BVI 
One partner for everything you need to set up and maintain your company in the British Virgin Islands. Our advisors guide the formation and take care of the ongoing upkeep, from annual filings and accounting to secretarial support and company records.
Expanship is an independent corporate services provider, not a government agency, and is not affiliated with the Government of the British Virgin Islands, the BVI Financial Services Commission, or its Registry of Corporate Affairs. 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 and a statute written for international companies, amended continuously since 1984. An English or Hong Kong lawyer reads it without translation, and the final appeal is heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London rather than by a local court of last instance.
Not a peg and not a convention: the United States dollar is the currency of the British Virgin Islands. There are no exchange controls, so no permission is needed from the territory for money to enter or leave the company, and your accounts carry no translation risk against the currency you bill in.
Beneficial owners at ten per cent and above are recorded through your registered agent on the territory's electronic filing system, VIRRGIN, and the list of directors is filed without being published. Competent authorities and persons with a legitimate interest may ask for it. There is no public search a customer, competitor or stranger can run.
A registered agent and a registered office in the islands are the whole of the local presence. There is no resident director test, no resident shareholder test and no requirement to rent space or employ anyone here, which is why a BVI company is normally run from wherever its owner already lives.
The annual government fee on 31 May or 30 November, depending on which half of the year the company was incorporated in. The annual financial return to your registered agent within nine months of the financial year end. An economic substance declaration to the International Tax Authority. Accounting records stay with the registered office throughout.
Our services
Formation, compliance, secretarial work and local presence for a BVI company, each on its own page. Follow any branch to read about it in full.
The company
Formed once through a registered agent, with our specialists preparing and filing the paperwork, then looked after by us for as long as you own it.
Overview
The entity
Existing company
After incorporation
Pricing
Overview
Annual filings
The record
Pricing
Overview
In the territory
On the record
Our assessment of the British Virgin Islands on twenty measures across five categories, each scored out of ten, alongside what the international bodies that review the territory currently record.
Privacy & Confidentiality
Average 6.9
Banking & Financial
Average 8.6
Regulatory & Compliance
Average 8.3
Business Environment
Average 9.5
International Recognition
Average 7.1
British Virgin Islands scores 8.1 overall
British Virgin 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
One piece of work, one fee. The Business Companies Act then asks for two appointments that last as long as the company does, and your structure may call for two more.
One legal structure in the British Virgin Islands, and every piece of work between your enquiry and the day the company exists.
BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 (as amended)
Already have a BVI 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 BVI Registry of Corporate Affairs does not accept applications from the public: under the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004 a company’s memorandum and articles must be signed and filed 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.
Two appointments the law requires for as long as the company exists. Both are covered for your first year inside the incorporation fee, and both renew annually after that.
Appointment A
A company must at all times have a registered agent in the British Virgin Islands. We put that appointment in place and keep it current, so everything the authority sends reaches your file and the agent stays on the record with the authorities.
About registered agentsAppointment B
An address in Road Town that is recorded as your company’s address. Your statutory records are held there and your correspondence is forwarded on.
About the registered officeA governance decision taken at formation, not an extra bought afterwards. Two separate arrangements, each documented before any share is allotted.
On the board
On the share register
The account comes after the company exists, which is why it sits outside the incorporation itself. Included in the Premium package, or arranged on its own.
Commonly opened in Singapore, Hong Kong, Europe, the United States, or with a digital provider. There is no requirement to bank in the territory, and no exchange controls either way.
Ongoing compliance
A BVI company is incorporated once and maintained for as long as you own it. We hold that work under a single annual package, and every part of it has a page of its own if you want to read it in full.
Documents that leave your company on dates the territory sets. Each one 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 every filing 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 records held at your registered office where the law expects to find them.Directors resign, shares move, owners change. A bank, a buyer or a regulator reads the paperwork behind those events years afterwards, so each change is written up the week it happens.
Why Expanship
The same team looks after your company from the day it is set up and every year after: the annual filings, the company records, the books and the local address, under one price you knew before anything began.
What every engagement includes
Setup, the local presence and the year’s filings in one figure. Nothing added mid-way.
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.
Annual filings, substance, ownership and records, handled by the people who 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
What people ask before forming a company in the territory, and what they ask once they have one.
English common law, under a companies statute in force since 1984 and amended regularly. Disputes are heard in the territory's commercial court, and the final appeal lies to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, so the last word is English judicial reasoning.
There is no corporate income tax, no capital gains tax and no withholding tax in the British Virgin Islands. The company pays an annual government fee instead. Tax may still be due wherever the company is managed or its owners live, which is a question for advice in that country.
The OECD Global Forum rates the territory Largely Compliant for exchange of information. The FATF placed it under increased monitoring in June 2025 with an action plan under way, and the EU keeps it on Annex II, the list of jurisdictions being monitored, rather than Annex I.
Directors and beneficial owners are recorded through the registered agent and are available to the authorities and, on request, to people with a legitimate interest. There is no public search. A customer or competitor cannot look up who owns or runs the company.
Yes. A BVI company can be wholly owned by a non-resident, whether a person or another company. There is no requirement for a local shareholder or a resident director. The only things that must be in the territory are the registered agent and the registered office.
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 British Virgin Islands, the BVI Financial Services Commission, or its Registry of Corporate Affairs. 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 BVI Registry of Corporate Affairs 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. Nothing in the law requires a director, a shareholder or an office in the territory beyond the registered agent and registered office, which we arrange. Board decisions, banking and bookkeeping all happen wherever you are, and we handle the filings on your behalf.
Yes, and usually outside the territory. Accounts for BVI companies are commonly opened in Singapore, Hong Kong, Europe or the United States, or with a digital provider. We assemble the application file and follow it through. The decision, and its timing, rest with the bank.
Our formation packages start from US$1,499, with the government fee, the first year of registered agent and registered office, and the company documents included. Keeping the company in order afterwards runs from US$1,499 a year under our annual package. Government fees are shown separately on the pricing pages.
Contact Us
Setting up, moving an existing company across, or keeping one in order. Tell us where you are and a BVI advisor will reply personally.
Guides on setting up, keeping and moving a British Virgin Islands company.
