Should I engage nominees or should I direct and hold the shares in my offshore company?

Like most clients, pre-incorporation, you will probably be weighing up the pros and cons of whether to set up a Company with Nominee Director/shareholder or whether to set up a company with yourself as the Director and/or Shareholder.

 

We offer two packages that may suit in this regard:

  1. A self managed IBC (That is a company where you act as Director/shareholder)
  2. A Full Nominees package (ie where we provide Nominee Director and/or, Shareholder and/or Company Secretary services).

Obviously whether you choose one or the other will depend on your privacy requirements (the Full Nominees package offers the best solution in this regard) and how comfortable you are with the idea of using Nominee services (in which case a self managed IBC may be the preferred option).

 

The good news is there is usually no need to travel to the country of incorporation to sign documents whether you are a Director or not. The main disadvantages of not having a Nominee Director (assuming that instead of engaging a Nominee Director that you or one of the other owner/s would take on the Director’s role) are:

  1. you compromise your privacy; and
  2. if the Director is based onshore (ie in the country where you live or ordinarily reside for tax purposes) the company might, for tax purposes, be seen to be managed and controlled from onshore. (If that were noticed by local/tax authorities then local tax consequences would likely follow).

 

So you are probably wondering, What ‘power’ does a nominee director have??

The answer is Whatever power you choose to give him/her/it!

 

It’s a nominee appointment in effect and as standard we issue a “Management Services Agreement” confirming that to be the case. The Management Services Agreement is the main document governing commercial and managerial arrangements. It is effectively a Director’s/Company Manager’s contract wherein the terms of our appointment and powers are clearly spelt out, as are your rights to hire and fire us. The agreement will provide (if we are to be appointed as Nominee Director), in effect, that we have the power to convene company meetings and sign legal agreements on behalf of the company but only acting under your instructions, ie as your Nominee.

 

For more information on this topic (or if you would like to know more about How We Can Help You) please  Contact Us