Offshore Company Formation Cost

Offshore company formation cost starts with the government fee, and across the 18 jurisdictions we cover that fee runs from €50 in Ireland to AED 3,250 at RAK ICC. Those are the cheapest and the dearest registries on our list, in the currency each one charges in.

That figure is not the price you pay. Three things sit on top of it: the registered agent, whose fee is not regulated by statute, our own fee, and anything you add such as a nominee director or a bank account introduction.

Our own fee is quoted per engagement. This page does not publish a service price yet, and inventing a range to fill the gap would make the whole table worth less than the registry links in it. What is published here is the half you can verify.

The two halves of the price are set by different people, and only one of them publishes.

A registry sets its fee by statute or regulation and puts it on its website. A registered agent sets its own fee and no one regulates it. The competitor ovza states this plainly in its own guidance: agent service fees are not regulated by statute. That is why quotes for the same jurisdiction vary so widely while the government half does not move.

So why does the agent fee exist at all? Because being an agent is itself licensed and charged for, and two registries publish exactly what it costs.

In the British Virgin Islands, an agent must hold a company management licence from the Financial Services Commission. Under Statutory Instrument 2023 No. 5, that licence costs US$600 to apply for, US$600 to issue and US$600 every year to renew. The agent also pays a registered-office levy of US$15 per active company, or a flat US$6,000 once it holds 500 or more. At RAK ICC, the 2026 fee schedule charges an agent AED 12,500 to onboard and AED 12,500 every year to renew its own licence.

Those are the agent’s costs, not yours. The AED 12,500 figure circulates in vendor copy as though it were a company renewal. It is not. A RAK ICC company renews at AED 3,950. You pay the agent’s licence costs indirectly, inside whatever the agent charges you.

The BVI levy also explains something no competitor states. An agent maintaining 500 or more companies pays the flat US$6,000, while one just below that threshold pays US$15 each, so agents in the 400 to 499 range carry the highest levy of anyone. A large agent has a real, measurable cost advantage, and that is the honest reason two quotes for the same jurisdiction differ. Our own fee is not simply cost recovery, and we will not pretend it is.

Speed is a price variable, and some registries publish what it costs.

Estonia is the clearest case: €200 to register an osaühing, or €265 expedited. RAK ICC charges AED 1,250 for same-day processing when a request is submitted before 12:00, but its schedule excludes new incorporations from that service, so it will not speed up forming the company. Several registries publish no service standard at all, which is itself worth knowing before you plan around a date.

We do not publish an end-to-end formation time on this page. How fast a filing completes depends on the registered agent in that jurisdiction and on how quickly your documents clear due diligence, and stating a number we cannot stand behind would be the same failure as inventing a fee. Ask on a consultation and you will get a per-case answer. The registries’ own published service standards sit on the full offshore jurisdictions catalogue.

The second list is the one to read twice. On nominee arrangements and the notarisation and apostille they require, ovza describes these as costs rarely reflected in published formation packages, and it is right.

On nominees: a nominee director or shareholder is a governance and privacy arrangement, legal in the jurisdictions where we offer it. It does not conceal beneficial ownership from regulators, banks or tax authorities, and any provider who tells you otherwise is selling you a problem.

A company in a zero-tax jurisdiction does not change what you owe where you live. These are the obligations that survive the choice, and they cost real money to meet.

If you are a US person, the company does not change what you file. FBAR, FATCA reporting, Form 5471 for a foreign corporation or Form 5472 for a foreign-owned US LLC, Form 8938, and the controlled-foreign-corporation rules all still apply. What used to be called GILTI is now net CFC tested income, renamed by section 70323(a)(1) of Public Law 119-21 for taxable years beginning after 31 December 2025. IRS form pages still carry the old name in places, so check the statute rather than the form title.

If you are UK resident, you still report to HMRC, and which rule reaches you depends on how the structure is held. If a UK company you control holds the offshore company, the controlled foreign company rules in Part 9A TIOPA 2010 can attribute its profits to that UK company. If you moved assets into the structure as an individual, the transfer of assets abroad rules in sections 714 to 751 of the Income Tax Act 2007 can tax its income on you. One thing worth separating: registering a foreign company in the UK is a different filing at a different price. Companies House charges £124 on form OS IN01, within one month of opening for business, and that is an overseas company registration, not what this page prices.

If you are resident in India, funding a foreign company is governed by FEMA. The Liberalised Remittance Scheme caps remittances at US$250,000 per financial year, and an investment into an operating foreign company is an overseas direct investment. That reporting runs through your authorised dealer bank at the time of remittance, and then an Annual Performance Report is due each year by 31 December.

If you are in the UAE, corporate tax applies at 9% above AED 375,000 according to the entity’s own position, under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022. A RAK ICC company is not a free-zone company and not a residence-visa route. Whether a RAK ICC company can reach the 0% qualifying free zone person rate is an open question, and the Federal Tax Authority’s own instruction is to check with the relevant Free Zone Authority. We do not assert it either way.

Beyond the filings, three compliance costs appear on no price list: satisfying or disclaiming economic substance, keeping accounting records to the standard the statute sets, and maintaining the beneficial-ownership register. Account information also moves without you: more than 100 jurisdictions exchange it automatically under the OECD Common Reporting Standard. You remain responsible for reporting your interest where you are resident. For the legality question itself, read whether an offshore company is legal.

The government half is published here too. The UK Financial Conduct Authority charges an application fee of £1,130 to £5,640 by pricing category for payment and e-money authorisations, which is the fee alone and excludes both the maintained capital and any advisory cost.

A licence engagement fee is not a guarantee. Licensing is subject to regulator approval, and we are not a regulatory filing agent.