International Business Companies
An IBC is a corporation that is incorporated (formed) in a zero tax or low tax jurisdiction and is typically authorized to do business anywhere in the world except its home country (i.e., an IBC formed in St Vincent and the Grenadines may do business anywhere in the world except St. Vincent and the Grenadines). Just as with U.S. corporations, the same person may act as the shareholder, director, officer of the company. As long as the Company has only one shareholder, one person may act for the company. If the Company has more than one shareholder then a minimum of two directors is needed.
An IBC (also known as “International Business Company” or “International Business Corporation”) is a legal entity, usually a Corporation or Limited Liability Company, formed outside of one’s country of residence.
The dictionary.com definition of international is, “Of, relating to, or involving two or more nations.” (In this instance, you live in one nation and your IBC is created in another.)
A business is, of course is, “A commercial enterprise or establishment.”
A company is “A business enterprise; a firm.”
Alternatively, a corporation is "A body that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own rights, privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members.”
So, when you create an IBC you are creating an entity that has been granted a charter by a foreign government to conduct a commercial enterprise. You have created a legal foreign “person” who you control. You can open a bank account in the name of your IBC in a foreign country. Your international business company can receive income. Your international business corporation can operate a business. There are a number of countries in the world that have greater financial privacy laws than the US, Canada, UK, Australia, China and other lawsuit-prone or high-tax, jurisdictions.
With the advent of the Internet, a business location is really not nearly as significant as it has been traditionally. The location may now be no more digital data that can be accessed from an Internet server located anywhere in the world.
Therefore, creating an IBC allows one to operate a business or hold existing funds securely and privately, off of the “radar screen” of your legal enemies.
We have all heard the stories of attorneys who have their own full-time private investigators. They are hired by many law firms to track down assets of people who have lost legal battles. They are also hired to uncover the assets of potential legal targets. It is said that if they know your name and a little bit about you, they can find every account in the United States on which you are the signatory. They can even find your bank balances down to the penny.
I have seen this happen and I have to say, the speed in which the investigator can find assets even amazed me.
Attorneys use this information to decide whether or not to accept a case. If assets cannot be located, it would be likely an attorney would not accept the case – especially on a contingent-fee basis.
This is where the International Business Company comes in. The IBC allows you to hold assets out of your name in a safe, secure financial centre. At the same time, the IBC also allows you to retain 100% control of your IBC’s assets. When an attorney hires a private investigator to locate assets, it is extremely unlikely that they will be discovered. Keep in mind, in the offshore jurisdictions we typically utilize, there is no social security number or social insurance number required in order to open an IBC bank account. It is a crime for a banker to reveal your association with a bank account to an individual outside of the bank. Your ownership of an IBC is not recorded in any public record.
There are countries with IBC laws that take privacy very seriously. The asset protection provisions in some countries are extremely strong. Many of these countries are island nations that have become financially strong by offering a safe-haven in which to store one’s money.
One of the strongest IBC asset protection laws found in on the Island of St Vincent. St Vincent is located in the Caribbean Sea and is about a 35 mins. flight East of Barbados.
The St Vincent and the Grenadines IBC laws offer substantial privacy of ownership. The St Vincent and the Grenadines Limited Liability Company (LLC) law provides an additional barrier. There are provisions in St Vincent and the Grenadines LLC law to protect LLC assets from being seized in a lawsuit if the registered office of the bank holding the assets is registered in Switzerland. Corporations have stockholders. LLC’s Registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines with the Swiss Trust Bank are effectively judgment proof.
St Vincent and the Grenadines IBC law makes it extremely difficult to establish who a director or principal of a company is since the Swiss Trust Bank has to abide by the Swiss Banking code and deny the existence of the company, its directors and who its customers are. Therefore, assets such as offshore bank accounts can be protected from judgment creditors in two ways:
1. Privacy because St Vincent and the Grenadines IBC law protects the owner of the LLC from being revealed.
2. Asset protection, because St Vincent and the Grenadines IBC law protects the assets within the LLC from being associated with a member of the LLC.
Therefore, the bank account for your St Vincent and the Grenadines LLC can be protected from being taken away from you in the event of a personal lawsuit. Many people use IBCs to operate businesses such as online pharmacies, Internet gaming sites, etc., protect assets from lawsuits and provide for tax-free revenue for residents of countries that do not tax worldwide income.
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines IBC is a vehicle of choice for persons seeking a flexible and modern corporate vehicle through which to do business. The IBC is exempt from any corporate, income, withholding, capital gains or other taxes on income or assets for 25 years.