How To Set Up An Offshore Company

The process of setting up an Offshore company is much less involved than most people realize (and in most cases is quicker and easier than in the case of setting up an onshore company)

 

  1. Choose your preferred company of incorporation
  2. First up of course you will need to decide which jurisdiction best suits your needs. Much will depend on the kind of business you intend to do and where you live. If the company is only going to hold a single asset (eg a piece of UK property) then a basic privacy haven IBC may suffice (eg a Seychelles or Belize IBC).

     

    If yours is to be a trading company, and you have reasons for wanting to keep your underlying ownership of the company as quiet as possible, or if you are likely to do business in Europe or a major financial centre then a more sophisticated kind of Offshore company may be called for (eg a Hong Kong company, or a Cyprus company or a US LLC).

     

    If you’re not sure which jurisdiction would be best for you please Contact Us

     

  3. Decide on a name
  4. Some countries prohibit or do not accept certain words being included as part of a company name. Examples of such words include:  Assurance, Royal, University , Bank, Trust, Building Society, Cooperative, Chamber of Commerce, Chartered, Insurance, Imperial, Municipal, Foundation, Casino, Fund, Securities or Pharmacy (or anything suggesting the patronage of the government of the country of incorporation). Given these names vary from country to country it probably pays to Contact Us, once you’ve decided which country you want to incorporate in, to find out what words can’t be used in that particular country.

     

    Also (especially in the more popular jurisdictions) a lot of names have been taken already. Hence it’s probably best that you come up with three choices of preferred name just in case your first preferred choice is not available.

     

    As part of the name you’ll also need to include a suffix at the end of the company name to denote limited liability. All the usual options might be considered including “Limited”, “LTD.”, “Corporation”, “Corp.”, “Incorporated”, “Inc.”, “LLC”“Société Anonyme”, “S.A.”, “Gmb”,“Namloze Vennootschap”, “Berhad” etc (or their abbreviations).

     

    If you’d like to know more about name options please Contact Us

     

  5. Collate and provide Due Diligence documents
  6. Next step you’ll need to supply due diligence information including:

    • A certified copy of your passport & driver’s license
    • An original or certified copy of a document proving your residential address
    • Details of the company’s propsed business activities

     

    For more details on what’s required by way of due diligence please Contact Us

     

  7. Submit an order form
  8. Next step you will need to submit an Order form including information as regards:

    1. What kind of shares are to be issued? You will probably need to choose between “Registered” Shares and “Bearer” Shares. For an explanation as to the difference between the two please Contact Us
    2. Who will the Company Director/s be? Whilst you can if you wish be appointed as a Company Director it may be advisable for tax and privacy reasons to have a “Nominee” Professional Company Director appointed.
    3. Who will the shareholders be? Whilst you can if you wish be nominated as shareholder it may more advisable for tax and privacy reasons to have us supply a nominee shareholder
    4. Will a Company Secretary be needed and if so who? Many clients ask to have a Company Secretary appointed although in most jurisdictions it is not compulsory to do so. Whilst you can if you wish be appointed as Company Secretary it may be advisable for tax and privacy reasons to have a “Nominee” Company Secretary appointed.
    5. How are we to communicate with you? Being in a Trust and Confidence business we are extremely conscious of the need to communicate via secure means. As faxes can be tracked and read we prefer to communicate via encrypted email. 
    6. What Banking, Virtual Office or other services are required? Please click on this link to learn about what we offer in that regard: LINK PRODUCT SERVICE TAB

    If you’d like more information about what you need to include in an order form please Contact Us

     

  9. Make Payment
  10. We offer several payment methods. Please Contact Us for details