Guernsey

The path from first call to live company, in order:

1. Initial consultation and engagement — 2. Settlement of the invoice — 3. For remote setups, notarisation of the power of attorney on your side — 4. We prepare the registration documents — 5. Signing before the notary — 6. The company is valid on the register immediately.

About 2 business weeks takes the company from engagement to the register with our legal team driving the file — Channel Islands thoroughness at a brisker pace than the neighbour's.

Fully remote on a notarised power of attorney: we draft it for your chosen services, you certify it (apostilled where your country demands full legalisation), we verify, and you courier us the physical original. As a territory under the British Crown, Guernsey sits inside the Hague Apostille Convention — one stamp, recognised worldwide.

Three things get the file moving: three name options for the company plus a contact email; the names, addresses and emails of all shareholders and board members; and a short description of the activity. That's the whole intake form.

Passport scans of every individual involved, including the beneficial owner; the power of attorney for remote registration; and certified corporate documents where a shareholder is itself a foreign company.

The standard corporate income tax rate is 0% — resident or non-resident, with dividends at zero too. The exceptions, printed rather than whispered: financial services companies including banks pay 10%, while real estate, large local retail, gas and oil import — and, yes, cannabis-related businesses — pay 20%. And even at a flat zero, an annual tax return still gets filed; ours handles it as part of ongoing support.

A boutique network of bilateral conventions: the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Liechtenstein and Monaco in Europe; Hong Kong, Singapore and Qatar further out; Mauritius and the Seychelles offshore; and the Crown siblings Jersey and the Isle of Man next door. Small on purpose — and often exactly the right doors.

Books must be kept — accounting is compulsory for the tax return — but here's the quiet advantage: no yearly accounts are ever presented to the Guernsey Registry. What the Registry does want is an annual validation, a filing whose fee runs £250 to £1,000 depending on the business activity. Compliance without exposure.

Every Guernsey company keeps a registered office on the island — which we provide. Directors carry no residency obligations, and nominee directors are lawful and available. Tell us the destination and we'll draw the roadmap, offices and nominees included.