The British Virgin Islands is a British Dependant Territory consisting of numerous small islands approximately 50 miles east of Puerto Rico and adjacent to the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea. The Principal islands of the British Virgin Islands are Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Josh Van Dyke. The capital of British Virgin Islands is Road Town, situated in Tortola. The population of the islands is about 19,000 with an ethnic diversity of Afro-Caribbean, European, American and Asian.

The legal system is under the direction of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, which includes the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal. The Final Court of Appeal resides with the Privy Council in England. The legal system is based on British Common Law and statute enacted by the locally elected legislative council when signed and approved by the Governor

The legal currency is the United States Dollar ( USD ).

English is the official Language of BVI

BVI Business Companies are exempt from the BVI income tax, from tax on dividends, interest, royalties, compensations and other amounts paid by a company; also they are exempt from all the capital gains, estate, inheritance, succession or gift tax with respect to any shares, debt obligations or other securities of the BVI IBC's. The companies are exempt from any kind of stamp duties relating in any way to its assets or activities, with an exception for land-ownership transactions in the BVI: in that case stamp duty remains payable.

None.

The British Virgin Islands are a party to two double taxation treaties, with Japan and Switzerland, which the United Kingdom entered into many years ago. These treaties were extended to cover the British Virgin Islands, although the Territory does not have a tax treaty with the United Kingdom itself. The treaties themselves are little used. There are no plans to negotiate any new tax treaties.

A BVI Business Company may not be registered under the name that has already been incorporated with an existing BVI company, or is so similar that, in the Registrar's opinion, may lead to confusion or misleading. The BVI Company Registrar has a name-reservation system, so the name which is reserved would also be considered an existing name.

The name of a limited company must end with the word “Limited”, “Corporation”, “Incorporation”, “Incorporated”; the words “Societe Anonyme”, “Sociedad Anonima”, the relevant abbreviations (Ltd., Corp., Inc., S.A.) or other word or words, or abbreviations thereof.

If there is no licence or prior written consent of the Financial Services Commission, a BVI Business Company may not be registered under a name that contains such “restricted” words or phrases as "Assurance", "Bank", "Building Society", "Chamber of Commerce", "Chartered", "Cooperative", "Imperial", "Municipal", "Royal", "Trust", under any other name that suggests an association with the banking, trust company, insurance, mutual fund, assurance or reinsurance industry, or the name which suggests the patronage of royalty or of the British Virgin Islands government.

A BVI Business Company can engage in all corporate activities subject to its Articles and Memorandum of Association.

A BVI Business Company is not permitted to conduct or carry out Banking; Insurance; Mutual Fund Management; Public Investment Management; or any associated activity without proper licensing.

The British Virgin Islands has established a mix of new and modern international laws that, coupled with its extremely stable government and modern infrastructure, make it the premier offshore center in the World. The BVI government continues to be very proactive in its development as an offshore center, allowing us to offer our clients a premier offshore base of operations:

• An independent and stable government
• Modern telecommunications infrastructure
• Statutes that guarantee confidentiality
• Modern and progressive trust and company laws
• Statutes that provide tax exemption

BVI is an excellent location for :

• Privacy
• Estate Planning
• Asset Protection
• Tax Reduction Planning
• Holding Investments
• Royalty and Licensing Ownership