Formation of an offshore company in Dominica is your hassle-free way to create a foreign legal entity for personal and business needs. You get a flexible vehicle beyond reporting and tax restrictions.

Benefits of Incorporation in Dominica

• Easy set-up of new business – fast incorporation, straightforward registration procedures, no limitations to the share capital value and currency, no requirements of minimum paid-up capital.
• Full tax-exemption in the country of incorporation.
• No financial reporting requirements.
• High confidentiality – details of directors, shareholders and real owners are not a part of public records, plus nominee service is available.
• Flexible legislation allowing multiple uses of a Dominican offshore company.
• Very affordable prices.
• No need of your personal presence to setup a company and open a bank account.

Country Profile

Official name: The
Geographical location: Caribbean Basin, between the French overseas territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Capital: Roseau.
Time: UTC/GMT-4, Atlantic Standard Time.
Square: 290 square miles (750 sq km).
Population: over 70,000.
Language: English.
Political status: independent state (since 1978).
Legal system: based on Common Law.
Currency: Eastern Caribbean Dollar (XCD or EC$), stable exchange rate (US$ 1.00 = EC$2.67).

Member of: CARICOM, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Commonwealth of Nations, United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Organization of American States (OAS); maintains missions in Washington, New York, London, and Brussels and is represented jointly with other Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) members in Canada.

Offshore sector: represented by international business companies (IBC), offshore banking facilities, offshore trust business, exempt insurance business, international ship registry, economic citizenship program.

Tax Treaties and exchange of information: 2 DTTs, with Switzerland, CARICOM (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago). 1 TIEA, with USA. Local authorities are required to gather certain information about final beneficial owners; however, they are only obliged to exchange information with other countries in tax matters subject to DTT or TIEA, or if there is a criminal case on file in the national court of the requesting country. Access to information is through the Financial Intelligence Unit.

Company Profile

IBC, international business company, also known as offshore company or non-resident company, is fully exempt from taxation in Dominica for its lifetime. The Government guarantees the tax-exempt status for twenty years. No financial reporting is to be lodged with the local authorities. The company is to pay fixed annual fees on the anniversary date to keep in good legal status.

The governing legislation: International Business Companies (IBC) Act 1996 (”IBC Act”).

Directors and shareholders can be individuals or corporate bodies of any nationality and residence, including from Dominica. The company may have a single shareholder, and the same person can be appointed a director. The director does not need to be a shareholder. Secretary is not required by law. Details of directors and shareholders are not available from the Public Registry.

Share capital can be nominated in any recognizable currency, in any amount (not less than US$ 100). There are no paid-up requirements towards the company’s share capital at the moment of incorporation and no time frames stated for further payment of share capital. Bearer shares are available. No par value shares are available.

There is no obligation to undertake annual meetings of the Board of Directors or Shareholders. The directors and shareholders can meet in person, by proxy, by phone or other electronic means.

Corporate books and records can be kept both in Dominica and in any other country of the world, and can be managed by electronic files or programs.

There is no currency control in Dominica. The company may open bank accounts in any currency in Dominica and overseas.

Use of Apostille is available.

Incorporation takes 24 to 72 hours, shelf companies are available.

Dominica allows for re-domiciliation of companies to and from Dominica and continuation under another jurisdiction. A company incorporated outside Dominica may continue as an IBC in Dominica, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the laws of the jurisdiction under which it is incorporated.

Common Uses of Dominican Companies

Legislation governing setup and operation of an IBC is very flexible, which makes the Dominican company a useful vehicle for many businesses. An IBC can be incorporated for any legal purpose and may conduct any legal activity, except for banking and insurance business. It is also prohibited to carry on business in Dominica or own interest in a real property situated in Dominica other than used as an office facility.

An IBC can be used for any commercial activities, including but not limited to:

• Offshore savings and investments
• Manufacturing and transportation
• Trading, marketing and distribution
• Forex and stock trading, fund management
• E-commerce, Internet trading
• Professional service company
• Employment of overseas stuff
• Online casino and other gaming, providing you obtained the necessary Internet gaming license
• Ship management and maritime operations; owning and lease of yacht & vessels
• Holding of title to any property (apartments, lots, houses or other movable or immovable asset, intellectual property (copyright, royalty, patent, know-how, trademark), shares of subsidiaries in other companies, including high tax jurisdictions.

Our Services

We assist with the company set-up and further ongoing maintenance. We also provide comprehensive consulting on how to use the company.

The following services are available: incorporation; nominee director and shareholder services; notarization of documents, legalization by Apostille, translation of company’s documents into Spanish, French, Russian; virtual office (phone answering, message taking), mail-forwarding facilities; assistance with bank account opening; re-domiciliation of companies from other jurisdictions to Dominica (continuation in Dominica); annual renewal.

Incorporation Costs

You can incorporate a company in Dominica with us for mere US$ 750 covering all governmental and setup service fees for the first year. From our experience, though, your expenses will hardly be limited to this amount, as you need a company bank account, certified company documents, corporate seal, etc. Considering this, we developed a special package, which is a better option in our opinion.

Our special Start-up Incorporation package is thoughtfully balanced in terms of your expenses and services needed to start-up your company and efficiently use it in your business. The package includes company setup and all first year fees, one certified set of company documents with Apostille (required for bank account opening), one company rubber stamp (required by law), courier delivery of documents to you by FedEx and free bank introduction service and assistance with bank account opening.

This package contains a kit of documents sufficient to open a business bank account in major banking institutions around the world. Some banks may request a certificate of incumbency additionally to the above documents, which you can add to your package upon incorporation or order later, according to our price list.

You may also need a nominee director service, which is available, including a standard general power of attorney in your name or of your representative. Nominee shareholder service is also available and it’s free of charge, if requested upon incorporation. Please note that using of nominee service may involve additional expenses, for example, for certified personal documents of the nominee person and/or bank account resolution required by many banks for the purposes of account opening. We can provide all this for reasonable costs.

No “hidden fees” or unexpected extra services from our side, without which the company is deemed to be unable to function.

To get the full price list for incorporation and additional services in Dominica, please contact us.

Next time you are to pay for maintenance of your offshore company is the anniversary date of the company incorporation.

Annual renewal fees for a Dominica IBC, beginning with the second year, including annual governmental fee, registered agent and registered office fees for the next year are US$ 495. If you use a nominee director, please add the cost of the service US$ 200.

Quotations for other documents, services and specific orders are available upon request.

Incorporation time: 24 – 72 hours. Please add the time necessary for delivery of the package by FedEx to your location (normally, 2-5 working days). Note that banking account opening is a separate process and takes additional time, 1-4 weeks, depending on your choice of the bank.

Payment: you can pay by wire transfer, Western Union (Money Gram), major credit cards (VISA, Master Card, Discover, American Express). Contact us, if you wish to pay by other means.

“Know-Your-Client” requirements (KYC): please be prepared to provide a copy of your valid ID document, information on your current residential address and purpose of incorporation.