BridgeWest offers full company formation packages in Gibraltar, in order to cover any of your various business needs: opening representative offices, establishing branches or subsidiaries, starting an NGO, providing accounting services or legal consultancy, tax planning and tax minimization strategy.

Gibraltar is a desirable location for opening offshore companies by the foreign companies. The offshores are considered very advantageous by the foreign investors because of the lack of taxes applied on the profits and capital. For beneficiating of this type of company, the owners and the managers must be form outside Gibraltar.

As a major advantage for both local and foreign company is that no capital gains are taxed here. In Gibraltar, there is no minimum share capital requested at registration. Being part of the EU has granted the advantage of not paying any withholding taxes on dividends received here. Both royalties and license fee are not taxed in Gibraltar. Interests are taxed only if they are part of company’s trading receipts. No VAT is paid in Gibraltar. Also no wealth tax or estate duty is imposed.
 

The foreign investors willing to perform business activities in Gibraltar are advised to choose between tax exempt companies, non-resident companies, hybrid companies and the qualifying companies. All of them are regulated by the Companies Ordinance inspired from the English Companies Act from 1929.

The procedure of registration is made in the same manner as the one made by the domestic companies and is usually advisable to be undertaken by a lawyer firm, which is familiar with the local legislation (service provided by BridgeWest).

1) A memorandum of association is required. It had to contain the name of the company and its objectives.

2) Secondly, the articles of association containing the internal regulations must be provided.

3) The above must be deposited at the Companies House which will issue a certificate of registration.

The advantage of establishing an offshore company in Gibraltar is that the founders don’t need to provide a minimum share capital at registration, unlike the domestic companies.

Once the above steps are completed, the foreign investors may start operating business and enjoy the benefits of having an offshore company.
 

- An offshore company opened in Gibraltar must have one shareholder and one director, not necessarily to have residence here.

- Nevertheless, the residency of the appointed secretary must be from Gibraltar.

- The names of these company’s members are confidential, according to the legislation.

- An offshore company must have a registered office in Gibraltar and must keep the following registers: the register of directors, the registers of shareholders and the statutory books.

- There are few records that an offshore is advised to keep and are depending mostly on the size of the company.

- As a general rule, an offshore company must pay an annual fee at the Companies House, with a value that may differ from year to year.

- There are no requirements for paying taxes in Gibraltar, if certain conditions are met such as: the management and ownership are from abroad, no income is remitted in Gibraltar and no local individuals hired at the company are from Gibraltar.
 

- drafting the Articles of Association (necessary for the company incorporation in Gibraltar); The Articles of Association of the Gibraltar company can be signed through Power of Attorney.

- drafting all other documents required for the incorporation of the Gibraltar company; these documents include: Specimen Signatures, Special Forms provided by the Company Registration Office in Gibraltar, passport copies etc.

- offering a Registered Office in Gibraltar for your company, which is mandatory to have for starting a business in this offshore jurisdition. The registered office may be any cannot be a PO Box.

- setting up a bank account for your Gibraltar company.
 

- The following incomes are charged in Gibraltar: the profits from any business, profession, trades, rents and profits from property and those arising from employments.

- The taxation for a domestic company is made with 10%, while the Gross Income based System is starting from 28% to 6%.

- The energy and utility providers are taxed with a 20% rate.

- The individuals are usually taxed with a standard rate of 30% but certain incentives are granted according to the tax system used in calculation of the taxes.

- An offshore cannot perform business in the banking area, insurance, assurance, reinsurance or in any of the financial area.

- An offshore company with the owner and the management outside Gibraltar and no income remitted here will be exempt from paying taxes, even though Gibraltar hasn’t signed any double tax treaties with other countries. 

- Gibraltar’s economy is especially based on the service industry, financial services and retail shopping, mostly because of the lack of condition to develop an agricultural area.

- Nowadays a higher importance is granted to the telecommunication system, the import and export operation and light manufacturing.

- Known especially as a touristic location, Gibraltar has started to develop its commercial sector in the last few years, mostly because of the favorable economic environment.

- The Commissioner of Income Tax is establishing that the profit obtained and allocated abroad is taxed only there. For this fact, Gibraltar is considered a tax heaven by many investors.

Bridgewest provides company formation services in Gibraltar. Please contact us for more information and prices.