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ShelfCompanies24 has been forming Panamanian companies for international clients since 1995. Our Panama City abogado partners handle every step of company formation in Panama on a single service contract, from picking the right legal form through Registro Público registration, three-director arrangement, RUC tax registration, BO filing and your first Panama bank account. Most clients are trading inside 1 to 3 weeks, or in 3 to 7 working days via a ready-made off-the-shelf Panama S.A..
Our service covers Registro Público filings, three-director nominee arrangement, registered agent.
Panama S.A. + registered agent + banking introduction + ongoing compliance under one roof.
Standard formation 1 to 3 weeks. Spanish/English-speaking case manager.
No physical presence required.
We draft Articles of Incorporation, file Registro Público, register RUC, file BO.
The S.A. is Panama’s dominant corporate form, the workhorse of Panama-incorporated international structures. Governed by Law 32 of 1927 (as amended).
| Form | Min. capital | Formation time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panama S.A. | US$10,000 authorised | 1 to 3 weeks | Default, international holding, trade |
| Panama SRL | None statutory | 1 to 3 weeks | JV / member-driven structures |
| Panama Foundation | None | 2 to 4 weeks | Private wealth, succession |
| Off-the-shelf S.A. | US$10,000 authorised | 3 to 7 days | Need immediate trading |
Registering a company in Panama is a filing made for you by a Panamanian abogado rather than something you lodge yourself: the resident agent is a statutory requirement and the Articles of Incorporation have to be notarised before the Registro Público will accept them. The order is fixed. Entity choice and KYC come first, then the name check, then the Articles drafted in Spanish with an English translation, then notarisation and the RP filing, after which the company is publicly searchable, typically within 5 to 10 working days. RUC registration with the DGI and the beneficial owner filing follow immediately, and the bank introduction runs alongside them. Standard timing is 1 to 3 weeks end to end, against 3 to 7 working days for the same S.A. taken off the shelf. The steps below set out what happens at each stage.
Confirm legal form, shareholder structure, business purpose, three-director arrangement.
Apply via the registered agent.
Drafted by our Panama abogado in Spanish (with English translation).
Articles notarised by Panamanian notario público and filed with Registro Público de Panamá. Registro Público issues the company’s cédula juridical and the company appears in the public register typically within 5 to 10 working days.
The S.A. registers with DGI (Dirección General de Ingresos) for RUC (Registro Único de Contribuyente).
Panama does not operate a public register. Law 129 of 2020 created the Sistema Privado y Único de Registro de Beneficiarios Finales, administered by the Superintendencia de Sujetos no Financieros, which the resident agent files into and which the statute expressly makes private and of limited access. The control test comes from Law 23 of 2015, broadly 25 per cent or more of shares or voting rights. Only the resident agent and designated Superintendency officials may look inside.
Panama hosts ~70 banks. Banking onboarding requires comprehensive KYC.
There is no residency or nationality condition attached to owning a Panamanian S.A., one shareholder is enough, and the shareholder can itself be a company. What Panama does insist on is the resident agent, a Panamanian abogado or law firm, and a board of three directors holding the offices of President, Secretary and Treasurer. We supply both. If you are based in the United States, the United Kingdom or the Gulf, passport copies and proof of address are certified and apostilled at home, signatures are collected remotely and no trip to Panama City is needed. The one thing distance does not remove is your own position: a Panamanian company does not put income beyond the controlled foreign company rules of the country where you are tax resident, and that is worth settling before anything is filed.
Most enquiries that use the phrase offshore company formation in Panama are really asking one question: will the company pay Panamanian tax? The answer is the territorial rule. Foreign source income of a Panama S.A. sits outside the domestic corporate charge, while anything sourced in Panama, selling to Panamanian customers, employing people there, holding Panamanian property, is taxed at 25% with 7% ITBMS on local goods and services. The other half of the answer is what has changed since 2015. Bearer shares are gone, the beneficial ownership register has been running since 2020, FATCA and CRS reporting apply, and companies carrying on a relevant activity must show real substance. An offshore Panama company in 2026 is a structure that has to stand up to that scrutiny, which is why we scope substance and banking before the Articles are drafted rather than after.
Through a Panamanian resident agent, because no one can file without one. You choose the form, in most cases the S.A., clear the name at the Registro Público, and sign the Articles of Incorporation drafted by the abogado, who notarises and files them. The RUC tax number and the beneficial ownership filing come next, then the bank introduction. Nothing in that sequence is unique to offshore use: what makes the company offshore is that its income arises outside Panama.
For every director and beneficial owner: a certified passport copy, apostilled where it crosses jurisdictions, and proof of residential address no older than 3 months in that individual’s own name. For the company: a short source of funds declaration explaining where the capital comes from, a one to two page description of the intended activity, target markets and expected volumes, and specimen signatures for whoever will sign the incorporation and banking papers. The same pack feeds the bank application, so it is worth preparing once and properly.
A standard S.A. takes 1 to 3 weeks end to end. Drafting and notarising the Articles is the quick part; the Registro Público entry sets the pace, typically 5 to 10 working days, and RUC registration and the beneficial ownership filing follow it. Bank onboarding is separate and runs on the bank’s own clock. Where the timetable will not stretch, an off the shelf S.A. transfers in 3 to 7 working days instead.
Panama taxes only income derived from Panamanian sources. Foreign-source income earned by a Panama S.A., foreign trading, foreign IP licensing, foreign investment returns, is not subject to Panamanian corporate tax. This is the structural foundation of Panama’s offshore-financial-services industry.
No. Neither shareholders nor directors have to live in Panama or hold Panamanian nationality, and a single shareholder is enough. Two things must be Panamanian: the resident agent, which has to be an abogado or law firm, and the registered office it provides. The S.A. also needs three directors in the offices of President, Secretary and Treasurer, which we arrange where you cannot fill all three yourself. Your own country’s tax rules still apply to you personally.
Four things. The company registers with the DGI for its RUC tax number. The beneficial owners are filed on the register through the resident agent. The corporate bank account is opened, which is usually the longest step. And the ongoing cycle starts: registered agent and registered office, the annual tasa única, accounts and, where the company has Panama source income, ITBMS and corporate tax returns.
Ready to register your Panama S.A.? Contact our Panama desk.
Forming a Panamanian SA 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. Panama, 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 Panama commensurate with the activity carried on. Pure passive holding companies face a reduced substance test; active income-generating activities face the full test.
Panama-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 SA 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 Panama corporate tax in 2026: 0% on foreign-source.
0% on foreign-source (territorial); USD legal tender; Foundation structure for asset protection; SA only with registered shares since 2015.
Annual obligations after incorporation typically include RP 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 SA and for an actively trading one.
The right bank for a Panamanian SA 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 Panama entities specifically, we work with relationship managers at international banks that accept panama-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 Panama 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 Panama 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 Panamanian SA can be wound up voluntarily through a RP 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 SA as a shelf entity to recover part of the original investment.
Some activities require sector-specific licences in Panama, banking, insurance, investment services, crypto-asset services, gambling, and others depending on your business model. The standard SA 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 Panamanian SA 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 SA ready in 48 hours or a fresh formation taking 1 to 3 weeks. 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 Panamanian SA: registered office and mail handling, accounting and bookkeeping, periodic VAT/sales-tax filings (where applicable), payroll for any employed staff, beneficial-owner-register maintenance, RP 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 SA, 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 Panama.
You have three practical options. Voluntary dissolution through a RP winding-up is the cleanest route, handled by us end to end, typically completed inside 6 to 12 months including the statutory creditor-notice period. Sale of the SA 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 dormant filings keeps the SA registered on nothing more than the registered office and nil returns, for the day you might want to use it again. Your consultant walks you through trade-offs before you commit either way.