Register a company in Trinidad and Tobago

The Registry describes an online process. Since 1 February 2023, incorporations and annual returns can go through CROS, which is paperless and runs around the clock. The Registry's pages describe no in-person step. A director or secretary first opens an individual Companies Registry Account, verified with a birth certificate, two forms of photo ID and a selfie. Since 2024 an authorised corporate service provider - an attorney-at-law or accountant registered with the Registrar General - may also sign and file. Banking is a separate question, answered below.

Registration starts from $2,900. Official Companies Registry fees and a legal address, if you need ours, are quoted separately. With an EMI or online bank account, from $4,800. On the Registry's published table the name reservation, articles and notices of directors and address come to TTD 505, and the notice of secretary adds TTD 40; the table is undated, so we confirm current fees in your quote.

The Registry does not publish a processing time. Its FAQs say an application passes several approval levels and the applicant is told the outcome by email. Our own preparation time is fixed in your quote. On your side, start with the identity documents for the Registry accounts: a birth certificate that is not in English has to be translated by a translator approved by the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs.

Yes. Section 64(1) of the Companies Act requires at least two, and the Registry FAQs repeat it for private companies. Directors can be individuals or companies and need not hold shares, and we found no residency or nationality rule for them. What you cannot do is fill the second seat with a nominee. Schedule 5, added to the Act in 2026, lists the appointment of a nominee director by a company as an offence: a TTD 10,000 penalty, and administrative fines of up to TTD 30,000. A solo founder needs a real second director: someone who will actually act, or a company, since s.64(2) allows corporate directors. A secretary is required as well, within a month.

Corporation tax at 30% on a resident company's worldwide income, with the return due by 30 April and instalments on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December. The 0.3% green fund levy on gross income comes on top, and a 0.6% business levy on gross receipts is paid instead of corporation tax where it is higher. In a loss year the company still pays the green fund levy, and the business levy too once turnover reaches TTD 360,000. VAT is 12.5% from TTD 600,000 of supplies in 12 months. Before treaty relief, dividends paid to non-residents carry 10% for individuals and 3% or 8% for companies, interest and royalties 15%. Gains on assets held longer than 12 months are not taxed, apart from balancing allowances.

One incorporator can form the company (s.8(1)); s.8(2) bars individuals under 18, undischarged bankrupts and people who are mentally ill within the meaning of the Mental Health Act. Shares have no nominal or par value (s.30(2)), and no minimum amount appears in the Act's capital sections or the Registry FAQs, so the stated capital is set for your plan. Any share issue or transfer is reported to the Registrar within 30 days, with beneficial-owner details. For foreign owners we also check the Foreign Investment Act, Chap. 70:07, against your plan before you commit.

The Company + Bank Account package opens an account with an EMI or online bank remotely. We build the KYC file from the Registry documents and the beneficial-owner details, and one account manager stays with you through compliance onboarding. A local bank account is available on request and quoted separately. Before you commit, we confirm that bank's own requirements, including whether directors must visit.

Any natural person who owns or controls 10% or more of the shares (s.337A(2)). The company must keep a register of them up to date and file a return within 30 days of any change; Schedule 5 sets administrative fines of TTD 20,000 to TTD 40,000 for missing that deadline. Under Act No. 15 of 2024, nominee shareholders must be disclosed in the register of members, and bearer share instruments lose validity on an appointed date. It must also keep its information at the Registrar General's office current and correct.

Yes, as an external company. It registers with the Registrar of Companies within 14 days of establishing a place of business in Trinidad and Tobago, and the Registry fee is TTD 2,000. It must also appoint a natural person resident in Trinidad and Tobago as its authorised officer, or face a TTD 50,000 penalty plus TTD 300 a day. Branch profits are taxed at corporate rates, and profits remitted abroad carry 3% withholding. If nobody in your group lives in the country, that rule alone points to a local company, which has no such requirement.

Barbados taxes companies at 9% against 30% here, and its VAT is 17.5% against 12.5% (PwC, 2026). If the business is in Trinidad and Tobago - energy services or distribution, say - you need a local company or a registered branch anyway, and the levies are part of the cost of that market. If the income comes from elsewhere and the rate is the point, run the Barbados numbers too. We can price both.