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Samoa company formation

Basic facts regarding Samoa

Samoa is an independent sovereign state in the Central South Pacific, southwest of Hawaii. Up until 1997, it was referred to as Western Samoa. Local time is six hours behind New York and three hours behind Los Angeles. The legal system is based on British common law and closely reflects that of other common law jurisdictions. Samoa has strong diplomatic ties with both Australia and New Zealand.

Samoa taxation

Companies incorporated under the International Companies Act of 1987 are not liable to pay any income or corporation tax.

Main features of Samoa entities

The Companies Act 1955 allows for information about the legal ownership and control of companies to be available to competent authorities in a timely fashion through the system of registration with the Registrar of Companies. However, this is not the case where companies have issued share warrants. No measures are in place to prevent the misuse of share warrants for money laundering. No information is maintained about beneficial owners where these differ from the legal owner. The Companies Act 2001 does not currently provide for notices of trusts to be entered in companies’ share registers. No information is available about the control of companies where exercised through nominee directors or foreign company directors.

Offshore banking in Samoa

The figures reported by the Bank for International Settlements for Samoa indicate impressive growth of Samoa’s offshore banking. Samoa’s banks’ external assets grew from US$846,000,000 in December 2006 to US$1,210,000,000 in December 2007 and US$1,473,000,000 in June 2008 (in the same time Vanuatu’s banks’ external assets fell from US$292,000,000 in December 2006 to US$120,000,000 in December 2007 and US$116,000,000 in June 2008).

International cooperation

In June 2000 Samoa appeared on an Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) blacklist of countries acting as unsafe tax havens. However, it was removed in April 2002 after it made a commitment to improve the transparency of its tax and regulatory systems and to establish effective exchange of information for tax matters with OECD countries.

Samoa has executed Tax Information Exchange Agreements with Australia, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, San Marino, Sweden, New Zealand.

Mutual Assistance in Criminal Tax Matters Act allows for exchange of information in criminal matters. Dual criminality standard applies (request must relate to a serious offence in a foreign state. A serious offence includes offences against the laws of a foreign state, that if the act or omission occurred in Samoa, would constitute unlawful activity against any laws of Samoa), except for under Tax Information Exchange Agreements.

Statutory bank secrecy rules are limited to international banks. Access to bank information in criminal tax matters only. Competent authority has NO direct access to bank information. Court order is required.

[Sources: United States Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]

Offshore companies formation