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For an owner abroad, a Bahamas company normally means an IBC incorporated under Chapter 309, the International Business Companies Act: a company designed for business outside the islands, used to hold shareholdings and investments, to trade internationally and inside group or family structures. An IBC needs the Central Bank’s permission before it deals with persons resident in the Bahamas, so local trade normally runs through a company under the Companies Act (Chapter 308). Since 1 February 2025 the Registrar of Companies keeps both registers, having taken over the company work of the Registrar General under the Registrar of Companies Act, 2024.
| Vehicle | Used for | Note |
|---|---|---|
| IBC (Chapter 309) | Holding, investment and international trading companies; the form sold ready made | Incorporated only through a licensed provider, bank or trust company; one director is enough |
| Companies Act company (Chapter 308) | Business with customers in the Bahamas | Two or more founders, at least two directors and a yearly list of members to the Registrar |
| IBC named “LLC” | Owners who want the LLC label | An ordinary IBC using an ending the Act permits; the Bahamas has no separate LLC statute |
The incorporation route for both company types is on our page on Bahamas company formation.
| Tax | Position for an IBC |
|---|---|
| Income, corporation and capital gains tax | None on the IBC or its members (section 187); the Bahamas levies no income tax |
| Tax on dividends and other distributions | None under section 187 |
| Estate, gift, inheritance or succession tax on IBC shares | None |
| How long the exemptions run | Twenty years from incorporation (section 187(8)) |
| Stamp duty on share transfers | Exempt, except for Bahamian residents and land the company owns in the islands |
| VAT | 10% standard rate; registration compulsory above 100,000 Bahamian dollars of taxable turnover in twelve months |
| Business licence | Needed by any business carried on in the Bahamas or from within it (Business Licence Act, 2023) |
| Global minimum tax | Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax Act, 2024, for members of large multinational groups only |
| Double tax treaties | No comprehensive agreements; tax information exchange agreements and automatic exchange under the Common Reporting Standard |
Economic substance rests on the Commercial Entities (Substance Requirements) Act, 2023, which took the place of the 2018 Act from 1 September 2023. An IBC carrying on holding, headquarters, shipping, insurance, banking, fund management, financing and leasing, distribution and service centre or intellectual property business must carry out its core income generating activity in the Bahamas and be directed there, with board meetings in the islands and a quorum physically present; a pure equity holding company passes a lighter test. Every IBC reports, active or not.
Members and directors can be of any nationality and live anywhere, and one director, an individual or a company, is enough. At all times the IBC keeps a registered office in the Bahamas and a registered agent licensed by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas under the 2020 Financial and Corporate Service Providers Act, unless the agent is a licensed bank or trust company. Since 19 January 2026 section 41A has changed the board itself: a person acting under an arrangement to follow another’s instructions can neither be appointed nor serve as director, so the directors you appoint take the decisions.
The copy of the register of directors and officers held by the Registrar is open to public inspection. Shareholders are recorded only in the share register at the registered office, which the Registrar never receives. Beneficial owners, natural persons with 10% or more of the shares or votes or control by other means, are verified by the agent and held in its database, searchable only by designated officers acting for the authorities; there is no public register.
A nominee shareholder is lawful on disclosure terms, and we use only a provider licensed for corporate services under the 2020 Act: the nominee holding is noted in the memorandum and on the Register, a declaration of trust naming the person behind it is kept at the registered office, and that person is recorded as beneficial owner. We do not offer nominee directors, which section 41A forbids.
Neither Act requires a Bahamian account. The Central Bank exchanges US dollars at or very close to par with the Bahamian dollar, Bahamian accounts carry no IBAN, and deposit insurance covers Bahamian dollar deposits only, to a maximum of 50,000 Bahamian dollars for each depositor at each member bank, so US dollar balances are outside it. Scotiabank’s business checklist expects a business licence and Bahamian identification, while Airwallex, Mercury and Revolut Business do not take Bahamian companies. Companies with an account already open are not readily available in Caribbean offshore jurisdictions. The options are compared on bank accounts for Bahamas companies.
Register new when the name, share classes and articles should be designed around you, or when the twenty years of section 187 exemptions should run from your own start date. The steps are on our page on Bahamas company formation.
A ready company in the Bahamas is an IBC incorporated earlier and left dormant until sold. Its value is its date, backed by a certificate of good standing that covers past year ends, for a counterparty, investor or platform asking how long the company has existed. Tax, substance and owner checks are unchanged, part of the twenty years has already run, and since 19 January 2026 a buyer should confirm that no earlier director served as a nominee. More on ready made companies in the Bahamas.
We form IBCs with a licensed registered agent and supply ready-made ones, prepare the incorporation or transfer documents and what the agent files, help you assemble the bank application and, where we have a working contact at a bank that suits the company, introduce you, with the bank alone deciding. Our guide to aged shelf companies weighs what an older company can and cannot offer.
The Registrar of Companies. The Registrar of Companies Act, 2024, in force since 1 February 2025, created the office and transferred to it the company functions of the Registrar General. IBCs sit on the Register of International Business Companies, and certificates of good standing and copies of filed documents come from that office.
No. Since 19 January 2026 section 41A of the International Business Companies Act prevents anyone from being appointed or acting as a director under an agreement, arrangement or understanding to carry out another person’s instructions or wishes. Both that director and whoever caused or permitted the appointment commit an offence, and directors already in that position had six months to step down and declare it. Nominee shareholders remain lawful under section 29A.
An IBC pays no income, corporation or capital gains tax and no tax on its distributions, and the Bahamas has no income tax at all. Two charges can still reach a company active in the islands: VAT at 10% once taxable turnover passes the registration threshold, and the business licence tax on business carried on there. Members of large multinational groups also come under the domestic minimum top-up tax.
Only with the Central Bank’s permission, which section 187(6) requires before an IBC carries on business with persons resident in the Bahamas for exchange control purposes. An IBC whose operations are, or are meant to be, exclusively overseas falls outside exchange control altogether. For a business that will serve the local market, a company under the Companies Act is usually the better fit, together with a business licence.
Either an ordinary name ending in Limited, Corporation, Incorporated, LLC, GmbH, S.A. or another ending the Act lists, or an electronically generated numeric name followed by “Bahamas Limited”, such as “001 Bahamas Limited”, which the Act allows in place of a reserved name. Names containing Bank, Insurance, Trust or Royal require the Registrar’s permission beforehand. A buyer may keep either kind of name or replace it.
Comparing a new Bahamas IBC with a ready made one? Let us know what the company is for and who stands behind it, and we will tell you which route suits it and which IBCs are available now, via our contact page or on Telegram or WhatsApp, +48 663 247 166.