Offshore bank accounts

Anguilla company formation

 

Basic facts regarding Anguilla

Anguilla is the northernmost Leeward Island in the Eastern Caribbean. It has an area of 35 square miles and is sixteen miles long and 3.5 miles wide at its widest point. It lies to the north of St Martin/ St Maarten and by contrast is very flat.

Anguilla is one of the five overseas territories of the United Kingdom in the Caribbean. It is an associate member of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and CARICOM, and a member of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission.

 

Anguilla taxation

International Business Companies are exempt from corporate, income, withholding, capital gains, dividends or distribution taxes. Limited Liability Companies are exempt from all forms of taxation.

 

Offshore business in Anguilla

In 1994 Anguilla enacted several acts that provided for, amongst other things, the creation of international business companies, domestic companies, limited liability companies, trusts and the licensing of company managers (registered agents), trust companies and offshore banks. All of this legislation was updated in 2000. In 2004, Anguilla added legislation that provided for mutual funds, captive insurance and protected cell companies and in 2008 - Foundations Act.

 

Main features of Anguilla International Business Companies

International Business Companies (IBC's - similar to Delaware Corporations) can be incorporated by company service providers in Anguilla without the requirement to publicly register shareholders, directors etc. An IBC once incorporated is capable of holding assets and operating bank accounts, both on Anguilla and other foreign jurisdictions.

Anguilla uses the ACORN system, which is a real time online registry system that allows for the registration/incorporation of a company from anywhere in the world where there is Internet access. The incorporation of companies must be conducted through a licensed service provider, a company or individual providing fiduciary or company management services. Company managers and/or their overseas agents are allowed to hold CDD information on behalf of incorporated companies. All relationship information is held either by the local licensee or the overseas agent. Information on beneficial owners while not publicly available through the registry, is available to the FSC upon request. In Anguilla, legal persons are permitted to issue bearer shares. The bearer shares must be recorded, stored and immobilized in accordance with the requirements of the Custody of Bearer Shares Regulations, 2006.

Please contact our office, if you are interested in formation of an Anguilla International Business Company.

 

Main features of Anguilla Limited Liability Companies

A LLC is a separate legal entity distinct from its members. A LLC can carry on any business, purpose or activity not prohibited by laws of Anguilla. It also has the power to sue and be sued, complain and defend in its name, own or hold real or personal property or an interest therein which is located out of Anguilla, make contracts and guarantees and incur liabilities, and to become a member of a general partnership, limited partnership, joint venture or similar association, company or any other LLC. A LLC is however prohibited from owning or holding an interest real property situated in Anguilla, or carrying on banking, insurance, trust or company management business unless licensed to do so.

Registers to be maintained by the Registrar of Companies. The Registrar is to keep a Register of LLCs in which he registers the articles of formation in respect of every LLC filed for registration and any amendment thereto, the date of formation, and any articles or merger or consolidation and any restated articles are entered. This Register is available to the public for inspection upon payment of the prescribed fee

A LLC is required to keep records relating to the true and full information regarding the status of the business and financial condition of the LLC; which include a current list of the name and last known business, residence or mailing address of each member, holder of an economic interest and manager; a copy of the LLC Agreement, the articles of formation and all amendments thereto, together with executed copies of any written powers of attorney pursuant to which the LLC Agreement and any articles and all amendments have been executed; relating to a true and full information regarding the amount of cash and a description and statement of the agreed value of any other property or services contributed by each member and that each member has agreed to contribute in the future, and the date on which each member became a member; and such other information regarding the affairs of the LLC as is just and reasonable. These records are available for inspection by a member and each manager (for a purpose reasonably related to his position as manager) but are not available to the public for inspection. However, the records must be made available to the FSC on request.

Please contact our office, if you are interested in formation of an Anguilla Limited Liability Company.

 

Main features of Anguilla Private foundations

Anguilla Foundations Act No. 10/2008 provides for the establishment, operation and regulation of private foundations. This Act, modeled on Private Interest Foundation Law of Panama, is much more sophisticated than its Panamanian counterpart, but it is unfortunately also generally overlooked by offshore business.

Nevertheless, Anguilla Foundations Act offers particularly strong protection of funds deposited in a foundation. Where a person contributes assets as property endowment of a foundation, such assets shall irrevocably become assets of the foundation upon the vesting of such assets in the foundation and cease to be assets of the contributor.

No foundation governed by the laws of Anguilla, and no transfer of property to a foundation which is valid under the laws of Anguilla, shall be void, voidable, liable to be set aside or defective in any manner by reference to the law of a foreign jurisdiction.

The capacity of a founder of a foundation or any other person who transfers property to a foundation shall not be questioned, nor shall any beneficiary or other person be subjected to any liability or deprived of any right by reason that the laws of any foreign jurisdiction prohibit or do not recognise the concept of a foundation; or the transfer of property to the foundation, or any terms of its declaration of establishment or its by-laws avoids or defeats rights, claims or interests conferred by any law of a foreign jurisdiction on any person by reason of a personal relationship to the founder or a subsequent transfer or by way of heirship rights, or contravenes any rule of law or judicial or administrative order or action of a foreign jurisdiction intended to recognise, protect, enforce or give effect to any rights, claims or interests referred to abive.

Notwithstanding any rule of law or equity to the contrary, no beneficiary, object or purpose of a foundation shall have any right in specie against the property endowment of the foundation irrespective of the nature of any right to enforce the due administration of the foundation, and, subject to the terms of its declaration of establishment or by-laws, any assets of the foundation available for distribution to a beneficiary shall not be capable of being alienated or passed by bankruptcy, insolvency or liquidation; or liable to be seized, sold, attached, or otherwise taken in execution by process of law.

Please contact our office, if you are interested in setting up an Anguilla Foundation.

 

Offshore banking in Anguilla

There are 4 commercial banks and 3 offshore banks on Anguilla. Two of the offshore banks are fully owned subsidiaries of licensed domestic banks which provide private banking services. Total assets of the domestic banks totalled EC$2101.2 million at March 31, 2009 in comparison to the offshore banks for the same period which totalled EC$ 964.4 million.

The 2009 Proceeds of Crime Act included extending the prohibition of anonymous accounts to include numbered accounts.

 

International cooperation

Anguilla has executed Tax Information Exchange Agreements with Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Faroe Islands, France, Finland, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom.

Access to ownership identity and accounting information by foreign authorities is not possible in civil tax matters, except for the purposes of EU Savings Tax Agreements. Access to bank information is possible only in criminal tax matters subject to MLAT with USA (tax offences are excluded from MLAT unless it is shown that the money involved derives from an activity that is a covered offence, e.g. drug trufficing). Automatic exchange with EU members pursuant to EU Savings Tax Agreements. Competent authority has direct access to bank information.

 

[sources: Caribbean Financial Action Task Force; Legislature of Anguilla; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]

 

Bank accounts

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