We help you incorporate an International Business Company in Nevis

Set up your Nevis IBC with specialists who advise on the structure before anything begins and then guide you through each stage of the incorporation in St Kitts and Nevis. Preparation and coordination are handled for you, from start to finish.

Typical timeline
2 to 5 business days
Minimums
1 shareholder, 1 director
Packages from
US$1,149
Where you live
Anywhere
Owners and directors
Any nationality
In person
Not needed

Expanship is a privately owned company. We are not a government agency, department, registry or regulator, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Nevis Financial Services Regulatory Commission, or the Registrar of Companies. We advise you, prepare and coordinate your paperwork, and handle the incorporation on your behalf; whether a company is approved, and when, is decided by those authorities alone.

Requirements

What you need before a Nevis International Business Company can be set up

Nine items, each with its provider shown. Our package supplies two for your Nevis IBC, one is optional, and the other six are decisions made with our guidance.

At least one director

One director is enough and there is no maximum. Directors may be of any nationality and may reside anywhere, a company may serve as a director, and alternate or substitute directors may be named to act in a director's place. The Register of Directors is held by the registered agent on Nevis and reaches no public file.

Minimum
One, no maximum
Residence
Anywhere in the world
Corporate director
Permitted
Alternates
May be appointed
Same person as shareholder
Yes

At least one shareholder

One shareholder is enough, and it may be the same person as the director. A company can hold shares. Shareholders and directors may act by unanimous written consent instead of meeting, which is how most decisions in a Nevis corporation are actually taken.

Minimum
One, no maximum
Residence
Anywhere in the world
Corporate shareholder
Permitted
Register of Members
Held by the agent on Nevis
Bearer shares
Not permitted

Beneficial owners identified

Nevis asks who ultimately owns or controls the corporation, and it asks by control rather than by a published percentage. Every holding company in the chain is looked through until a natural person is reached. The record is obtained and held by the registered agent and produced to the Financial Services Regulatory Commission on request.

Who counts
Anyone with ultimate ownership or control
Tested by
Control, not a fixed percentage
Held by
The registered agent on Nevis
Seen by
The Commission, on request
Public
No

Officers, on the terms the by-laws set

Nevis law leaves the offices to the by-laws rather than fixing a list. A managing director may be named to run the company day to day, a corporate secretary may be appointed and may itself be a company, and one person may hold more than one office at the same time.

Fixed list of offices
None fixed by law
Set by
The by-laws
Corporate secretary
Permitted, and may be a company
Two offices, one person
Permitted
Filed anywhere
No

A share structure, with no floor under it

Nevis sets no minimum capital and no minimum paid up amount, and the annual government fee does not move with the size of the capital. Shares may be denominated in any recognised currency, issued with or without par value, and divided into as many classes as the Articles of Incorporation provide for.

Minimum capital
None
Minimum paid up
None
Currency
Any recognised currency
Government fee
Flat, not tied to capital
Par value
With or without
Classes
More than one permitted

A registered agent on Nevis

Every Nevis business corporation must have a registered agent on Nevis at all times, and the agent is the company's channel to the authorities. It obtains and holds the beneficial ownership record, keeps the registers Nevis law requires, and is the address the authorities write to. It comes with every package.

Who provides it
Included in every package
Keeps for you
Register of Members, Register of Directors, beneficial ownership records
Filing without an agent
Not possible
Changing agent later
Permitted, by resolution

A registered office on Nevis

The corporation needs an address on the island of Nevis, not on St Kitts. In practice it is the office of the registered agent, so it comes with the agent and you lease nothing. Records may be kept elsewhere in the world provided they stay readily accessible to the agent and to the Commission.

Island
Nevis, not St Kitts
Who provides it
Included in every package
Your own premises or staff
Not required
Records
Kept anywhere, readily accessible

A name with the right ending

The name must end in Corporation, Incorporated, Limited or an accepted abbreviation such as Corp, Inc or Ltd, and a recognised foreign equivalent is accepted in its place. It must not duplicate or closely resemble a name already on the Nevis company file. We check availability and reserve it before anything is filed.

Must end with
Corporation, Incorporated, Limited, Corp, Inc, Ltd
Foreign equivalents
Accepted, such as S.A. or A.G.
Availability
Checked and reserved by us
Restricted words
Bank, trust, insurance and government references need consent
Checked against
The Nevis company file

Articles of Incorporation and by-laws

Two papers, not one. The Articles of Incorporation bring the corporation into existence and set the name, the purposes and the shares it may issue. The by-laws are adopted internally and govern how directors are elected, how meetings run and what the officers do. We draft both.

Filed to form it
Articles of Incorporation
Adopted internally
By-laws
Drafted by
Expanship
Signed by
The incorporator
Changed later
Articles by filed amendment, by-laws by resolution
Standard or bespoke
Either

KYC

What we ask of everyone behind the company

We make the collecting simple. Your specialist explains what is needed from your side, checks each item as it arrives and keeps everything organised until the formation is complete.

See the full checklist

Natural person

  • Passport
  • Address proof
  • Source of funds
  • Resume or CV

Corporate body

  • Certificate of Incorporation
  • Articles and by-laws
  • All Registers of Members
  • Company extract
  • KYC for all individual members

Activities and Usage

What you can do with a Nevis International Business Company

Holding, trading, lending inside a group: a Nevis IBC is built for all of it. Choose the activity nearest to yours to see how it works, and rely on our experts for what follows.

Available from formation

Open the day the corporation exists. Nothing to apply for first.

  • Holding shares

    Stakes in companies in any country Available from formation
  • Property abroad

    Land and buildings outside the islands Available from formation
  • Cross-border trade

    Bought in one market, sold in another Available from formation
  • Services abroad

    Advice, software and contract work Available from formation
  • Intellectual property

    Marks, patents and the royalties Available from formation
  • Group lending

    Loans to companies in the same group Available from formation

Specialist activities, ask us first

Financial lines carry extra steps before they start. Trading inside the Federation is open, but it changes what the corporation is taxed on. Ask us which applies.

  • Banking

    Taking deposits from the public Specialist activities, ask us first
  • Insurance

    Underwriting or reinsuring risk Specialist activities, ask us first
  • Fund business

    Funds and dealing in securities Specialist activities, ask us first
  • Trust and company services

    Acting as trustee or agent for others Specialist activities, ask us first
  • Virtual asset services

    Holding or moving crypto for others Specialist activities, ask us first
  • Business in the Federation

    Open, and it changes the tax answer Specialist activities, ask us first

Closed to every company

Off limits for this kind of corporation, whatever it goes on to do.

  • Bearer shares

    Retired. Every share has a holder Closed to every company
  • Restricted words in the name

    Bank, trust and insurance held back Closed to every company

What people build with it

Have a different structure in mind?

Tell us what the corporation will do

Holding

One parent above operating companies in three or four countries

A group that grew country by country has a separate share register in each one, and every reorganisation has to be negotiated three times over. One corporation above them turns that into a single point of ownership.

  1. The parent holds the stakes

    Each trading subsidiary names the same Nevis corporation as its shareholder, whatever law that subsidiary sits under.

  2. The fee does not follow the capital

    The yearly government fee is flat, so the parent can be capitalised for the whole group without the cost moving.

  3. One transfer moves the group

    A buyer takes the parent's shares, and every company underneath changes hands without a transfer of its own.

Shareholders The corporation Subsidiary Subsidiary Subsidiary Country A Country B Country C Operating companies

Continuation

An existing company changes where it lives without becoming a new one

A company already trading somewhere it no longer wants to be is usually given one answer: close it, form a new one, and re-paper everything underneath in the new name. Nevis law lets the same body move instead.

  1. It arrives as itself

    A company formed elsewhere may continue on Nevis, keeping its name and its trading history rather than starting again.

  2. Agreements stay in one name

    Because the company is never dissolved, its contracts and leases run on in the name they were signed in.

  3. It can leave the same way

    A Nevis corporation may continue out into another country later, so the move is not a one-way door.

Where it was formed Nevis The company The same company Same name Same assets Same debts One legal person throughout

Capital

Money in from investors without the control going out with it

Taking an investor in usually means handing over a slice of everything at once: the profit, the votes and the say in what happens next. A corporation with shares can split those three apart before the money arrives.

  1. The classes are set in the Articles

    The Articles of Incorporation may create more than one class of shares, each carrying the rights written for it.

  2. Currency is a choice, not a constraint

    Shares may be denominated in any recognised currency, with or without par value, and no minimum has to be subscribed.

  3. It changes hands in one register

    A holding moves by an instrument of transfer and an entry in the Register of Members, which is held with the agent.

Class A Class B Class C Votes and profit Profit, no votes Votes, no profit The Nevis corporation The business One corporation, three sets of rights

Trading

Contracts on both sides of a trade, held by a corporation in neither market

A trader buying in one country and selling into another wants one counterparty on both contracts and one account behind them, without the supplier and the customer ever reading each other's terms.

  1. It buys in one market

    The supplier contracts with the Nevis corporation, and title passes to it where the goods physically sit.

  2. It sells in another

    The customer is invoiced by the same corporation and pays into an account held in that corporation's name.

  3. Nothing about either is made public

    Nevis asks for no annual return and no accounts, so the year is written up in the corporation's own books.

Supplier The corporation Customer Invoice in Invoice out Goods ship direct Contracts and the bank account sit with the corporation

Intellectual property

Rights owned in one place and used by the whole group for a royalty

When each operating company registers the marks it happens to trade under, the group's rights end up spread across whichever countries it sold in first, and closing one of those companies can carry some of them away.

  1. The rights are assigned in

    The portfolio is assigned into the Nevis corporation and entered in its name in every country that recognises it.

  2. Each user pays to use them

    Operating companies pay a royalty on arm's length terms, and Nevis runs no substance test to report against.

  3. The holder can change country

    If the corporation later continues into another country, it remains the same holder and no foreign entry has to be redone.

Marks and patents The corporation Group user Group user Group user Each user pays a royalty for the right to use them

Succession

Holdings in four countries gathered under one owner, then passed in one step

A family whose shares, funds and property sit in four countries answers the same questions to a different institution every time, and each holding has to be dealt with separately on the day it passes on.

  1. The holdings get one owner

    Shares, funds and property that once sat in several personal names now sit under one Nevis corporation.

  2. Decisions do not need a meeting

    Shareholders and directors may act by unanimous written consent, so a family in four time zones decides apart.

  3. It passes by share transfer

    The next generation receives shares in the corporation, and nothing underneath it is moved or re-registered.

The corporation Listed shares Fund units Property abroad One owner, one set of statements
Pricing

Nevis International Business Company incorporation packages, and what each includes

Your Nevis IBC comes as an all-in-one package: one figure that already holds the government fee, the first year and our specialists' support. Every inclusion is written out, and nothing is billed on top.

Popular

Basic Package

US$ 1,149

  • Incorporation timeline
  • Unlimited name availability checks
  • All government incorporation fees
  • Preparation of incorporation papers
  • Registered Agent (1st year included)
  • Registered Office Address (1st year included)

  • Statutory registers prepared & maintained
  • Express worldwide delivery of Corporate Kit
  • Free account opening with Airwallex

  • Certificate of Incorporation (CI)
  • Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws
  • Register of Directors
  • Register of Shareholders
  • Register of Beneficial Owners (RBO)
  • Share Certificates
Best Value

Premium Package

US$ 2,099
US$2,599 Save US$500
Everything in the Basic Package

  • Company seal
  • Original Certificate of Incorporation
  • Certificate of Incumbency
  • Certificate of Good Standing
  • Notarization and Apostille on all corporate papers

Every package above includes the government fees. Those fees are set by the Nevis authorities, not by Expanship, and are passed on at cost; the rest of the price is our fee for advising you, preparing and coordinating your paperwork, and handling the incorporation on your behalf. Expanship is a private company, not a government agency. Whether a company is approved, and when, is decided by the authorities alone.

The annual government fee: Nevis charges one flat renewal fee of US$300 a year for a business corporation, and it does not rise with the size of the authorised share capital. The first year sits inside the package price above. From year two it sits inside the annual renewal below.

Enterprise

Need something more bespoke?

For structures that do not fit a package. Layered holding chains above a Nevis corporation, by-laws and share classes drafted for a shareholders' agreement rather than from a template, nominee arrangements, and formation run in step with entities in other countries, all under one project manager.

  • Complex structuring
  • Bespoke articles
  • Nominee arrangements
  • Multi-jurisdiction
  • Dedicated project manager
  • Priority processing
  • Ad-hoc advisory
Talk to Our Advisors

After Year 1

Annual Renewal

Your first year is covered by the package above. From year two, one fee a year carries the Nevis renewal fee on your anniversary, your registered agent and registered office on the island, that year's simplified tax return to the Inland Revenue Department, custody of your registers and records, and a reminder well before each date.

Year 1 The packages above
Year 2 onward from US$999 a year
See what annual compliance covers
Fully refundable If not incorporated 100%

If we do not get your corporation registered on Nevis, we refund you 100%.

  • No hidden fees The package price is the price. Nothing is added later.
  • Government fees included Nevis government fees are inside your package price, not billed on top.
  • Renewal priced upfront Year 2's fee is published on this page, not sprung on you a year later.
  • Everything in one package No essentials sold as add-ons. The Basic package covers the formation and first year.

Pros and cons

Is a Nevis International Business Company right for you?

Both sides of a Nevis IBC, at equal length: what it does well, and what it will ask of you year after year. Our experts will give you a straight answer on which matters more for your situation.

In its favour

What it gives you

  • Foreign profit is outside the charge

    Managed from abroad, with nothing earned in the Federation, the corporation pays no income tax and no capital gains tax here.

  • One director, one shareholder

    Either may be a person or a company, resident in any country. No local director, no staffed office, no meeting held on Nevis.

  • Nothing on a public file

    Shareholders, directors and beneficial owners sit with the registered agent. Nevis runs no search a member of the public can use.

  • Capital on your own terms

    No minimum to subscribe, any recognised currency, several classes, and a yearly fee that does not move with the size of it.

  • Only two dates in the year

    No annual return, no accounts to file, no audit and no substance test. The anniversary fee and the April return are the whole of it.

To weigh against

What it asks of you

  • No double tax treaty relief

    Income from abroad arrives with withholding tax already taken at source, and Nevis has no treaty network that could reduce it.

  • Tax turns on where you sit

    Manage it from inside the Federation, or earn there, and the profit falls into the St Kitts and Nevis charge at 33 per cent.

  • A bill whether it trades or not

    The renewal fee, the registered agent, the registered office and the April return all fall due in a year with nothing happening.

  • Private rather than secret

    The agent produces owners to the authorities on request, and account balances still leave the islands under CRS and FATCA.

  • Your own tax office still counts

    Controlled foreign company rules at home can tax the corporation's profits as yours in the year the corporation earns them.

Compliance

Keeping a Nevis International Business Company in good standing, year after year

Everything a Nevis IBC must keep doing, laid out by when it is due. Eleven of the twelve duties are run by our team under your annual engagement, and we flag the one that is yours well ahead of time.

Registered agent

A registered agent on Nevis, from formation to the day the corporation ends.

At all times

Held on the island of Nevis

We do it

Registered office

An address on Nevis rather than on St Kitts, provided by the agent rather than rented by you.

At all times

The agent’s address on Nevis

We do it

Statutory registers

Directors, members and beneficial ownership, obtained and held by the agent and produced to the authorities on request.

On every event

Held with the registered agent

We do it

Corporate and accounting records

Kept at least five years from the day they were made, and readily accessible to the agent wherever you hold them.

Kept five years

Anywhere you choose

Yours

Company particulars

Name, legal status, registered office and agent, and the powers that regulate the corporation, kept accurate and current.

At all times

Held with the registered agent

We do it

Annual renewal fee

One fee a year, flat and unaffected by the size of the share capital, settled before the anniversary comes round.

Anniversary of registration

The authorities in Nevis

We do it

Simplified tax return

Form CIT-101, declaring where the corporation is managed and whether it has a permanent establishment in the Federation. No accounts are attached.

15 April

Inland Revenue Department

We do it

Register of Directors

Appointments, resignations and changes to a director’s details, resolved and then written up.

On every appointment

Held with the registered agent

We do it

Register of Members

Transfers, issues and cancellations, written up with the instrument that moved each holding and the date it moved.

On every movement

Held with the registered agent

We do it

Beneficial ownership

Kept current, including a change reached through a company higher up the chain, and produced to the authorities on request.

On every change

Financial Services Regulatory Commission

We do it

Amendments to the Articles

A change to the Articles of Incorporation is resolved by the corporation, then lodged. By-law changes stay internal.

On adoption

The authorities in Nevis

We do it

Name, agent and office changes

All three are filed, and all three take effect when the Nevis company file is updated rather than on the day they were resolved.

Promptly

The authorities in Nevis

We do it

How it runs

Two dates a year, and both of them sit on our calendar

A short list is easy to lose track of precisely because it is short. From the day the corporation is registered we hold both dates, prepare the filing, settle the fee before the anniversary, and come to you in good time for anything only you can give us.

Twelve duties follow a Nevis IBC. Eleven of them are ours.

We hold eleven of them, from the day the corporation is registered on Nevis to the day you close it. The only thing we need from you is an answer when we ask for one: a confirmation for the April return, or a note when something about the corporation changes.

Covered by us 11 of 12
Registered agentRegistered officeStatutory registersCompany particularsAnnual renewal feeSimplified tax returnRegister of DirectorsRegister of MembersBeneficial ownershipAmendments to the ArticlesName, agent and office changes
And from you
Yours One thing
Reply when we ask for something

2 to 5

Business days

From the day your checks clear to the day the corporation exists.

1 + 1

Shareholder and director

Any nationality, resident anywhere, and they may be the same person.

US$1,149

Packages from

Quoted in full upfront. The government fee is part of the price, not on top.

You do not have a company yet

Form a Nevis corporation

The vehicle described on this page, formed on Nevis from wherever you are. We run the checks, reserve the name, draft the Articles of Incorporation and the by-laws, and hand you the register pack.

Packages from
US$1,149
Time to form
2 to 5 days
Your presence
Not required

You already have a Nevis company

Move it to us

Change the registered agent on a corporation you already own. It keeps its name, its number and its history, and nothing about the entity itself changes.

Transfer in
US$350
Then
US$999/yr
Disruption
None

Neither of those yet?

Your own tax position, your banking, or whether a Nevis LLC with members and an operating agreement suits you better than a corporation with shares. Answered in writing within one business day, at no charge.

Talk to a specialist

FAQ

Nevis International Business Company questions, answered

Short, direct answers on incorporating a Nevis IBC through us, and on how a Nevis corporation is owned, run and kept in standing. Ask our experts for anything else.

Working with us

Two to five business days, depending on the package. Basic runs five business days and Premium two. The count begins once your checks are complete and we hold the signed papers from everyone behind the corporation. The authorities in Nevis register the corporation at their own pace, so these are typical times rather than a promise. From that day the Nevis IBC exists and can sign, invoice and open accounts.

No. Shareholders, directors and officers of a Nevis IBC may be of any nationality and live anywhere, and nothing has to be signed in Charlestown. We gather the identity papers by email, prepare the Articles of Incorporation and the by-laws, and coordinate the filing on Nevis on your behalf. Meetings are not needed either, since shareholders and directors may decide by unanimous written consent from wherever they are. The corporate kit is couriered to you anywhere in the world.

Everything a Nevis IBC needs to exist and to run through its first year. The government fees are inside the price, including the first year's flat renewal fee, along with the registered agent and registered office on Nevis, the name checks, the Articles of Incorporation and by-laws, the registers of directors, shareholders and beneficial owners, share papers, courier delivery, an Airwallex account and the digital Certificate of Incorporation. Basic is US$1,149 and Premium US$2,099, which adds the physical original, a seal, incumbency and good standing papers and full authentication.

Yes. Every package carries free account opening with Airwallex, a multi-currency business account, subject to the provider's own checks. For a bank account in the Caribbean or elsewhere, we advise on which institutions are open to a Nevis corporation with your activity and ownership, prepare the application and the supporting papers, and handle the bank's questions alongside you. Banks make their own decisions on their own timetable, so an account is never something we can promise.

Very little by the standards of most jurisdictions. There is no annual return, no accounts to file, no audit and no substance test. Two dates matter: the flat renewal fee on the anniversary of registration, and the simplified tax return by 15 April, which declares where the corporation is managed and attaches no accounts. Twelve duties in all follow a Nevis IBC, and eleven sit inside your annual engagement with us at US$999 a year. The twelfth is your own accounting records, kept five years.

Both. Moving a Nevis corporation to us is a change of registered agent, at US$350, and then US$999 a year for the compliance package. It keeps its name, its number and its history. Nevis also lets a company formed elsewhere continue onto the island as the same legal person, which we advise on and manage. If you would rather close a Nevis IBC, we prepare the resolutions and the closing paperwork, settle outstanding fees and manage the dissolution on your behalf until the file is closed.

No. Nevis law requires every business corporation to have a registered agent on the island at all times, and nothing can be filed without one, so there is no form you can send in yourself. What we add is advice on whether a corporation or a Nevis LLC fits your plan, preparation of the Articles, by-laws and registers, management of the whole process on your behalf, and a team that stays with the corporation afterwards. We are an independent corporate services provider, not a government body.

No. Expanship is a privately owned company. We are not a government agency, department, registry or regulator, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Nevis Financial Services Regulatory Commission, or the Registrar of Companies. We advise you, prepare and coordinate your paperwork, and handle the incorporation on your behalf. Whether a company is approved, and when, is decided by those authorities alone.

Our own work: advice on the right structure, due diligence on every member, preparing and coordinating the incorporation paperwork, handling the incorporation on your behalf, and the first year of registered agent and registered office. The government fees are set by the Nevis authorities, not by us, and are passed on at cost inside the package price.

Contact Us

Questions about a Nevis International Business Company? Ask our experts

Give our Nevis experts a short picture of your plan and they will tell you whether an IBC fits, what it will cost and what the next step looks like. Asking commits you to nothing.

Professional business consultation

Expanship is a private company, not a government agency. Submitting this form requests a consultation with our advisors; it does not place an order, start an incorporation, or create a professional relationship, and nothing we reply with is legal, tax, or financial advice.

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