Since venture capitalists will look for exit options when investing in a startup, having a vehicle suitable for IPO will be an important consideration from a business structuring perspective. This also provides an effective route for founders to continue a successful startup after an investor exit. In addition, a start-up company established in the British Virgin Islands with a permanent establishment in the United Kingdom may still be eligible for the Seed Business Investment Scheme and the Business Investment Scheme.
There is no corporate tax payable by companies in the British Virgin Islands, making the British Virgin Islands an ideal place to incorporate a start-up business. However, the British Virgin Islands are a world leader in international anti-money laundering regulations and have signed a number of tax information sharing agreements. This has earned it a place on the OECD’s “white list” of countries that apply internationally recognised and approved tax and transparency standards. For example, there is no British Virgin Islands takeover code or a public filing requirement in the British Virgin Islands that applies to a publicly traded company.
For example, if you need a private bank account or immigration advice, we can certainly help you. British Virgin Islands corporate structures are easy to set up and maintain, as annual reporting and tax filing are not currently required. As a recognized jurisdiction, Entities of the British Virgin Islands may have business bank accounts that are generally necessary to facilitate operations, international banking transactions and investments. In addition, BVI BC can engage in any legitimate business activity, ranging from banking and fiduciary services, and insurance to investment funds, provided that the company obtains the relevant licenses and permits. They can also open accounts with local banks and enjoy a wide range of earnings thanks to the uk virgin islands’ burgeoning offshore financial sector. BVI BC are very popular and widely used offshore companies due to their administrative convenience, flexibility, duty-free status and the fact that they are widely accepted and understood by the international financial community.
However, the British Virgin Islands have a reputable and well-implemented government system and a robust economy. The British Virgin Islands also score high in terms of international reputation as the ideal country to set up an offshore company. In a survey reported by the Guardian a few years ago, 40% of companies registered in the British Virgin Islands were among companies operating in mainland China and Hong Kong. Using such vehicles to secretly monitor a business has become a common approach for many companies or investors, who are interested in confidentiality and low-tax regimes. Both the directors’ register and the shareholders’ register of a company in the British Virgin Islands are not public. While there are safeguards in place to combat the illegal use of such business confidentiality to engage in money laundering and other forms of international crime, companies that adhere to legal boundaries are free to work with such security and privacy protections.
While all of these considerations will be important for a startup to gain trust with consumers, it means that founders would be free to structure their own internal policies as needed and appropriate. Companies in the British Virgin Islands may adopt specific provisions in their corporate constitution to derogate from the common law duties of directors to act in the best interests of all shareholders of a joint venture, and instead release them to act on behalf of the party appointing them. This flexibility has led to a number of high-profile international joint ventures set up company BVI being structured through holdings in the British Virgin Islands. Companies in the British Virgin Islands can easily be listed on the world’s largest exchanges and there are no additional listing regulations under British Virgin Islands law. We provide the services at a reasonable and fixed price with excellent customer support for life, which means that you will receive advice/support from us forever after you purchase the services from us. We believe in people who build businesses, so we offer not only business services, but also individual needs on a personal level.
Neither the directors’ register nor the shareholders’ register of a company in the British Virgin Islands is publicly available. While there are safeguards in place to prevent abuse of trade secrets related to money laundering and international crime, law-abiding companies can exist with the confidence of privacy. The British Virgin Islands were one of the first offshore jurisdictions to adopt progressive anti-money laundering legislation that complies with the FATF recommendations.