e-invoice only after checking the company name availability. The invoice will have the name of your upcoming British Virgin Islands (BVI) business company. This invoice can be paid by card, PayPal or bank transfer.
4. Next, you will need to fill out and send us a scanned copy of the form for the registered agent.
5. Next, we will need your recent utility bill with your name and address on it as proof of residence..
6. Bank reference or lawyer’s recommendation.
Please note that you will need to send your due diligence documents (notarized copy of your passport, utility bill, bank reference or lawyer’s recommendation) in hard copy as well:
International Pro Services
Swisspost 6250
Zuercherstrasse 161
CH-8010 Zurich
For courier: +41 58 667 1912
In order to save you time, we will start the registration procedure before we receive the originals, but we will not send you the corporate documents until the originals are received. Any legitimate task you set for us in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) will be performed. If the process of incorporating a business company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) seems too expensive or too complicated for you, there are more affordable, but still high-quality options for the offshore company incorporation.
We work with various banks around the world and open accounts for companies registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). In some cases this can be done remotely, and in other cases a personal visit to the bank is required.
We are looking forward to your requests regarding the BVI offshore company setup at: info@offshore-pro.info.
Important note. According to changes in BVI legislation (Section 5A* of the Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act, 2003), all registered agents now keep all information related to the place where the books and records of BVI companies are stored (including financial reports) in hard copy.
