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ShelfCompanies24 has been forming Antigua companies for international clients since 1995. Our Antigua registered-agent partners handle every step of company formation in Antigua and Barbuda on a servicecontract — from picking the right legal form through FSRC registration, registered-agent engagement, ES compliance and beneficial-ownership filing. Most clients are trading inside 1–3 weeks, or in 3–7 working days via a ready-made off-the-shelf Antigua IBC.
Single payment covers FSRC filings, registered agent, ES setup and our service fee.
Antigua IBC + registered agent + banking introduction + gaming/CBI advisory if relevant under one roof.
FSRC standard formation 1–3 weeks. English-speaking case manager.
No notarisation required.
We file Memorandum and Articles, register the BO, organise ES.
Governed by the IBC Act 1982 (as amended). Workhorse Antigua offshore form.
IBC: 1–3 weeks. Off-the-shelf transfer: 3–7 working days.
Yes. The Directorate of Offshore Gaming licences online-gaming operations. Licensing process is separate from corporate formation and adds significant time and cost.
No.
Ready to register your Antigua IBC? Contact our Antigua desk.
Forming a Antiguan IBC through ShelfCompanies24 follows a defined sequence. Knowing what happens at each stage helps you prepare documentation and avoid surprises:
Modern offshore practice has shifted substantially since 2019. Antigua and Barbuda, like most international financial centres, requires entities engaged in ‘relevant activities’ (banking, insurance, fund management, financing & leasing, headquarters, distribution & service centre, holding-company business, IP, shipping) to demonstrate economic substance — adequate staff, premises, and management presence in Antigua and Barbuda commensurate with the activity carried on. Pure passive holding companies face a reduced substance test; active income-generating activities face the full test.
Antigua and Barbuda-resident corporates are also subject to FATCA and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) automatic exchange of financial-account information with US IRS and OECD partner jurisdictions respectively. We brief every client on these obligations during scoping; they are not deal-breakers but they materially shape how the IBC should be structured and where the beneficial owner sits for tax-residency purposes. Our consultant helps you build a structure that is both efficient and demonstrably compliant — Google’s E-E-A-T standards, OECD pressure, and your home jurisdiction’s controlled-foreign-company rules all push in the same direction: substance matters more than ever.
Headline Antigua and Barbuda corporate tax in 2026: 0% offshore.
0% IBC offshore; Citizenship by Investment programme; original online-gaming jurisdiction (1994); FSRC regulation.
Annual obligations after incorporation typically include FSRC confirmation/return filings, beneficial-owner-register updates whenever ownership changes, and corporate-tax filings on the company’s financial year. Where VAT/sales-tax registration applies, periodic VAT returns are filed on calendar-quarter or monthly cadence depending on turnover. Our retainer-based bookkeeping and tax-compliance service handles the entire annual cycle for a service — for a non-trading IBC and for an actively trading one.
The right bank for a Antiguan IBC depends on what you’ll actually do with the company. Operating-account-only with low transaction volume is straightforward. International EUR/USD multi-currency with high-volume B2B transfers requires a different banking partner. E-commerce processing has yet another set of requirements.
For Antigua and Barbuda entities specifically, we work with relationship managers at international banks that accept antigua-domiciled corporate structures — a noticeably narrower set than for onshore EU companies. The banks that do accept offshore entities focus on substance evidence, beneficial-owner CV, and source-of-funds documentation rather than just incorporation paperwork. Our consultant pre-positions your application against the bank’s specific scoring model so the application clears on first submission.
Operators evaluating Antigua and Barbuda for a formation project frequently also look at:
Each of those jurisdictions has its own trade-off matrix on tax, banking, substance, and operational practicalities. If you’re early in your evaluation, your consultant will walk you through the comparison in the first call — we are deliberately jurisdiction-agnostic about which structure fits your business best.
Most Antigua and Barbuda corporate structures do not require a local-resident director — you and your appointed directors can be resident anywhere. A few jurisdictions, and certain regulated activities, do require local-substance directors or a registered local agent. Your consultant confirms the exact requirement for your structure in the initial call.
A Antiguan IBC can be wound up voluntarily through a FSRC dissolution procedure (typical timeline 6-12 months including the statutory creditor-notice period). It can also be sold — the share-purchase mechanism is the same one we use to transfer shelf companies, just operating in reverse. We handle both routes; clients often resell a no-longer-needed IBC as a shelf entity to recover part of the original investment.
Yes — Antigua and Barbuda is a major online-gaming licensing jurisdiction. Gambling, betting, and gaming activities require a licence from the local regulator before launch. Licensing typically takes 4-6 months and has separate substance requirements. Other regulated activities include trust and corporate-services provision, cryptocurrency exchange, and EMI/payment-institution operations. We refer clients into our regulated counterpart firms for licensed activities.
A Antiguan IBC can hold subsidiaries, branches, or contractual relationships in other jurisdictions. The optimal multi-country structure depends on tax-residency rules, treaty access, transfer pricing, and beneficial-owner reporting in each country. ShelfCompanies24 covers 56 jurisdictions across our network, so we can implement a multi-country structure end-to-end without you needing separate providers in each country.
Send us a short message with your country preference (or that you’re undecided), the activity you have in mind, and whether you’d prefer a pre-formed shelf IBC ready in 48 hours () or a fresh formation taking 3 days (). We respond within one working day with a service tailored to your situation. The first consultation is free and covers structure, tax, banking, and timelines — no obligation.
Our retainer-based ongoing service covers the full annual lifecycle of a Antiguan IBC: registered office and mail handling, accounting and bookkeeping, periodic VAT/sales-tax filings (where applicable), payroll for any employed staff, beneficial-owner-register maintenance, FSRC confirmation/return filings, and the year-end financial statements plus corporate-tax return. We also provide a dedicated point of contact who knows your file and signs off every filing — no rotating-account-manager experience. Specialised work (transfer-pricing studies, restructurings, M&A on the IBC, or sector-specific licensing) is quoted separately. Most clients find the predictable servicefar easier to budget than buying piecemeal services from local accountants and lawyers, especially when starting out in Antigua and Barbuda.
You have three practical options. Voluntary dissolution through a FSRC winding-up is the cleanest route — servicehandled by us, typically completed inside 6-12 months including the statutory creditor-notice period. Sale of the IBC as a shelf entity to another buyer is sometimes possible — especially if it has clean trading history and a recognisable name; we evaluate this on a case-by-case basis. Mothballing via reduced-cost dormant filings keeps the IBC alive at minimal annual cost (registered office plus nil filings, ) for the day you might want to use it again. Your consultant walks you through trade-offs before you commit either way.