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Guernsey company registration differs from the UK in one basic way: you cannot file the application yourself. Only a corporate service provider (CSP) holding a full fiduciary licence from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) can apply to the Registrar of Companies. Forming companies and providing directors, nominee shareholders and registered offices are regulated activities under section 2 of the Regulation of Fiduciaries, Administration Businesses and Company Directors, etc (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020, hence the licence.
The Registrar of Companies is a public office holder, supported by the Guernsey Registry, which runs the online services portal for every filing. The GFSC licenses the CSP; it does not register companies. Whether you open a business in Guernsey or set up a company in Guernsey to hold assets, the route is the same: a licensed CSP files under the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 and the Registrar registers.
Almost everyone forms a non-cellular company limited by shares, the ordinary Guernsey limited company whose name ends in Limited or Ltd. “Non-cellular” is the type the Registry records on the certificate of incorporation; it separates the ordinary company, with a single pool of assets and liabilities, from cell companies. There is no minimum share capital: any currency is permitted and one issued share is enough.
| Vehicle | Point to know |
|---|---|
| Company limited by shares (non-cellular) | Trading, holding and family companies; one member, one director |
| Company limited by guarantee | Need not have shares; files a statement of initial guarantee |
| Unlimited and mixed liability companies | Members’ liability is not, or not wholly, limited |
| Protected cell and incorporated cell companies | Divided into cells; the GFSC’s written consent is needed before incorporation |
| LLP, limited partnership, foundation | Separate laws of 2013, 1995 and 2012, each with its own resident agent rule |
| Requirement | What the law and the Registry ask for |
|---|---|
| Members | At least one founder member, of any nationality and living anywhere |
| Directors | At least one at all times, resident anywhere; minors and people disqualified in Guernsey or abroad cannot serve; corporate directors are allowed |
| Person registration | Every director and beneficial owner registered with the Registry before appointment |
| Registered office | An address in Guernsey, where the statutory registers and records are kept |
| Resident agent | A Guernsey-resident director or a licensed CSP, unless the company is exempt |
| Constitution | Memorandum of incorporation and articles; the Registry’s standard articles apply if none are filed |
Director particulars go on the public Register of Companies, but a director may give a service address, and the company then keeps the residential address in a separate record that is not public. Names follow sections 21 to 29 of the Companies Law: a form of the word “limited” is compulsory, a registered or reserved name or one used in the previous ten years cannot be repeated, and bank, fund or insurance are accepted only for companies the GFSC regulates. A name can be reserved for three months.
Guernsey sets no residence test for shareholders or directors, but someone on the island must answer for the beneficial ownership record. That is the resident agent, and only two kinds of person qualify: an individual director of the company who lives in Guernsey, or a licensed trust and corporate services provider. Where a resident director takes the role, no CSP is needed once the company exists; a company owned and run from abroad appoints a CSP. Listed companies and their subsidiaries, investment companies, supervised companies and States trading companies need none.
The resident agent identifies the beneficial owners, keeps their particulars in Guernsey and reports any change to the Registrar within 14 days. The central register built from these filings covers anyone with more than 25% of the shares or votes or the right to remove a majority of the board, and only the Registrar, the GFSC, the Financial Intelligence Service, law enforcement and tax authorities can see it. A company that lacks a required resident agent commits an offence and can be struck off.
| Step | What happens | Who acts |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Onboarding | Customer due diligence on the founder, the directors and the beneficial owners | CSP |
| 2. Name | Availability checked; optional reservation for three months | CSP and Registry |
| 3. Person registration | Each director and beneficial owner receives a lifetime person registration number | CSP or the person |
| 4. Beneficial ownership | Particulars filed with the Registrar of Beneficial Ownership | CSP as first resident agent |
| 5. Application | Memorandum, articles, first directors’ consents and eligibility declarations, registered office, resident agent, founder member, statement of initial share capital, declaration of compliance | CSP |
| 6. Registration | The Registrar registers the memorandum and issues the registration number and certificate of incorporation | Registrar |
The Registry states its own processing times as service levels: standard incorporation within 24 hours, a rapid service within 2 hours and a special service within 15 minutes, with restrictions. Those times cover the registration itself; the CSP’s due diligence comes first. The Registry’s guidance calls for no notarised papers. The scope of the work turns mainly on two choices: whether the company carries on a regulated or substance-relevant activity, and whether a CSP stays on as resident agent and registered office.
People searching for the Guernsey company register, the Guernsey Registry or “Guernsey Companies House” want the same place. Guernsey has no Companies House; its counterpart is the Register of Companies, searched on the Registry’s online services portal without logging in. A search shows a company’s registered office, registration date, status and economic activity code, and a Statement of the Register listing the directors or a Certificate of Good Standing can be ordered online. Shareholders are not on it, because the Registry keeps no shareholder information, and neither are beneficial owners.
A company registered in Guernsey is tax resident there under section 4 of the Income Tax (Guernsey) Law, 1975, as is a foreign company controlled or centrally managed and controlled on the island. The exception is a Guernsey company that proves it is resident and centrally managed and controlled in a territory whose top company rate is at least 10%, or that a treaty tie-breaker places there, for genuine commercial reasons. Where the board meets matters in both directions.
| Rate | Applies to |
|---|---|
| 0% standard rate | All income outside the bands below, which covers most trading and holding companies |
| 10% intermediate rate | Banking, domestic insurance, fiduciary, insurance intermediary and insurance manager business, controlled investment administration, custody, investment management for individual clients, operating an investment exchange, compliance-related activities, operating an aviation registry |
| 20% higher rate | CICRA-regulated trading, importing or supplying gas or hydrocarbon oil, large retail above a taxable profit threshold of GBP 500,000, Guernsey land and buildings, cannabis cultivation and prescribed controlled-drug activities |
| 15% domestic minimum tax | Groups within the OECD Pillar Two rules, from 1 January 2025 |
The Revenue Service creates the tax reference from the information given to the Registry, and every company registered in Guernsey files an online tax return each year, supported by accounts certified by a qualified accountant even when audit is waived. Guernsey charges no withholding tax on dividends or interest paid to non-residents. The tax reform the States approved in October 2026 extends the 10% rate from 1 January 2027 to certain professional firms such as accountants and lawyers and to a company’s full profits rather than specified activities, with Guernsey property income staying at 20%, and plans a goods and services tax at 3% from the first quarter of 2029.
For accounting periods from 1 January 2019, a Guernsey tax-resident company with income from banking, insurance, shipping, fund management, financing and leasing, headquarters, distribution and service centres, pure equity holding or intellectual property must show that the activity is directed and managed in Guernsey, that its core income-generating activities happen there, and that it has adequate people, premises and expenditure there. A pure equity holding company, whose only function is holding controlling stakes in other companies, faces reduced requirements. Failure brings information exchange with the parent’s and beneficial owners’ countries, penalties and ultimately striking off. In practice, a company in these sectors needs a board that meets and decides in Guernsey.
The business accounts Guernsey banks advertise are written mostly for island businesses. HSBC’s referral route and NatWest International’s business account require owners and directors resident in the Crown Dependencies (NatWest also accepts Gibraltar), while Butterfield describes its Guernsey corporate banking as intermediary banking for trust companies, fund administrators and similar firms. For a foreign-owned company administered by a CSP, the intermediary route is the realistic one. Each bank’s criteria are on our page about bank accounts for Guernsey companies.
In Guernsey the speed argument for a shelf company is weak, and the Registry says as much: asked in its formation information sheet whether ready-made companies are available, it answers “No” and points to incorporation in 15 minutes instead. What a new company cannot have is an earlier registration date. If a counterparty, a tender or a bank form asks for a company with some years behind it, see our page on a shelf company in Guernsey; otherwise a new company on your own articles is the simpler route.
Our part in a Guernsey formation: we can form a new company, with the application filed by a licensed Guernsey CSP as the law requires, or supply a ready-made one, prepare the formation or transfer documents and the Registry filings, and help prepare the bank application. Where we have a working contact at a suitable bank we can make an introduction, and the bank alone decides. Unless a director living in Guernsey takes the role, the company needs a licensed corporate service provider as resident agent, and we arrange that role and, where you want them, a director or nominee shareholder only through a provider holding a fiduciary licence from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission; such a director carries the same duties and liability as any other director, and the resident agent reports you as beneficial owner to the Registrar of Beneficial Ownership. More about the island is on our Guernsey page, and our guide to off-the-shelf companies compares buying and forming in general.
Through a corporate service provider licensed by the GFSC, because only a CSP can file the incorporation application with the Registrar of Companies. The CSP completes due diligence, registers the directors and beneficial owners with the Registry, files the beneficial ownership particulars and submits the memorandum, articles and director consents. Once the Registrar registers the memorandum, the company has its registration number and certificate of incorporation.
Yes. Neither the shareholders nor the directors need to live in Guernsey or hold any particular nationality. What must be local is the registered office and the resident agent, and without a Guernsey-resident director the resident agent is a licensed CSP. Tax residence is a separate question: a Guernsey company managed and controlled from a country whose top company rate is at least 10% may be resident there instead.
Not under company law. The company needs at least one director, who may live anywhere, plus a resident agent. A Guernsey-resident director can act as the resident agent, which removes the need for a CSP after incorporation. Economic substance can change the practical answer: a company earning income from financing, headquarters or another relevant activity must be directed and managed in Guernsey, which usually means directors there.
The Guernsey Registry publishes its own service levels: standard incorporation within 24 hours, rapid within 2 hours and a special service within 15 minutes, with restrictions. The CSP must first finish due diligence on everyone involved and have each director and beneficial owner registered as a person, so the pace depends on the documents.
It is the ordinary Guernsey company, with one pool of assets and liabilities, and the type recorded on the certificate of incorporation of almost every trading or holding company. The alternative is a cell company, either a protected cell company or an incorporated cell company, divided into separate cells. Both cell types need the GFSC’s written consent before the Registrar will incorporate them.
Not at present, so a new Guernsey company has no VAT or GST registration to make. That is due to change: the tax reform approved by the States of Deliberation in October 2026 includes a goods and services tax at 3%, listed by the States for the first quarter of 2029. Guernsey has no stamp duty either; document duty applies to Guernsey real property.
Planning to set up a company in Guernsey? Tell us what the company will do and who will own and run it, and we will set out what a formation would need, including whether a CSP has to stay on as resident agent. We also answer on Telegram and WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.