Belize Belize 
Belize is one of the quickest and most affordable places to set up an international company. We handle the setup and everything that follows, so annual renewals, bookkeeping, secretarial matters, and company records all sit with one team.
Expanship is an independent corporate services provider, not a government agency, and is not affiliated with the Government of Belize, the Belize Financial Services Commission, or the Belize Companies and Corporate Affairs Registry. We advise, prepare, and coordinate on your behalf; those authorities alone decide what they approve.
The Jurisdiction
Your company is governed by English common law under the Companies Act 2022, the statute that replaced the old International Business Companies regime. The final appeal is heard by the Caribbean Court of Justice in Port of Spain rather than by the Privy Council, which Belize left in 2010.
The Belize dollar is pegged at two to one against the United States dollar. The international company is exempt from the exchange control that applies to residents, so funds enter and leave in any currency without a permit.
Director, shareholder and beneficial owner details are kept at the registered office and produced to the authorities on request. They are not published for search, so nothing about your ownership is available to a customer, a competitor or anyone else who goes looking.
Under the Companies Act 2022 a Belize company keeps a registered agent and a registered office in the country, and that is the extent of its footprint here. There is no residence test for directors or shareholders and no rule that the company take premises or hire locally, so the work of the company happens wherever its people are.
The annual business tax return by 31 March for the year to 31 December. Belize asks for this even where no Belize-sourced income arises. The annual return by 30 June. The economic substance declaration within nine months of the fiscal year end. An audit only enters the picture above six million dollars in gross receipts.
Our services
Our Belize services, arranged by the kind of work. Every link opens the full page for that service.
The company
Formed once through a registered agent in Belize, whichever structure you choose, then maintained by us through every filing year that follows.
Overview
The entities
Existing company
After incorporation
Pricing
Overview
The record
Pricing
On the ground
Nominee arrangements
Our assessment of Belize on twenty measures across five categories, each scored out of ten, alongside what the international bodies that review the country currently record.
Privacy & Confidentiality
Average 7.4
Banking & Financial
Average 7.0
Regulatory & Compliance
Average 7.4
Business Environment
Average 8.9
International Recognition
Average 5.9
Belize scores 7.3 overall
Belize
What the beneficial ownership register holds, who is allowed to see it, and what leaves the jurisdiction automatically each year.
How readily international banks open and hold accounts for entities formed here, and how freely money moves once they do.
The governing law, the bodies that supervise it, and where the jurisdiction sits on the international tax and transparency regimes.
What it takes to form and run an entity here: how fast, what it is taxed, and how stable the law behind it has proved.
How the jurisdiction is regarded outside its own borders, and how far its treaty and trade arrangements actually reach.
Start your company
One engagement, one fee. The Companies Act 2022 attaches two appointments for the life of the company, with two further arrangements at your option.
Two legal structures in Belize, and every piece of work between your enquiry and the day the company exists.
Belize Companies Act, 2022
Belize International Limited Liability Companies Act, 2011 (as amended 2023)
Already have a Belize company with another agent? Bring it to us for US$350, one time. Its number, its date and its contracts do not change. About transferring your company
The Belize Companies and Corporate Affairs Registry does not accept applications from the public: the filing must be made by a registered agent. Expanship is not a government agency and is not that agent — we prepare and check your file and instruct that provider to file it, and the decision, with its timing, rests with the authority.
Under the Companies Act 2022 the company carries a registered agent and a registered office for as long as it exists. Both are included for the first year and renew each year after.
Appointment A
A company must at all times have a registered agent in Belize. Yours is appointed through us, receives everything the authorities send, and stays on the record with the authorities.
About registered agentsAppointment B
An address in Belize that is recorded as your company’s address. Section 86 of the Companies Act 2022 expects your registers to be kept there, and your correspondence is forwarded on.
About the registered officeA choice made at formation, not a bolt-on. The board arrangement and the shareholding arrangement are separate, and each is documented before the first share is allotted.
On the board
On the share register
The company must exist before a bank will open an account for it, so this step comes after the incorporation. Support with opening one is included with every formation package.
Commonly opened in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the United States, or with a digital provider. There is no requirement to bank in Belize, and the international company is exempt from exchange control either way.
Ongoing compliance
A Belize company is formed once and then answers to three authorities each year. We hold that work under one annual package, and each filing has its own page if you want the detail.
Three documents that leave your company each year, and they go to three different authorities. Each one is drafted from records we already hold, sent to you for a single approval, and filed.
The one service without a deadline, because all three filings above draw on it. Kept month by month, so the business tax return in March is prepared from figures that already exist.
Accounting and bookkeeping Transactions recorded, accounts reconciled and financial statements kept current. Belize asks for accounting records in English and for five years, and yours are held where the law expects to find them.Why Expanship
Belize asks for a tax return, an annual return and a substance declaration every year. The team that set your company up keeps every one of them on the calendar, and the price was fixed before we started.
What every engagement includes
Setup, the local presence and all three annual filings in one figure, agreed first.
One person who knows your file and answers for it, not a ticket queue.
What we need from you, and what happens next, set out before the work starts.
The tax return, annual return, substance declaration and records, by one team.
Onboarding to signing, all online. No trip to Belize unless the law demands one.
Strict security protocols and professional confidentiality throughout the process.
FAQ
The facts about the jurisdiction, then what it takes to form and keep a company there.
English common law, under the Companies Act 2022, which replaced the earlier international companies regime. The final appeal goes to the Caribbean Court of Justice in Port of Spain, since Belize left the Privy Council in 2010.
A Belize company is charged business tax only on income sourced in Belize. Foreign-sourced income is outside the charge, though the company files an annual business tax return whether or not any tax arises. There is no capital gains tax.
Belize sits on the EU's Annex II, the list of jurisdictions that have made commitments and are being monitored, having moved off Annex I in February 2024. It is not under FATF increased monitoring, and it is working through the OECD Global Forum's recommendations on exchange of information.
No. Details of directors, shareholders and beneficial owners are kept at the registered office and produced to the authorities on request. There is no public search, so a customer or competitor cannot look them up.
No, on both counts. The whole of the share capital can be held by people or companies outside Belize, and the board can sit anywhere. Nothing in the Companies Act 2022 asks for a Belizean shareholder or a resident director.
No. Expanship is a privately owned corporate services company. We are not a government agency, registry, or regulator, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the Government of Belize, the Belize Financial Services Commission, or the Belize Companies and Corporate Affairs Registry. Company registrations, certificates, and registry documents are issued solely by those authorities, at their discretion. Our fee is for our own work; government fees are set by those authorities and not by us.
No. The Belize Companies and Corporate Affairs Registry does not accept incorporation filings from the public — the filing must be made by a registered agent. Engaging a provider is therefore a requirement of local law rather than a shortcut past something you could do yourself. Expanship prepares and checks your file and instructs that provider to make the filing; the decision, and its timing, rest with the authority.
Yes. The company's only footprint in Belize is its registered agent and registered office, which we arrange. Directors and shareholders can be anywhere, and there is no need to visit for formation or for any filing.
Yes. Accounts are commonly opened in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom or the United States, or with a digital provider. There is no requirement to bank in Belize, and the company is exempt from exchange control. We assemble the file and the bank makes the decision.
Belize is one of the least expensive jurisdictions we serve. Formation starts from US$975, with the government fee and the first year of registered agent and office inside that figure, and the annual package that handles the three filings starts from US$799 a year. The pricing page separates our fee from the government's.
Contact Us
Considering Belize, comparing it with a neighbour, or looking after a company you already have there? Send a few lines and our team will pick it up.
