Incorporating a Nevis LLC Might Be Right For you

Check out our Main Article on Incorporating a Nevis LLC

Oh I’ve heard of that, the passport country right?

Nevis is actually a separate offshore domicile from the country of St. Kitts and Nevis, which has gained recent notoriety as one of the two countries in the world to offer a transparent economic citizenship program. Nevis offers citizenship by economic contribution if you are willing to make a one time economic contribution to the Government of St Kitts and Nevis to the tune of the 2012 price of 250k. You can also qualify if you buy real estate with worth over 400k  The only other country in the world with an instant passport program (by instant meaning about 6 months, no need to visit or live in the country) is Dominica, not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. A passport in Dominica costs about 75,000-100,000, and up to 150,000 to naturalize a family.

The only tax due on Nevis companies to the country of Nevis, is when business is transacted within the country of Nevis. You also cannot hold real estate or physical property in Nevis with a Nevis LLC.

Talk to a tax attorney in your home country to discuss your unique tax obligations.

More On A Nevis LLC…

If you are looking for an offshore jurisdiction that is right for your business and your company, Nevis may be the right choice for you. The Nevis Offshore jurisdiction is a 100% tax-free offshore domicile operated by the small Caribbean country of St Kitts and Nevis. It is an independent sovereignty and is not a crown dependency like the Channel Islands, or connected to another larger dependency.

 

OK, cool, but why should MY company be incorporated as a Nevis LLC?

 

A Nevis LLC has distinct advantages, and comes at a very affordable price. The Nevis LLC does not have to face mandatory audits, and corporate compliance is minimal, there are very few company records to be maintained like corporate minutes. Your company meeting can be held anywhere, and an operating agreement can be tailored to your exact specifications.

 

A Nevis LLC can be formed with just one owner, and you can also create hybrid entities by combining trusts if additional asset protection is requested.

 

The distinct advantages of a Nevis LLC

• Can be formed by just one person
• Strong Asset Protection
• Private
• Strong laws
• No mandatory audits
• True “no tax” jurisdiction

 

So you don’t need multiple owners, a secretary, a board of directors, nominee’s or anything along those lines?

A downside of many offshore incorporations is that they require more than one director. For example, if you wanted to set up in Singapore (another fantastic choice for an offshore corporation) you would need to have 2 residents of Singapore serve as directors. Contrast this to Nevis, where you can operate as a single member LLC.

You are certainly allowed to have more than one owner, but Nevis does allows for one person to incorporate a company. You can incorporate a company that is single member managed.

 

Can I get sued?

To bring an action in Nevis against your corporation the creditor would need to post a $25,000 cash bond with the court in addition to any legal fees.

Okay so I’m reasonably protected from the actions of the LLC, what about a personal lawsuit, lets say I get in a car crash in the US.

Am I still protected from personal lawsuits?

USA domiciled single member LLC’s have been perceived as risky because they don’t have outside-in asset protection, or ‘personal lawsuit’ protection.

There is precedent caselaw where with single member LLC’s in and is evidence that the best place to operate an LLC in the US is within the states of Wyoming, Delaware or Nevada. This is because of charging order protection which is tested and proven by caselaw. CAREFUL WHEN starting a single member LLC in the United States! ONLY Wyoming has statutes that specifically provide for charging order protection for single member LLC’s.

Nevis offshore statutes for Nevis IBC’s and Nevis LLC’s are actually derived from US jurisdictional law in the states of Delaware and Wyoming, respectively. A single member LLC in Nevis has charging order protection, and other benefits of a Wyoming LLC, located in a jurisdiction offshore, with Nevis courts governing. All the benefits of the strongest LLC in the United States, located offshore in Nevis.

Seems random, why use laws from the USA?

Wyoming was the first state to implement the LLC or the Limited Liabilty Company. Nevis has essentially ‘borrowed’ the Wyoming LLC laws, and applied them to an offshore jurisdiction. Nevis has no connection to US court system or governance, they simply borrowed the jurisdictional law because they felt it was the strongest upon which to build their offshore domicile laws.

How private is a Nevis LLC?

The Confidential Relations Act of 1985 guarantees the confidentiality of Nevis offshore companies and bank accounts.

Nevis Has No Public Registry – This fulfills the first pillar of Asset Protection – privacy. The Nevis LLC is for all practical purposes anonymous. Nevis does not have a publicly accessible database of corporate records. Only the government and lawyers who practice in Nevis can access this database.

No one can get even basic information about your LLC – such as when it was filed, who it was filed by, or who owns the company. Your registration is essentially anonymous.

How is an LLC different from a Company limited by shares?

A member of an Limited Liability company is limited to the amount of contributed capital they make to capitalize the company and ‘buy’ a membership interest. An LLC is comprised of membership interest whereas a stockholder in a company limited by stock. In the traditional sense of the word this limits owners personal liability by their stock investment.

Incorporating in Nevis as an LLC comes with greater protection for less cost than other jurisdictions which requisite multiple owners to incorporate.

I’ve heard Hong Kong is the best place to incorporate offshore, is this true?

Hong Kong does offer some distinct advantages over other jurisdictions. For starters, a Hong Kong company that operates “offshore” or in a “no-tax” environment, is actually not a distinct offshore jurisdiction. Hong Kong is one of the best jurisdictions in the world, it does have its downsides, such as yearly audits. Also, you will likely have to travel to hong kong and make a substantial deposit to open a bank account there, unless you pay a premium fee for a full service incorporation and bank introduction.

 

I can’t discount that Hong Kong is a fantastic place to operate offshore. Personally, I would incorporate in Hong Kong if I were operating an ex-pat hedge fund. Also, Hong Kong is fantastic if you are sourcing from China.

 

Otherwise, I see less burdernsome reporting requirements as favorable. Do you want a yearly audit? If not, then don’t operate in Hong Kong. Do you want aggressive writeoffs and a legitimate front, Hong Kong might be right for you.

We can open a Hong Kong company for a cost of $2,500.

You control your LLC completely – there is no need for split ownership with a nominee – that may be required in a jurisdiction like Singapore, Ireland, Thailand, etc.

Your LLC is backed by strong laws – Nevis is a common law jurisdiction with LLC statues derived from the best state to incorporate in the US – Wyoming.

Your LLC is private –  Your name is not on the company registry, because there is no publicly accessible company registry. If you are a US citizen or resident alien and you spend more than 330 days abroad

If your business is “mostly you” or you function primarily as an independent contractor, and want to operate offshore. You want a clean, simple and easy way to get an additional offshore legal entity that can sign up for bank accounts anywhere in the world bank accounts.

 

A foreign LLC is an LLC that does business in another state then where it is incorporated. For instance, a Foreign LLC incorporated in Wyoming, but licensed to do business in Delaware has the same rights as a Delware LLC –but may be protected by different state laws in the state of incorporation.

Futhermore, a person who wants to sue your LLC would have to serve you papers in Wyoming, creating a greater hassle, and lesser chance of a lawsuit. Futhermore, if you use our anonymous business registration services, you won’t be on the books as owning an LLC in Wyoming – and your name won’t appear under the name search – therefore – you won’t be perceived as having multiple assets, and your likelihood of being a target is decreased.