We help you incorporate an International Company in Samoa

Set up your Samoa IC with a team that advises on the structure before anything is prepared, then guides you through every step of the incorporation. Coordination and follow-up are handled on your behalf, and you are kept informed the whole way.

Get started with Samoa IC
See pricing
Typical timeline
3 to 7 business days
Minimums
1 shareholder, 1 director
Packages from
US$875
Where you live
Outside Samoa
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 Samoa or the Samoa International Finance Authority. 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 a Samoa International Company needs to be set up

Everything a Samoa IC needs, with the provider shown on each row. Three items come with our package, one is optional, and six are choices we settle together.

At least one director

One director is enough and there is no maximum. A director may live anywhere and a company may hold the office. The board never has to meet in Samoa, and the Register of Directors and Secretaries is kept at the registered office rather than sent to the authorities, unless the company elects to send it.

Minimum
One, no maximum
Residence
Anywhere in the world
Corporate director
Permitted
Board meetings
Anywhere, or by written resolution
Same person as shareholder
Yes

At least one shareholder, resident outside Samoa

One shareholder is enough and a company may hold the shares. Samoan law keeps Samoan citizens, residents, anyone domiciled in Samoa and domestic companies off the share register, so the holding always sits outside the country. The Register of Members is not a public record.

Minimum
One, no maximum
Residence
Outside Samoa
Corporate shareholder
Permitted
Register of Members
Kept at the registered office
Bearer shares
Not permitted

Beneficial owners identified

The people who ultimately own or control the company are identified before the file is opened, looked through every holding company until a person is reached. Samoa puts no percentage floor under the test, so control counts as much as a shareholding. The record is held by the trustee company and it is not public.

Who counts
Anyone who ultimately owns or controls
Percentage floor
None
Held by
The trustee company
Kept current
On every change
Public
No

A secretary, one of them resident in Samoa

Every International Company appoints a secretary, and either a resident secretary or a resident agent must sit in Samoa. Only a trustee company, an officer of one or a wholly owned subsidiary may take that seat, so it arrives with the package. Further secretaries may be appointed anywhere.

Who provides it
Included in every package
Who may hold it
A trustee company or one of its officers
Further secretaries
Permitted, resident anywhere
Responsible for
Dealing with the authorities and keeping the records

An auditor, only if the company wants one

A company outside banking and insurance does not have to appoint an auditor. The articles can say so, or the members can agree in writing, or they can resolve it at each annual general meeting. Where no auditor is appointed the accounts are unaudited and they are published nowhere.

Audit
Not required
How it is set aside
In the articles, or by the members
Applies to
Companies outside banking and insurance
Accounts published
No
Filed anywhere
No

A share structure, with no floor under it

Samoa sets no minimum capital and no minimum paid up amount. Shares may carry a par value, no par value or both, in the currency of any country other than Samoa, in one class or several. The yearly government fee is flat, so it does not move with the number of shares you authorise.

Minimum capital
None
Minimum paid up
None
Currency
Any, other than the Samoan tala
Par value
With, without, or both
Classes
More than one permitted
Fee band on capital
None

A trustee company in Samoa

An International Company is formed through a trustee company in Samoa and must keep one for as long as it exists. The trustee company is the company’s channel to the authorities, holds the company records and is the address they 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
Handles
The incorporation and every later filing
Changing later
Permitted, under the published practice direction

A registered office in Samoa

The address must be the principal office of the trustee company, so it comes with the trustee company and you lease nothing. A change is notified within fourteen days. Meetings, management and the company books may sit anywhere in the world.

Where
The trustee company's principal office
Who provides it
Included in every package
Change notified within
14 days
Your own premises or staff
Not required

A name that ends in a corporate word

The name has to close on a word that says the thing is a body corporate. Samoa lists ten of them and will take an equivalent in another language where the trustee company can show it reads the same way. We clear the name with the authorities in Samoa first, and a cleared name can be held for up to three months.

Must end with
Limited, Ltd, Corporation, Corp, Incorporated, Inc, Berhad, Bhd, GmbH, P.L.C., S.A., N.V., B.V. or A.G.
Other languages
Permitted, where the word reads as a body corporate
Reservation
Up to 3 months
Restricted words
Bank, Insurance and Trust need consent
Chinese character name
Permitted, with a translation declaration

Memorandum and articles

The memorandum states the name, the registered office, the resident secretary or resident agent, the capital and how long the company is to last. Articles may be drafted for the company or adopted from the standard set the law provides. We draft them, the subscriber signs, and they are lodged to form the company.

Drafted by
Expanship
Signed by
The subscriber, usually the trustee company
Standard or bespoke
Either, or Table A adopted
States the duration
Yes
Changed later
By resolution, then lodged

KYC

What we ask of everyone behind the company

Your specialist helps you collect and organise what is needed from your side, reviewing each item before anything goes anywhere, so the formation runs without a hitch.

See the full checklist

Natural person

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

Corporate body

  • Certificate of Incorporation
  • Memorandum and articles
  • All Registers of Members
  • Company extract
  • KYC for all individual members

Entity Subtypes

The Samoa International Company comes in six forms

The first form fits nearly every plan for a Samoa International Company. The others are shaped for specific needs, such as a company with a set life, segregated funds or a long-term structure. Select one to read what it does, or let our experts recommend the right fit.

Limited by shares Limited by guarantee Limited by sharesand by guarantee Limited LifeInternational Company Segregated FundInternational Company Long TermInternational Company

Runs until it is wound up

Limited by shares

The form nearly every Samoa International Company takes. Members hold shares, the company stands on its own, and it answers for its own debts out of its own assets.

Members hold
Shares, in one or more classes, with a par value, without one, or both
Liability
Limited to any amount unpaid on the shares
Chosen for
Trading, holding, investment and joint venture companies
Name includes
LimitedLtdCorporationCorpIncorporatedIncBerhadBhdGmbHP.L.C.S.A.N.V.B.V.A.G.

Undecided? Tell us what the Samoa company is for and our experts will name the form that suits it, before a word is drafted.

Speak to our Samoa specialists

Activities and Usage

What a Samoa International Company lets you do

From holding shares to lending inside a group, a Samoa IC has a broad reach. Choose the activity nearest your plan to see how it works, and leave everything else to our experts.

Available from formation

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

  • Holding shares

    Shares in companies anywhere Available from formation

  • Property abroad

    Land and buildings outside Samoa Available from formation

  • Cross-border trade

    Buy in one market, sell in another Available from formation

  • Services abroad

    Consulting, software, contract work Available from formation

  • Intellectual property

    Marks, patents and royalties Available from formation

  • Ships and yachts

    Hulls owned and chartered abroad Available from formation

  • Lending inside a group

    Money moved between your own firms Available from formation

Specialist activities, ask us first

Extra steps in Samoa come before the work starts. Our experts will explain what applies to your plan.

  • Banking

    Deposits taken from the public Specialist activities, ask us first

  • Insurance

    Writing or reinsuring risk abroad Specialist activities, ask us first

  • Mutual funds

    Units offered to outside investors Specialist activities, ask us first

  • Trustee business

    Trustee of more than three trusts Specialist activities, ask us first

  • Restricted words in the name

    Bank, Insurance and Trust are held back Specialist activities, ask us first

Closed to every company

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

  • Business inside Samoa

    The home market stays closed Closed to every company

  • Samoan shareholders

    Citizens and residents kept off it Closed to every company

  • Bearer shares

    Every share has a named holder Closed to every company

What people build with it

Have a different structure in mind?

Tell us what the company will do

Holding

One parent above operating companies spread across the Asia-Pacific

A group with an arm in Singapore, another in Hong Kong and a third in Australia keeps three share registers aligned and runs three transfers every time ownership moves. Each of those countries is also somebody's home ground, and putting the parent in one of them puts the other two underneath it.

  1. The parent takes the shares

    The Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney arms each enter the Samoa company in their own books as their shareholder.

  2. Ownership sits outside the region's markets

    Neither Singapore nor Hong Kong nor Sydney stands above the others. The parent belongs to none of them.

  3. Three transfers become one

    One signature on the parent's shares moves all three arms, and no register in Singapore, Hong Kong or Sydney is touched.

Shareholders The company Subsidiary Subsidiary Subsidiary Singapore Hong Kong Australia Operating companies

Trading

Buys in one market, sells into another, and invoices from neither

A trader buying in one Asian market and selling into Australia or the islands does not want either side's rules following the whole chain, and does not want the supplier and the customer reading each other's terms. The contracts move to a company outside both of them.

  1. It buys in one market

    Every purchase contract names the Samoa company as buyer, and the goods become its property at the loading port.

  2. It sells into another

    The customer is invoiced by the Samoa company and pays into its own account, in any currency but the tala.

  3. The goods never call at Apia

    They ship from supplier to customer directly, and nothing but the contracts and the money touches Samoa.

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

Redomiciliation

A company formed elsewhere continues in Samoa without becoming a different company

A company whose home country has raised its costs, added a substance return or acquired a reputation its counterparties now ask about has two ways out. Wind it up and start again, and the bank accounts, the trading history and the contracts end with it. Move it, and none of that happens.

  1. The company arrives whole

    It continues as the same body corporate under Samoan law, keeping its name, its assets, its contracts and its debts.

  2. The old home has to release it

    The country it leaves must permit the exit, and both filings are made in order before the move takes effect.

  3. It can move on again

    Samoa lets a company move out as well as in, so this is a change of home rather than a one-way door.

Its former home Samoa The company The company Same name Same assets Same debts One legal person throughout

Fixed life

Samoa's answer to the limited liability company, for members whose own system wants a partnership reading

A member whose home tax system treats a foreign company as opaque is charged twice on the same profit, and a venture with a known finish does not need a vehicle that runs forever or a board sitting between the members and the money. Samoa writes an answer to both into one form.

  1. Two or more members put in capital

    Shares are paid for in full before they are issued, and neither the members nor the managers answer for the debts.

  2. Managers may run it instead of a board

    The members can run it themselves or appoint managers, so control is arranged by agreement, not by board seats.

  3. It ends on the date it was given

    The period is fixed when the company is formed, and it ends then, or earlier on an event the members write down.

Profit Limited life company Member Member Member Read as the members' own profit

Segregated funds

One company carrying several funds, each with its own assets and its own investors

A manager running three strategies inside one company has a single pot of assets that every investor's claim can reach, and forming three companies means three trustee companies, three fee dates and three sets of records. Samoa lets the funds be walled off inside one company.

  1. Each strategy is given a fund

    Money paid in is allocated to one named fund, and the shares issued against it answer only to that fund's assets.

  2. One fund's claims stop at the wall

    What one fund owes is met out of that fund's assets. The other funds and the company's own assets are safe.

  3. A fund can be closed on its own

    One fund pays out and winds up while the others carry on inside the same company, with nothing re-papered.

The company Fund A Fund B Fund C A claim A claim on one fund stops at that fund's wall

Long term

Taken for five, ten or twenty years at a time rather than a year at a time

A company that exists to hold one thing inside a larger structure still has to be renewed every year, and a missed renewal is how a dormant holding company quietly stops existing while nobody is looking at it. Samoa lets the whole run be taken in one block instead.

  1. The whole run is taken at once

    Five, ten or twenty years is settled up front, and nothing about the shares, the members or the liability moves.

  2. One date stops coming round

    The renewal falls away for the length of the run, so a company nobody is watching cannot lapse by inattention.

  3. It returns to yearly at the end

    When the run finishes the company goes back to a yearly renewal, or takes another block, without re-forming.

Five, ten or twenty years Year by year One term instead of many
Pricing

Samoa International Company incorporation packages, and what each includes

Two all-inclusive packages for a Samoa IC, priced in full with the government fee and the first year inside. Everything included is listed clearly, and nothing is added later.

Popular

Basic Package

US$ 875
Get Basic

  • Incorporation timeline
  • Unlimited name availability checks
  • Samoa IC annual government fee
  • Preparation of incorporation papers
  • Registered Agent (1st year included)
  • Registered Office Address (1st year included)

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

  • Certificate of Incorporation (CI)
  • Memorandum and Articles of Association (MAA)
  • Register of Directors (ROD)
  • Register of Members (ROM)
  • Beneficial Ownership Records
  • Share Certificates
Compare All Features
Best Value

Premium Package

US$ 1,499
US$1,799 Save US$300
Get Premium
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
Compare All Features

Every package above includes the government fees. Those fees are set by the Samoa 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.

Annual government fee: All packages include the annual government fee payable to the Samoa International Finance Authority (US$300 at incorporation and each year after). Samoa charges the same amount whatever share capital the company authorises, so there is no higher band to cross and nothing to add for a larger structure. The first annual fee falls due on 30 November of the year after the company is formed.

Enterprise

Need something more bespoke?

For structures that go past a single company. Segregated funds, limited life companies, redomiciliation into Samoa and ownership arranged across the Asia-Pacific are all quoted rather than packaged, and run by a dedicated 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 government fee, your trustee company and registered office, the resident secretary, custody of your registers and records, and a reminder well before the 30 November date.

Year 1 The packages above
Year 2 onward from US$799 a year
See what the annual package covers
Fully refundable If not incorporated 100%

If we do not get your company incorporated, we refund you 100%.

  • No hidden fees The package price is the price. Nothing is added later.
  • Government fees included Samoa government fees sit inside your package price, not on top of it.
  • 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 the first year.

Pros and cons

Is a Samoa International Company the right fit for you?

The case for a Samoa IC and the case against, given the same room on the page. Read both, then let our experts tell you honestly whether it is the right fit for what you are building.

In its favour

What it gives you

  • Nothing taxed in the territory

    Profits, dividends, interest and gains sit outside the charge, and one flat yearly fee stands where a tax return would.

  • One director, one shareholder

    Either may be a person or a company, resident in any country outside Samoa. No local director and no staffed office.

  • No substance return to file

    Samoa asks an International Company for no economic substance report, so a holding company reports nothing on where it sits.

  • Capital on your terms

    No minimum to subscribe, any currency but the tala, several classes, and a government fee that never moves with it.

  • Owners kept off the public file

    Members and beneficial owners are held by the trustee company, and the directors reach the authorities only if you send them.

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 Samoa has no treaty in place to reduce it.

  • A listing history to explain

    Samoa sat on EU Annex I for several years and came off it in the February 2026 revision. A counterparty may ask about that.

  • A bill whether it trades or not

    The government fee, the trustee company and the registered office all fall due on one date in a year with no activity.

  • The home market is shut to it

    It cannot trade with Samoan residents or with domestic companies, and no one resident there may hold a share in it.

  • Your own tax office still counts

    Controlled foreign company rules at home can tax the company's profits as yours, and banks ask more of it than of a local one.

The same company under other flags

Compliance

Keeping your Samoa International Company in good standing

The twelve duties of a Samoa IC, listed by trigger. Eleven are handled by our team inside your annual engagement, and you hear from us in good time about the one that needs you.

Trustee company

A trustee company in Samoa, from formation to the day the company is dissolved.

At all times

Held in Samoa

We do it

Registered office

The principal office of the trustee company, provided with it rather than rented by you.

At all times

The trustee company’s office

We do it

Statutory registers

Members, directors and secretaries, written up at the registered office as the events happen.

On every event

Kept at the registered office

We do it

Accounting records

Records and the invoices and contracts behind them, kept seven years, with the office told where they sit.

Kept seven years

Anywhere you choose

Yours

Annual government fee

One fee a year, the same amount whatever the share capital, from the year after the company is formed.

30 November

Samoa International Finance Authority

We do it

Statement of financial position

A yearly statement of where the company stands, placed on its file and never on a public one.

Once each year

The registered office

With you

Annual general meeting

One meeting of the members each calendar year, held anywhere in the world, with the accounts put in front of it.

6 months after year end

The members

With you

Beneficial ownership

Kept current with the trustee company, including a change reached through a company higher up the chain.

On every change

The trustee company

We do it

Register of Members

Transfers, allotments and cancellations, written up with the instrument behind each movement.

On every movement

Kept at the registered office

We do it

Register of Directors

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

On every change

Kept at the registered office

We do it

Amendments to the constitution

A change to the Memorandum or Articles is resolved by the company, then lodged.

On adoption

The authorities in Samoa

We do it

Name and office changes

A new name is cleared before it is adopted, and a move of the registered office is notified once it is made.

Within 14 days

The authorities in Samoa

We do it

How it runs

One date a year decides the rest, and we hold it

The government fee falls on 30 November for every Samoa company, so the whole year is timed off one date. We hold it for you, prepare each filing, and come to you in good time for the figures and the signatures only you can give us.

See what Samoa compliance covers

A Samoa IC carries twelve duties for life. Eleven of them are ours.

We hold eleven of them, from the day the company is formed to the day you close it. The only thing we need from you is an answer when we ask for one: the figures behind the yearly statement, or a confirmation when something about the company changes.

Covered by us 11 of 12
Trustee companyRegistered officeStatutory registersAnnual government feeStatement of financial positionAnnual general meetingBeneficial ownershipRegister of MembersRegister of DirectorsAmendments to the constitutionName and office changes
And from you
Yours One thing
Reply when we ask for something

3 to 7

Business days

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

1 + 1

Shareholder and director

Resident anywhere outside Samoa, and they may be the same person.

US$875

Packages from

One figure, quoted upfront, government fee included.

You do not have a company yet

Form a Samoa International Company

The vehicle described on this page, formed from wherever you are. We run the checks, clear the name, prepare the Memorandum and Articles and hand you the register pack.

Packages from
US$875
Time to form
3 to 7 days
Your presence
Not required
Get started with Samoa IC

You already have a Samoa company

Move it to us

Change the trustee company on a company 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$799/yr
Disruption
None
Transfer to Expanship

Neither of those yet?

Your own tax position, your banking, or whether another Samoa vehicle suits you better. Answered in writing within one business day, at no charge.

Talk to a specialist

FAQ

Samoa International Company questions, answered

What people ask before forming a Samoa IC with us, and what they ask about the company once it exists. For anything else, our experts are a message away.

Three to seven business days, depending on the package you choose. The Basic package runs to seven days and the Premium package to three, counted from the day we hold complete paperwork from you and your checks have cleared. The company exists when the authorities in Samoa say it does, so treat these figures as the range we work to rather than a commitment. We tell you the moment the company is on the file.

No. A Samoa IC is set up from wherever you live, and no one has to appear in Apia at any stage. Identity checks, the Memorandum and Articles and the statutory registers are handled remotely, and the subscriber signs in Samoa on the company's behalf. The board may meet anywhere in the world or decide by written resolution, and the yearly meeting of members may be held in any country. The corporate kit reaches you by express courier.

The whole first year of a Samoa International Company. Both packages carry the US$300 government fee, the trustee company and registered office for year one, name checks, preparation of the Memorandum and Articles, the Register of Members and Register of Directors, beneficial ownership records, your digital Certificate of Incorporation and courier delivery of the kit. Basic is US$875. Premium is US$1,499 and adds the company seal, incumbency and good standing papers and full legalisation of the set.

Yes. Every package includes assistance opening a multi-currency business account with Airwallex, so the company can send and receive payments in several currencies soon after it is formed. If you want an account at a traditional bank as well, tell us what the company will do and where its customers are, and we will say frankly which institutions are worth an application. Whoever you approach, the decision rests with the bank, and we do not promise an outcome.

Twelve duties follow a Samoa International Company, and eleven of them sit inside your annual engagement with us at US$799 a year. Three fall every year: the flat US$300 government fee due on 30 November, a statement of financial position placed on the company's own file, and a meeting of the members held anywhere in the world. There is no annual return and no substance report. Your part is to answer when we ask, mostly for the figures behind the yearly statement.

Yes to both. Moving a Samoa company to us means changing its trustee company, priced at US$350, with the annual engagement at US$799 a year from then on. The company keeps its name, its number and its history, and nothing about it changes. If the company has served its purpose, we advise on the cleanest way to end it, prepare the members' resolutions and the paperwork, settle what is owed and manage the process with the authorities on your behalf until it is dissolved.

No. Under Samoa law an International Company is formed through a trustee company in Samoa and must keep one for as long as it exists, so there is no route that starts with you alone. What we add is advice on whether an IC is the right vehicle and which form fits, preparation of everything, management of the whole process on your behalf, and a team that stays with the company 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 Samoa or the Samoa International Finance Authority. 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 Samoa authorities, not by us, and are passed on at cost inside the package price.

Contact Us

Questions about a Samoa International Company? Ask our experts

Give our Samoa experts a short outline of your plan and they will tell you whether an IC fits, what it costs and how we would begin. No obligation attached.

Professional business consultation

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Ready to set up your Samoa International Company?

Confirm the fit with our experts, pick an all-inclusive package, and your Samoa IC is ready to use. We look after every step in between.

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