Overview Of Anguillan Company Law

Although not normally regarded as being in the first tier of traditional offshore jurisdictions, 2015 is shaping up to be an exciting year for financial services in Anguilla (or "British Anguilla", as it sometimes likes to brand itself). New securities legislation and new insolvency legislation are expected soon. And whilst other leading offshore centres are struggling to manage the unwelcome international pressure that comes from success, Anguilla is still firmly in growth mode. Whilst other jurisdictions focus heavily upon increasingly complex financial products, Anguilla's success is based largely upon that traditional stalwart of the offshore industry - the International Business Company (or IBC).

Back to the future

Practising company law in Anguilla feels a lot like the 1980s. And like the famous Back to the Future movie franchise from the 1980s, the appeal is charmingly simple. During that time, the most popular offshore product by a long way was the IBC - a very simple, very flexible, tax-exempt vehicle that could fulfil a variety of corporate roles in an inexpensive manner, and which generated a minimum of regulatory friction. But whereas one jurisdiction after another has repealed their IBC legislation since then, in Anguilla it is still alive and well, albeit slightly refined and updated.

The Anguillan International Business Companies Act (Cap I.20) is closely modelled on the identically named legislation from the British Virgin Islands. The BVI legislation was extravagantly successful, but with that success came a great deal of scrutiny. And with scrutiny comes additional regulation, and larger numbers of bilateral treaties and agreements relating to tax information exchange and other information sharing arrangements. Whilst transparency and good governance are certainly laudable, they do come at an administrative cost. With a smaller number of companies in the Registry to manage, the Anguillan Financial Services Commission has remained able to maintain the integrity of the jurisdiction and avoid overburdening the system.

Less is more

People familiar with the offshore industry will be well versed with key features of the IBC which make it an attractive corporate vehicle.

Taxation. Anguilla is a true zero tax jurisdiction. There is no income tax, payroll tax, profit tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, wealth tax or any similar fiscal laws. Anguillan IBCs are highly effective for use as intermediary holding companies to create...