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ShelfCompanies24 has been forming Bahamian companies for international clients since 1995. Our Bahamian registered-agent partners handle every step of company formation in the Bahamas on a single consolidated service contract, from picking the right legal form through Registrar General registration, registered-agent engagement, Economic Substance compliance and beneficial-ownership filing. Most clients are trading inside 1 to 3 weeks via electronic filing, or in 3 to 7 working days via a ready-made off-the-shelf Bahamas IBC.
Our service covers Registrar General filings, registered agent, ES setup.
Bahamas IBC + registered agent + banking introduction + ES compliance under one roof.
Registrar General standard formation 1 to 3 weeks. English-speaking case manager.
No notarisation required.
We file Memorandum and Articles, draft incorporation documents, register the BO, organise ES compliance.
The IBC is the workhorse of Bahamian commerce. Governed by the IBC Act 2000 (as amended), updated for ES compliance in 2018.
| Form | Min. capital | Formation time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| IBC | None statutory (US$50,000 typical) | 1 to 3 weeks | Default, international holding, trade, IP |
| ICON | None | 3 to 6 weeks | Investment-fund / private-portfolio vehicles |
| Bahamas Foundation | None | 3 to 6 weeks | Private wealth, succession |
| ELP | None | 2 to 4 weeks | Fund / JV structures |
| Off-the-shelf IBC | US$50,000 authorised | 3 to 7 days | Need immediate trading |
A company in the Bahamas is registered through a Bahamian-licensed registered agent rather than by the founder directly, and the sequence is the same whether you are in London, New York or Dubai. The agent reserves the name with the Registrar General, drafts the Memorandum and Articles, and files them together with the director and member details, the registered office and agent confirmation, the authorised capital and the beneficial-ownership disclosure. The Registry then issues the Certificate of Incorporation, typically within 5 to 10 working days of filing. The Economic Substance assessment and the Beneficial Ownership Register entry follow immediately, because in practice they are part of registration rather than optional extras. Standard IBC registration runs 1 to 3 weeks end to end; where that is too slow, a ready-made IBC transfers in 3 to 7 working days. The seven steps below set out what happens at each stage and what we need from you.
There is no Bahamas residency, citizenship or work-permit requirement for the members or the directors of an IBC, and one person can be both. What the statute does require is a Bahamian-licensed registered agent and a registered office on the islands, which our partner agents in Nassau and Freeport provide. Bahamas IBC documents need no notarisation, so signatures are collected electronically and certified passport copies are apostilled in your home country and couriered, which is why founders in the United States, the United Kingdom or the Gulf register without travelling. The Bahamian dollar is pegged to the US dollar, one reason dollar-denominated groups favour the jurisdiction. Bear in mind that where you manage the company from still decides its tax residence at home.
Confirm legal form, member structure, business purpose, ES positioning.
Apply via the registered agent. Processing: 1 to 3 working days.
Drafted by our Bahamian registered agent. Standard articles for most uses.
The Memorandum and Articles are filed with the Registrar General by the registered agent. Includes Director and member details, registered agent and office confirmation, authorised capital, beneficial-ownership disclosure. Registry issues Certificate of Incorporation typically within 5 to 10 working days.
Filed via the Bahamas portal. We assess your activity profile and structure compliance.
The Bahamas records beneficial ownership, but there is no public register. Under the Register of Beneficial Ownership Act 2018 each licensed registered agent keeps a database for the entities it administers, and the data is reached only through a secure search system that officers designated by the Attorney General operate for prescribed authorities. The reporting threshold is ten per cent, not twenty five, and a 2025 amendment brings nominee arrangements expressly within the rules.
Bahamian banking partners: Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, Citibank Bahamas, plus offshore-focused private banks. Banking onboarding requires comprehensive KYC.
Offshore, in the Bahamian sense, means a company incorporated on the islands to do its business somewhere else, and that is what the IBC Act 2000 was written for. It is why the vehicle pays no corporate income tax, no withholding tax and no capital gains tax in the Bahamas, while the 10% VAT reaches only goods and services consumed in the jurisdiction. It also marks the boundary of what an IBC is for: selling to customers abroad is not carrying on business inside the Bahamas, whereas trading locally sits under the domestic business licence regime instead. Regulated work is a separate question again, since banking, insurance, investment services, crypto-asset services and gambling need their own licence wherever the clients are. The Commercial Entities (Substance Requirements) Act 2018 then decides how much presence the company needs on the islands: pure holding faces a reduced test, while active relevant activities face the full one on staff, premises and management.
Through a Bahamian-licensed registered agent. You confirm the legal form and the business purpose, we run the name check with the Registrar General, and the agent drafts and files the Memorandum and Articles with the director and member details, the registered office, the authorised capital and the beneficial-ownership disclosure. The Registry issues the Certificate of Incorporation, typically within 5 to 10 working days of filing, and the Economic Substance assessment and BO Register entry are filed alongside it. Standard IBC registration takes 1 to 3 weeks end to end.
Normally not. The business licence regime covers business carried on inside the Bahamas, while the IBC is built for trade with customers and counterparties abroad, which is also why its profits sit outside Bahamian corporate income tax and why the 10% VAT touches only goods and services consumed in the jurisdiction. Regulated activity is separate: banking, insurance, investment services, crypto-asset services and gambling need their own licence wherever the clients are. Your consultant confirms the position for your activity before anything is filed.
A standard IBC takes 1 to 3 weeks from complete KYC to Certificate of Incorporation. The name reservation clears in 1 to 3 working days and the Registry issues the certificate typically within 5 to 10 working days of filing, with the Economic Substance and beneficial-ownership steps running alongside. An Investment Condominium or a Foundation takes 3 to 6 weeks and an Exempted Limited Partnership 2 to 4 weeks. If none of that fits your deadline, an off-the-shelf IBC transfers in 3 to 7 working days.
Exactly as a resident would, because there is no Bahamas residency, citizenship or work-permit requirement for the members or directors of an IBC, and the same person can hold both roles. What the statute requires is a Bahamian-licensed registered agent and a registered office, both of which we provide. Documents need no notarisation, so you sign electronically and courier apostilled passport copies from home. Where you manage the company from still governs its tax residence in your own country.
None in the Bahamas. There is no corporate income tax, no withholding tax on outbound payments and no capital gains tax on the IBC itself. The 10% VAT applies to goods and services consumed in the Bahamas, not to profits an IBC earns abroad, and annual filings with the Registrar General are due whether or not the company trades. What the company pays elsewhere depends on where it is managed from and on the controlled-foreign-company rules of your own country.
Bahamas ES under the Commercial Entities (Substance Requirements) Act 2018 applies to relevant-activity entities. Pure holding has a reduced requirement.
Economic Substance Reporting, BO Register filing, bank account opening, ongoing registered-agent service.
Ready to register your Bahamas IBC? Contact our Bahamas desk.
Forming a Bahamian 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. Bahamas, 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 Bahamas commensurate with the activity carried on. Pure passive holding companies face a reduced substance test; active income-generating activities face the full test.
Bahamas-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 Bahamas corporate tax in 2026: 0% on offshore (15% Pillar Two large).
0% on offshore; Pillar Two QDMTT from 2024 for groups with consolidated revenue above EUR 750 million; Economic Substance Act 2018; USD-pegged.
Annual obligations after incorporation typically include RGD 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 Bahamian 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 Bahamas entities specifically, we work with relationship managers at international banks that accept bahamas-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 Bahamas 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 Bahamas 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 Bahamian IBC can be wound up voluntarily through a RGD 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.
Some activities require sector-specific licences in Bahamas, banking, insurance, investment services, crypto-asset services, gambling, and others depending on your business model. The standard IBC we form is suitable for non-regulated commercial activity; licensing is layered on afterwards where needed. Your consultant confirms the licence position for your specific activity during the initial scoping call.
A Bahamian 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 carries no obligation and covers structure, tax, banking, and timelines, no obligation.
Our retainer-based ongoing service covers the full annual lifecycle of a Bahamian 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, RGD 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 service far easier to budget than buying piecemeal services from local accountants and lawyers, especially when starting out in Bahamas.
You have three practical options. Voluntary dissolution through a RGD winding-up is the cleanest route, handled by us end to end, 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 a light annual compliance load (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.