Business & Marketing

Forming an Offshore Company in Vanuatu: What You Should Know

If you have not heard of Vanuatu, it is an island nation situated in the South Pacific. Officially, the country is known as the Republic of Vanuatu. Part of a volcanic archipelago, the land area covers 12,189 kilometres or 4706 square miles. Close to 300,000 people live in Vanuatu, southeast of the Solomon Isles, due west of Fiji, and northeast and east of New Caledonia and New Guinea respectively. This business paradise is also about 1750 kilometres or 1090 miles east of Australia.

Several laws regulate the formation of foreign companies in Vanuatu. If you wish to manage specific investments, you need to apply for licensure. Incorporating your company in Vanuatu will provide you with a number of benefits.

Offshore Benefits

Company formations in Vanuatu permit the following:

  • No payment of corporate taxes: The company does not impose taxation on any of its incorporated businesses.
  • Added privacy: Corporations in the island country do not have to disclose publicly the beneficial owner, directors, or shareholders. Also, corporations only need to have one shareholder to operate. Bearer shares are allowed to safeguard the privacy of company shareholders.
  • Increased stability: Vanuatu features governmental stability. No reports, in its history, point to political unrest.
  • A low minimum of authorised capital shares: The minimum authorised capital share for corporations in Vanuatu is $USD

When you form a company in Vanuatu, you are obligated to choose a unique company name that is not similar to the name of a current corporation. Submit three versions for the corporate name that you want to use to increase the chance for approval.

Maintaining a Regular Address

To incorporate in Vanuatu, you need to maintain a local office address and work with a local registered agent. The address is needed to send official notices and process service requests. When you list shareholders, again, you only need one. No limit is set for the number of shareholders listed in your organisation. Shareholders do not have to reside in Vanuatu.

The same rule holds true for directors in your corporation. You have to have at least a director serving on your board. Directors do not have to reside in Vanuatu. You do not need to list a company secretary in this locale. If you wish to renew your corporation in Vanuatu, you will need to remit $USD300.

When you become incorporated in Vanuatu, you don’t have to maintain a listing of your directors and shareholders in your business’s corporate files. Moreover, as an offshore company in Vanuatu, you are not required to file yearly tax returns or submit annual accounting reports. You don’t have to hold annual local meetings either.

If you wish to incorporate your company in Vanuatu, the process takes about two business days. Completion hinges on the amount of time needed to approve the corporate name and the accuracy of the registration paperwork.

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