Marshall Is. Marshall Is. 
Marshall Islands corporations are a fixture in shipping and holding structures worldwide. We set yours up with you and then take the renewals, accounts, secretarial work, and records off your desk for as long as you own it.
Expanship is an independent corporate services provider, not a government agency, and is not affiliated with the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands or the Registrar of Corporations. We advise, prepare, and coordinate on your behalf; those authorities alone decide what they approve.
The Jurisdiction
The Associations Law is drawn from United States corporate statute rather than from English company law, so the concepts, the terminology and the case law an American lawyer reaches for all apply. The final appeal is heard by the Supreme Court of the Marshall Islands in Majuro.
The United States dollar is the legal tender of the republic, so there is no local currency to translate against and no peg that could be revisited. There are no exchange controls, and funds move in any currency, in and out, without a permit.
Directors, shareholders and beneficial owners are recorded by the registered agent and are not placed on any public file. Unlike jurisdictions that keep a private register behind a request process, the Marshall Islands maintains no searchable public companies database at all.
A Marshall Islands corporation keeps its registered agent and registered office in Majuro, and that is the whole of what the republic asks of it physically. Directors and shareholders need not be resident, no office has to be leased and no one has to be employed in the islands, so the corporation can be run from wherever its business actually is.
The annual registration fee falls on the anniversary of formation, and the beneficial ownership attestation goes in with that renewal. The economic substance declaration follows within twelve months of the same anniversary date. There is no audit, no tax return and no annual meeting requirement.
Our services
Four kinds of work for a Marshall Islands corporation, from formation to the anniversary renewal. Each branch leads to its own page.
The company
Formed once through a registered agent in the republic, whichever structure you choose, then maintained by us through every anniversary renewal.
Overview
The entity
Existing company
After incorporation
Pricing
Overview
Annual filings
The record
Pricing
On the ground
Who appears on the record
How we rate the Marshall Islands on twenty measures in five categories, scored out of ten, with the republic's current standing at the international bodies that review it.
Privacy & Confidentiality
Average 7.6
Banking & Financial
Average 8.1
Regulatory & Compliance
Average 7.9
Business Environment
Average 9.0
International Recognition
Average 6.3
Marshall Islands scores 7.8 overall
Marshall Islands
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
A single engagement with a single fee. The Business Corporations Act adds two appointments that last the life of the corporation, and your structure may call for two more.
One legal structure in the Marshall Islands, and every piece of work between your enquiry and the day the corporation exists.
Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act, 1990 (as amended)
Already have a Marshall Islands company with another agent? Bring it to us for US$350, one time. Its registration number, its formation date and its contracts do not change. About transferring your company
The Registrar of Corporations of the Marshall Islands 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.
A Marshall Islands corporation keeps a registered agent and a registered office in Majuro for as long as it exists. Both come with the first year of the incorporation fee and renew every year after.
Appointment A
A company must at all times have a registered agent in the Marshall Islands. We arrange one for you and stay between you and the paperwork, so everything the authorities send reaches you through a single address.
About registered agentsAppointment B
An address in Majuro that stands as your company’s address in the republic. Your statutory records are held there and your correspondence is forwarded on, wherever you are.
About the registered officePart of forming the corporation, not an afterthought. One arrangement covers the board and one the shares, and each is written up before a share is issued.
On the board
On the share register
Banks open accounts for corporations that already exist, so this follows the incorporation rather than forming part of it. Help with one digital provider comes with every incorporation package, and a wider search is arranged on its own.
Commonly opened in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, the United Kingdom, or with a digital provider. Accounts are held in dollars as a matter of course, there is no requirement to bank in the republic, and there are no exchange controls either way.
Ongoing compliance
A Marshall Islands company is registered once and maintained for as long as you own it. Every dated obligation runs off a single day, the anniversary of formation, and we hold that work under one annual package.
The one document that leaves your company on a date the republic sets. It is drafted from records we already hold, sent to you for a single approval, and filed.
The one service with no filing date attached to it, because it is the thing the declaration above draws on. Kept month by month, so the figures already exist on the day they are needed.
Accounting and bookkeeping Transactions recorded, accounts reconciled and financial statements kept current, with the books, the minutes and the registers held for the five years the law asks for.Why Expanship
A Marshall Islands corporation lives on one annual renewal and one substance declaration. The team that set it up keeps both on the calendar, along with the books and the local address, at a price fixed before anything began.
What every engagement includes
Setup, the local presence, renewal work and the declaration 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 renewal, substance declaration, ownership and records, by the team that set it up.
Onboarding to signing, all online. No trip to the islands unless the law demands one.
Strict security protocols and professional confidentiality throughout the process.
FAQ
The republic first, then what forming and keeping a corporation there involves.
A corporate law drawn from United States statute rather than English company law, so the concepts and terminology an American lawyer uses apply directly. The final appeal is heard by the Supreme Court of the Marshall Islands in Majuro.
It pays no tax in the republic on income earned outside it, and there is no capital gains tax or withholding tax. The corporation pays an annual government fee on the anniversary of formation. Tax may still be due where it is managed or its owners live.
The Marshall Islands is on neither EU list, having been removed in October 2023, and is not under FATF increased monitoring. It exchanges information under the Common Reporting Standard and has implemented the OECD minimum standards, with the Global Forum review still under way.
No. Directors, shareholders and beneficial owners are recorded by the registered agent and are not filed on any public record. The Marshall Islands keeps no searchable public company database at all.
Yes. The whole of the share capital can be held outside the republic, and the directors can be anywhere. The Business Corporations Act sets no residence requirement for either.
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 the Republic of the Marshall Islands or the Registrar of Corporations. 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 Registrar of Corporations of the Marshall Islands 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.
Only the registered agent and registered office in Majuro, which we arrange. Directors and shareholders need not be resident, no office has to be leased and no one has to be employed in the islands.
Usually abroad, in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States or the United Kingdom, or with a digital provider. Accounts are held in dollars as a matter of course, there is no requirement to bank in the republic and no exchange controls. We prepare the file and the bank decides.
Formation starts from US$999 and the annual package from US$999 a year, so the cost is much the same in the first year as in every year after. The formation figure includes the government fee, the first year of registered agent and office, and the documents. The pricing page itemises the government fee.
Contact Us
Shipping, holding, or a corporation you already renew each year. Tell us what you need and our Marshall Islands team will reply.
