Blog
Belize IBC: fee increase from US$100 to US$200 since 1st April 2016
Belize started as a low cost jurisdiction in a highly international competitive market: the market of incorporating companies. This is one of those bad April fools. According to Belize Statutory Instrument No. 11 з 2016 – International Business Companies (Fees) Regulations 2016, the licence fee of Belize International Business Companies (IBCs) has been increased from US$100 to US$200.
3 months to process corporate documents in Delaware
The State of Delaware makes US$16 billion out of corporate fees alone (2015 report). This is the GDP of Malta or Iceland. Despite this, it took them 3 months to process a regular corporate document sent to the Division of Corporations: from October 2016 to January 2017. If you want a faster proceeding you have to pay an extra US$100 for the 24-hour expedited service (on the top of the US$200 for the filling). For that price you have a new company in Wyoming. Oh yeah, and don’t forget to send your documents by post to the Delaware Division of Corporation, or use ... Read more
Belize contradicts itself and is stuck in 1985
Most IBCs in Belize are probably illegal because of this: §73.(4) A company incorporated under this Act shall have a common seal and an imprint thereof shall be kept at the registered office of the company. (5) A company that wilfully contravenes this section is liable to a penalty of $25 for each day or part thereof during which the contravention continues, and a director who knowingly permits the contravention is liable to a like penalty. Source: Belize IBC Act. The United Kingdom abolished the practice of mandatory use of company common seals since 1985… Strangely enough, in their LLC ... Read more
The Seychelles IBCs are less attractive
It is a classic in philosophy, and even in some religious texts: “your biggest enemy is yourself“. For that matter the Seychelles fell on its own on the 26th July, 2016, in force since the 1st of November, 2016: Section 119 of the Act requires that: an IBC to make an annual declaration that the IBC is keeping accounting records in accordance with the Act and that such records can be made available through its registered agent. Section 119 of the Act requires that: every IBC to furnish a return (either in original or scanned copies) in the form of a declaration ... Read more
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a backward jurisdiction
It is sad to see that in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) you cannot search online for a company name… For this privilege you have to fill a form & pay US$30, send it by snail mail or email and wait for the answer back… Where are we? In this day & age when information is acquired very fast: you will spend less time acquiring knowledge about superconductivity than getting information on a company on the register in the BVI. The BVI Finance Services Commission (BVIFSC), despite having US$2.8 million in surplus (2014 report), is not even able to put ... Read more
Botwana’s IFSC is dead, welcome BITC & NBFIRA
The Botswana IFSC set up-up in 2003 is dead, today only a 5 pages website with completely outdated information is up. The IFSC death was already announced back in 2010 because South Africa restricted inward investments and is already a developed financial centre. The agencies that took over are: the BITC (Botwana Investment & Trade Centre) for normal trading businesses, and the NBFIRA (Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority) for the Financial services like stockbrokers, funds, & (re)insurances. The IFSC laws were guaranteed until 2020 anyway, so with 3 little years to go, probably no more companies will be attracted. Neighbors such as ... Read more
iCommerceRegistry from the Gambia: we were right
Back in 2014 we (freely) advised to stay away from the iCommerceRegistry of the Gambia. The website is still online but the content is gone with only this red message: “Due to current technical duties iCommerceRegistry is unable to accept any new agents at this time“. In August 2016: Streber published an announcement from the Ministry of Justice of the Gambia confirming the illegitimate operation (this press release is a dead link today). The iCommerceRegistry adventure lasted 2 years (very short!). This is probably what happened (which is common across Africa): maybe the start of operation was legit, but the Gambia (corrupt) ... Read more
Rush of Nevada corporations to Wyoming: the mystery has been solved!
We saw in the year 2015 that a rush of companies from Nevada transferred to Wyoming. We found out why in 2 blog posts entitled: The Nevada Corporation is Officially Dead : in 2015 the annual Business License fee was jacked up from US$200 to US$500 (a 150% increase!), making it the most expensive state to maintain a company. Nevada Business License : even worse, in 2009 the Nevada Secretary of State now requires everyone who has never filed a Nevada business license will now have to pay ALL the years back, plus late fees! So that explains why the number ... Read more
Wyoming Business Database: some great facts!
The Secretary of State of Wyoming made available for download their complete business entity database. We downloaded this data, and input it into a Database Management System (DBMS) called MySQL, therefore we are able to make some interesting queries (& discoveries). The very first filling made in Wyoming was for: the “United Presbyterian Church” in 1871 as a Nonprofit Corporation (Religious).The second filling was 4 years later: for the “Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Cheyenne Lodge Number One” in 1875 as a Nonprofit Corporation (Mutual Benefit). From inception in April 1869 to the 3rd of June 2016: 3,874 domestications or ... Read more
Domestication VS Continuance
A Domestication is the transfer of the domicile of incorporation of a company from a jurisdiction of origin to another (new) Domestic jurisdiction of destination. All assets & liabilities are transferred in one single process. In some jurisdictions, the Domestication includes the transfer of the starting date of incorporation; in others, the company is given a new birth date. A Continuance however, is a Domestication which guarantees the lifetime of company since birth, thus the company retains its age. The company just moves and continues its life in the new jurisdiction. In both cases, prior to any Domestication or Continuance, the ... Read more