Nevis corporations, formed on the small Caribbean Island east of Puerto Rico, have become one of the most attractive and convenient offshore corporation structures in the world by the enactment of the Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance of 1984. The support of the Nevis government in the development and administration of the corporate registry provides the international practitioner and investor with total cooperation and commitment unparalleled in the offshore industry.

Nevis Corporation Offshore Privacy and Asset Protection

When choosing an offshore domicile, the following factors should be considered and are provided for in Nevis:

Political Stability; Governments Policy of Maintaining Offshore Haven Status; Confidentiality and Anonymity Provided by Statute; Tax Exemption Provided by Statute for a Nevis Corporation; Excellent Communication Facilities; Accessibility of Offshore Haven. The advantages of Nevis provide for a stable, convenient and discreet domicile to carry out business activity when the use of an offshore haven would be beneficial or necessary.

The Nevis Business Corporation ordinance 1984 is an exceptionally flexible international business statute incorporating both American corporation law and English common law concepts:

- No taxes are imposed in Nevis Corporation upon income.
- Nevis Limited Liability Company or Nevis LLC law offers superior asset protection to corporation law of other jurisdictions.
- Nevis asset protection provisions are superior to other countries
- Nevis Corporation dividends or distributions which are not earned on the island are free from local tax
- Annual reports or financial returns are not required
- The corporation can own an offshore bank account for enhanced privacy
- Principle office and records for a Nevis Corporation may be located anywhere in the world
- Directors, Officers and Shareholders need not be citizens or residents of Nevis
- A corporation may act as Director and as Secretary
- Bearer shares are permitted with a Nevis Corporation

More Nevis IBC Benefits...

- Limited business activity may be carried out in Nevis while still maintaining tax exemption
- Nevis Corporations may redomicile into and out of Nevis
- A Managing Director of a Nevis Corporation may be appointed to guide the activities of the company
- Directors and Shareholders may act by unanimous consent without a meeting

Support for Business

In conjunction with our resident Nevis associate, we provide incorporation and the following support services to ensure compliance with The Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance.

- One hour Nevis company formation service
- Return of official documentation evidencing incorporation within one week by courier
- Facsimile filings and transmission of evidence within hours of filing
- Instantaneous name clearance
- Rapid corporate status advice and issuance of Certificates of Good Standing
- Inexpensive incorporation and annual charges
- Ready made companies for emergency situations
- Nevis offshore bank account services
- Resident management services when required
- Sample documentation for assistance in preparation
- Copies of The Nevis Business Corporation Ordinance 1984
- Saturday incorporation and filings available
- Formal Name Reservation procedure
- Assistance in obtaining Legal Opinions from local Nevis counsel

Profile of Nevis

Business Jewel of the Caribbean

Christopher Columbus discovered Nevis on his second voyage in 1493. Rich in both scenic beauty and history, it is one of the Lesser Antilles and was claimed by Spain but was not settled by Europeans until the English arrived in 1628.

The Spanish name for Nevis was "Nuestra senora de las Nieves" meaning "Our Lady of the Snows" and it was later anglicized to "Nevis." Mount Nevis, in the center of the Island, towers 3,265 feet (985 meters) and is usually enveloped in clouds which can sometimes appear as a snow cap, hence the origin of the name. The climate is nearly perfect and the variation in altitude and soil conditions on this 36-square-mile island creates a natural garden of tropical vegetation ranging from rain forest to near desert. Brilliant flowers and exotic fauna abound. On the Caribbean side there is an unspoiled four mile long beach, a quarter mile of which has been taken up by the new 196 room Four Seasons Resort. It has a beautiful 18 hole Robert Trent Jones golf course, tennis courts and swimming pools in addition to the ocean frontage, and has doubled the number of hotel rooms available on the island. It is a combined Canadian, Japanese and French project and is reported to be the first major Japanese property investment in the Caribbean. Its grand opening was in February of 1991.

We highly recommend accommodations in one of the 10 unique small inns, most of them converted 18th century sugar plantations with original stone buildings and windmill towers. They possess an easygoing ambiance and attract upscale visitors, many of whom return year after year. The government wishes to increase tourism but insists that all development be of five-star quality and has rejected mass tourism as an official policy.

The visitor attracted to Nevis usually appreciates the historical character of the island. Today's population is about 39,000. Of this, approximately 8,000 are on Nevis, about one-third of what it was when sugar was King and the value of exports from Nevis exceeded that of any single British colony in North America.

Alexander Hamilton, a founding father of the United States and first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, was born in Charlestown in 1757. His face is currently on the US $10 bill. His home has been reconstructed and the lower level houses a museum and the upper level the meeting chamber for the Nevis Island Assembly.

Admiral Lord Nelson was stationed in Nevis and married Frances Nisbet of Nevis at Montpelier Plantation in 1787. The parish register of St. John's Church is on display open to the page recording the wedding, and the marriage itself was reenacted in 1987 in period costume with a Royal Navy honor guard present at Montpelier, now an inn. Nevis was a British colony from 1628 until 1983, when it became independent and joined the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

The Federation is an active member of the British Commonwealth. Nevis is a vigorous democracy based upon the British Parliamentary system with an elected local assembly. The largest expenditure by the government is for education and Nevis has achieved a literacy rate of 97%, possibly the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

The Federation St. Kitts and Nevis has also been consistently judged to be among the world's freest nations by Freedom House, an independent and highly respected research organization in the USA. Combined with a low crime rate, full employment and lack of drug related difficulties, Nevis is exceptionally stable politically.

The per capita income is about U.S. $8,800.00 per annum. The political parties reflect this stability in that they are both centrist and do not have substantial ideological differences.

Several years ago, the Government privatized telecommunications, and Cable and Wireless of England has since installed a state-of-the-art fiber optic digital system. Standard and cellular telephone service is available throughout the island. Any part of the world may be direct-dialed from Nevis without difficulty.

The Nevis airport can accommodate 70-passenger propeller aircraft to land and take off. Nevis has connecting flights to Puerto Rico and Antigua for the USA and Britain; St. Kitts for the USA and Canada; and St. Martin for the USA, Holland and France. There is a daily ferry boat service to St. Kitts, 11 miles away. The best way for you to gain an appreciation for Nevis and its corporate program is, of course, for you to visit. If that is temporarily impractical, please allow Companies Incorporated an opportunity to demonstrate to you its commitment to prompt and outstanding service to the international corporate community. Companies Incorporated is the one of the sole Western US management consulting firms offering Nevis corporation formation.

A note from Kevin Wessell, the President of Offshorecorporation.com (a division of Companies Incorporated - since 1977) about the search for Nevis

We spent a lot of time looking for an offshore domicile that we could honestly recommend to our clients seeking the asset protection and privacy of a base outside of the United States. There are literally hundreds of places promoting their spot as the best. The one thing I insisted on was absolute propriety, where there would be a scrupulous regard for international law and the laws of the United States. No phony banks, no money laundering, no tax evasion. There's been a lot of that around the world, and I wanted no part of it. So when I finally visited Nevis, an independent nation, which has joined St. Kitts to form the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis, I was intrigued. The more I investigated, the more confident I became that we had found a truly peaceful, law-abiding base for our clients seeking Privacy and Protection. The fact that Nevis' corporate law and Nevis asset protection provisions are largely based on U.S. and British codes was one of the first aspects of the country that attracted me. That meant no major legal problems in understanding how to do business there.

Many of our clients seek to expand their businesses around the world and need to be free of the cumbersome legal code questions and corporate procedures they face in some domiciles. They need a secure, dependable domicile, a place where they know the laws will be fairly and honestly followed. That's Nevis. And believe me, we've thought long and hard about this before deciding we could recommend Nevis. With our long history of doing business with multitudes of corporate clients and our reputation to guard, we don't dare go with anything but the very best for our clients.

There were other factors, of course. We had to look at Nevis corporations from a strictly business point of view. Knowing our clients, we looked for a base that offered such things as these:

- No disclosure of Owners, Officers, or Directors.
- Strong, safe banking institutions.
- No requirement for annual financial returns.
- Freedom to locate offices and records wherever desired
- Ability to maintain certain control without ownership.
- No requirement that officers or directors be citizens of the country.
-Freedom to issue bearer shares.
- Authority to redomicile in or out of the country.
- Strict privacy laws.