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Nevis, the smaller island of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, writes its own law for international companies through the Nevis Island Assembly. A Nevis company is one of two vehicles: the corporation under the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance, Cap. 7.01, sold as a Nevis IBC or Nevis international business company and treated by the regulator as the equivalent of an international business corporation, or the limited liability company under the Nevis Limited Liability Company Ordinance, Cap. 7.04. Owners abroad choose the corporation when they want shares and a board, for holding investments or contracting across borders, and the LLC mainly to hold assets, because its ordinance narrows what a member’s personal creditor can reach.
What has changed is tax. The exemption that was long the main reason to use Nevis was closed to entities formed after 2018 and expired for the rest by 30 June 2021, so a Nevis company is now chosen for its corporate law, its LLC statute and its registry practice rather than for a tax holiday. A corporation that does business inside the Federation must also comply with the Companies Ordinance, Cap. 7.06, as a local company would (NBCO section 3).
| Form | Statute | Usual purpose | Register kept by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporation, sold as the Nevis IBC | NBCO, Cap. 7.01, the 2017 Ordinance in force since 1 January 2018 | Holding and international business with shares and a board of one or more directors | Registrar of Corporations |
| Limited liability company | NLLCO, Cap. 7.04 | Holding assets, with members managing it or appointing managers | Registrar of Companies |
Either form can later convert into the other. Names, documents and the filing route are explained on our page on company formation in Nevis.
| Tax point | Position for a Nevis corporation or LLC |
|---|---|
| Former exemption (NBCO s.136, NLLCO s.96) | Never open to entities formed after 31 December 2018; ended for every older entity on 30 June 2021 at the latest |
| Corporate income tax | The Federation rate is 25% since 1 January 2024; whether a particular company owes it, and on which income, turns on its facts under the Income Tax Act, Cap. 20.22 |
| Annual return | Form CIT-101 on the Inland Revenue Department portal every year, also for a year with no transactions; 15 April for a calendar financial year |
| VAT | A Federation tax on supplies, at a standard rate of 17%, restored on 1 July 2025 after a temporary reduction |
| Exchange of information | FATCA agreement with the United States, Common Reporting Standard, and the agreements listed under the questions below |
Penalties for a missing CIT-101 are levied on the company itself, not on its agent, and a structure has to be checked against Federation tax law as well as the tax law of the country where its owners live.
A corporation needs only one shareholder and one director, who may hold any nationality and live anywhere, and a company may itself sit on the board. An LLC can have a single member who also manages it. The fixed local element is a service provider rather than a person: every corporation and LLC keeps a registered agent licensed under the Nevis Trust and Corporate Service Providers Ordinance, 2021, whose office on the island is the registered office, and only such a licensee may form the company or act as its agent.
Since the 2023 amendments a corporation keeps its own registers of shareholders, directors and beneficial owners, a beneficial owner being the natural person who ultimately owns or controls it, while the agent holds identification on every control person. None of this is published, and the competent authorities obtain it on request. If you want a director or nominee shareholder provided, Nevis law allows it only from a provider holding a Class I or Class IV licence under the 2021 Ordinance, that director owes the same full duty of care under section 81 of the NBCO as any other, and you, as the person who really owns or controls the company, stay in its register of beneficial owners and in the licensed agent’s records, so we arrange it only through such a licensee.
A search for a company on the island of Nevis leads to the Corporate Registry of the Nevis branch of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission in Charlestown, where anyone may examine and copy the documents on file and obtain a Corporation Search Report. The file holds little beyond the articles, which give the name, the agent and its office, the authorised shares, the incorporator and any directors named at incorporation. Shareholders are not on it.
To check that a Nevis counterparty exists and is current, ask it for a recent Certificate of Good Standing, which the Registrar issues at the request of a registered agent. It shows that the company is on the register, has met what the Ordinance requires and is not being wound up, and it is no warranty that the company complies with other laws.
A Nevis corporation or LLC has no account until it applies for one, and the banks with a branch on the island publish no criteria for a company owned from abroad. The Eastern Caribbean dollar used in the Federation is pegged at 2.70 to the US dollar, and Saint Kitts and Nevis is not part of the IBAN registry. Companies offered with an account already open are not readily available in Nevis, as in most Caribbean offshore jurisdictions. The banks and what they ask for are on our page on bank accounts for Nevis companies.
Form a new corporation or LLC when you want to choose the name, the share structure and the articles yourself. An older company is in no better tax position, since the exemption ended for old and new entities alike. The procedure is on company formation in Nevis.
Buy a ready made, off the shelf Nevis company when the incorporation date itself counts, for example with a counterparty that asks how long the company has existed, and check its renewals and CIT-101 filings first, because any gap stays with the company. See ready made companies in Nevis and our guide to off the shelf companies.
We form Nevis corporations and LLCs and supply ready made ones. We prepare the formation or transfer papers and the filings that a licensed Nevis agent lodges with the Registrar, help you put the bank application together and, where we have a working contact at a suitable bank, introduce you to it, with the bank alone deciding on the account.
Yes. What is sold as a Nevis IBC is a corporation under the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance, Cap. 7.01, the 2017 Ordinance that replaced the one of 1984, which the regulator calls the equivalent of an international business corporation. Its name must end with Corporation, Incorporated, Limited or another recognised suffix, and the Registrar of Corporations enters it in the register of corporations.
No. Saint Kitts and Nevis is one federation, but the Nevis Island Assembly makes the island’s own ordinances for corporations and LLCs, and the Nevis branch of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission registers international companies through its Corporate Registry in Charlestown. Corporate income tax and VAT, by contrast, are Federation taxes administered by the Inland Revenue Department.
No. The Nevis Business Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 forbids a corporation to issue bearer shares or to exchange registered shares for them. Bearer shares issued before it had to be converted within six months, and any left unconverted were converted automatically by law. Every Nevis corporation therefore has registered shares only, entered in its register of shareholders, with its beneficial owners in a separate register.
Yes. The Federation has a Model 1B FATCA agreement with the United States and applies the Common Reporting Standard under its Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information Act of 2016. The Nevis regulator lists 24 tax information exchange agreements and 13 double taxation conventions, ten of them with fellow CARICOM members. Beneficial ownership records kept by the company and its licensed agent can be obtained by the competent authorities, including through mutual legal assistance.
Weighing a Nevis corporation or LLC against other places? Tell us what the company will hold or do and where its owners are tax resident, through our contact page or on Telegram or WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166, and we will tell you which Nevis route fits.