Marshall Island
NRDC · Non-Resident Corporation
✓NRDC - 0% for a non-resident corporation✓A corporate statute modelled on Delaware, in US dollars✓The registry behind the world's third-largest ship flag
Oceania is two regions, not one.
On a map it is a single region. In practice it is a handful of small Pacific registries whose real speciality is holding ships, yachts and assets, and two ordinary developed economies with ordinary rates, strong reputations and banks that open accounts. Almost every Oceania problem we are asked to repair started with someone buying the first half when they needed the second.
8
Oceanian jurisdictions
6,000+
companies registered
70+
banking relationships
Updated
Where we register
All eight we register in - and the half each one belongs to
Samoa
IC · International Company
✓International Company at 0%, filed in one to two business days✓Run by a dedicated state authority since 1988✓Incorporation documents issued in Chinese as well as English
Vanuatu
IC · International Company
✓No income, corporate, capital-gains or withholding taxes at all✓International Company filed online in one to three business days✓VFSC licensing for forex and more - but the flag sits on EU watchlists
Nauru
Corporation · Corporations Act
✓Corporation under the Corporations Act - 10% on local activity✓Foreign-source income generally out of scope✓One of the least-used registries in the world
Niue
Company · Companies Act
✓Company under the Companies Act - NZ-style law, New Zealand dollar✓30% corporate tax, but charged on local activity✓A micro-registry on an island of seventeen hundred people
New Zealand
LP · Limited Partnership
✓Limited partnership - transparent, so the partners are taxed instead✓0% for non-residents: with foreign income there is nothing to tax here✓No public accounts for a foreign-only LP, and setup is fully online
Australia
Pty Ltd via ASIC
✓25% for a small company, 30% standard, 10% GST✓One director must reside in Australia - that is the gate✓Banks that clear the world's compliance bar, and franked dividends abroad
Palau
Corporation via Registrar
✓12% business profit tax and 10% PGST, in US dollars under the Compact✓Foreign Investment Board approval before a foreigner can trade✓Two to six weeks, FIB included - the only one here you cannot rush
Where this goes wrong
The Pacific half is not a cheaper version of the Australasian half
They are not two points on the same scale. One end is a set of small international-company registries built for owning things. Vessels above all. The other end is two developed common-law economies that tax profit at ordinary rates. Choosing between them on the rate alone produces a company that works on paper and stops at the first bank.
✓A 0% Pacific company bought for the rate alone usually fails at the account opening✓Vanuatu sits on EU watchlists. The flag has to be explained every single time✓Australia requires a director who genuinely lives there, whatever the plan was✓Palau will not let a foreign business begin without Foreign Investment Board approval
None of that is a reason to avoid the region. It is a reason to know which half you are in before you pay for anything.
Ask which half fits →When the region is the right answer
What Oceania is genuinely good at
In each of the cases below the region is chosen for something other than the tax rate, and each of them holds up to any question a bank or a regulator asks.
✓Owning a ship or a yacht. The Marshall Islands registry is a maritime institution✓Holding assets rather than trading them, at 0%, through Samoa or the Marshall Island✓Partners in several countries pooling foreign income in a New Zealand LP✓A real business selling into Asia from Australia, with local staff and local banking
Each of those has one jurisdiction that fits it better than the rest, and the reason is almost never the headline rate.
Get a free legal opinion →What registration covers
What we do, and what you get at the end
Incorporation is the easy part. The work is choosing correctly, satisfying the registrar and getting a bank account opened afterwards.
These include:
✓Choice of jurisdiction and legal form against your real activity✓Name check, incorporation and the full corporate document set✓Registered office and registered agent for the first year✓Beneficial ownership filings where the jurisdiction requires them✓Apostille and legalisation of documents for use abroad
Additionally, where it is needed:
✓Bank or EMI account opening, with 70+ relationships behind the application✓Nominee or resident director where the law requires one✓Substance. Office, staff and local presence✓Accounting, annual returns and tax registration✓Licences, permits and sector approvals
Several of these jurisdictions now require annual filings and substance reports that did not exist five years ago. We keep them filed.
| What | Typical time | What you receive |
|---|---|---|
| Name approval | Same day to 3 days | Reserved company name |
| Incorporation | 1 day to 8 weeks | Certificate, charter, register of members |
| Corporate documents | With incorporation | Resolutions, share certificates, POA |
| Apostille set | 3-10 business days | Legalised documents for the bank |
| Tax and social registration | 1-3 weeks | Tax number, VAT where applicable |
| Bank account | 2-8 weeks | IBAN and access to the account |
The bank is the slow step everywhere, and it is the one that decides whether the structure was worth building. We start it in parallel, not after.
Comparison of jurisdictions
All eight, with the real rate and the real timeline
The rate shown is the headline rate in the country of registration. Several of these charge it only on activity carried on locally, and one of them charges nothing because the partners are taxed instead. Read the notes under the table before you read the percentages.
01
Fast, and genuinely 0%
The Marshall Island NRDC and the Samoan International Company file in one to two business days at 0%. Vanuatu goes further - no income, corporate, capital-gains or withholding taxes exist there at all, and files online in one to three days.
02
The rate follows the activity
Nauru charges 10% on local activity and leaves foreign-source income generally out of scope. Niue charges 30%, again on local activity. Both take two to four weeks, so neither is a fast alternative to the first group.
03
Ordinary rates, ordinary economies
Australia is 25% for a small company and 30% standard, with 10% GST. Palau is a 12% business profit tax with 10% PGST. These are normal countries charging normal tax, and that is precisely why banking is easy in one of them.
04
A gate before the rate
Australia needs one director resident in the country. Palau needs Foreign Investment Board approval, and reserves several sectors for Palauans outright. Neither of those is negotiable, and both decide the answer before tax does.
| Jurisdiction | Legal form | Time to set up | Corporate tax | Remote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marshall IslandMore details → | NRDC · Non-Resident Corporation | 1-2 business days | 0% - non-resident | Yes - via registered agent |
| NauruMore details → | Corporation · Corporations Act | 2-4 weeks | 10% - local activity | Yes - via registered agent |
| NiueMore details → | Company · Companies Act | 2-4 weeks | 30% - local activity | Yes - via local agent |
| SamoaMore details → | IC · International Company | 1-2 business days | 0% - international company | Yes - via trustee company |
| VanuatuMore details → | IC · International Company | 1-3 business days | 0% - none exist | Yes - fully online |
| AustraliaMore details → | Pty Ltd via ASIC | Registry days · realistic 2-4 weeks | 25% small · 30% standard | Yes - with resident-director solution |
| New ZealandMore details → | LP · Limited Partnership | 1-2 weeks | 0% - transparent entity | Yes - fully online |
| PalauMore details → | Corporation via Registrar | 2-6 weeks incl. FIB | 12% | - |
Important: The New Zealand limited partnership is transparent, not exempt. It shows 0% because with non-resident partners and foreign income New Zealand has nothing to tax. The partners are taxed where they live, exactly as with a UK LLP. If the partners sit somewhere with high personal rates, the structure has saved nobody anything.
No line in this table is a recommendation by itself. What decides it is your activity, where you are resident, and whether the bank you need will take a file from that flag.
Before you register
What each registry - and each bank - will want
The document list barely changes across the eight. What changes is who files it for you, how long the reply takes to come back, and how much explaining the flag needs afterwards.
01
Passport and proof of address Certified copies for every shareholder, director, partner and beneficial owner. Recent ones. An old utility bill is the commonest reason a file is sent back.
02
A described business activity Not "trading" or "consulting". What you sell, to whom, from where. The registrar wants a line; the bank wants the whole story, with invoices.
03
Source of funds Documented, not asserted. In this region it is read harder than elsewhere, because several of these flags carry a reputation the file has to overcome.
04
Beneficial ownership disclosure Collected everywhere here, even where the registers are closed to the public as they are in Vanuatu. Closed to the public is not closed to a regulator.
05
The right kind of agent, not just any agent A registered agent in the Marshall Island and Nauru, a local agent in Niue, a licensed trustee company in Samoa. Vanuatu and New Zealand run fully online.
06
A director who actually lives in Australia One resident director is a statutory requirement for a Pty Ltd, and every director needs a verified identity. This is the gate a foreign founder meets first, and it has a proper solution rather than a workaround.
07
Foreign Investment Board approval in Palau Required before a foreign business can operate, and built into the two to six weeks. Several sectors are reserved for Palauans, and if yours is one of them the answer is no. We would rather say that at the first call.
08
A partner map for a New Zealand LP Who the general partner is, who the limited partners are, and where each of them is tax resident. That last column is the one that decides whether the transparency is worth anything to you.
09
Annual renewals and filings Agent and government fees everywhere, accounts and returns where they apply. A company struck off a small Pacific register is slow and expensive to bring back.
10
A bank that will take that particular flag Australia and New Zealand need no explaining. The Marshall Island and Samoa are explainable with a real asset behind them. Vanuatu takes genuine preparation, and Nauru, Niue and Palau are rare enough that the officer has to look them up.
Note: If a compliance officer cannot place the jurisdiction within a minute, you will spend months explaining it. Settle that question before incorporation, not after.
On the ground
Seventeen offices, our own people
Prague
Czech Republic
Vlkova 532/8, Žižkov
Berlin
Germany
Rankestraße 26
Singapore
Singapore
3 Church Street, #29-68 Samsung Hub
Bangkok
Thailand
Unit P01, Penthouse, VASU1, 1 Sukhumvit 25 Alley
Foshan
China
A-Tower, Yuneng Digital Plaza, 46 Lishui Avenue South
Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan
32 Razzakov Street
How it works
Five stages from first call to a working account
STEP 01
The opinion
Where you live, where you work, where you will bank and what the company will do. Out of that comes a jurisdiction, a legal form and a written reason. Free.
STEP 02
Documents and name
Certified passports, proof of address, the activity description and a name the registrar will accept. Translations and legalisation where they are required.
STEP 03
Incorporation
Filed by us or by our local partner. You receive the certificate, the constitutional documents and the registers.
STEP 04
Legalisation and the bank
Apostille where the bank needs it, then the account application. Started in parallel with the incorporation, not after it.
STEP 05
Keeping it alive
Registered agent, annual return, accounting and the substance filings. The part people forget until the company is struck off.
Why Prifinance
Why this is worth paying a lawyer for
Anyone can sell you an incorporation in any of the eight. The value is in the choice made before it and the account opened after it.
01
6,000+ companies, so the awkward cases are familiar
A vessel purchase that has to close on a date, a trustee company asking for one more certified page, an activity wording the registrar rejects. None of this is new to us.
02
The bank is chosen before the jurisdiction is
70+ banking relationships, and we know which of them will look at a Pacific flag with an asset behind it and which will close the file on sight.
03
We say no when the region is wrong
If you want a 0% company for an operating business with European customers, Oceania is not the answer and you will hear that before you pay, not after the third bank refuses you.
04
The Australian resident director is a service, not a slogan
A real director who lives in Australia, with verified identity and the filings that go with the role, which is what makes a Pty Ltd usable by a foreigner.
05
The company keeps running afterwards
Registered agent, trustee company, annual renewals and accounts, handled on the registry's calendar by people who already work on it.
Your team
The people who will run your file
Dmitri Mihhailov
General Partner
Leads Prifinance's corporate practice and oversees client engagements, with senior expertise in international company structuring and bank-account setup.
Eugeniu Bevziuc
Corporate services advisor
Corporate services and compliance: documents, legalisation, annual filings and the bank's questions.
Alex Danila
Company formation specialist
Your day-to-day contact - coordinates incorporation, documents and the bank introduction, from the first call through to launch.
Follow Prifinance
Active across our channels.
▶
Watch: the Pacific half and the Australasian half, and how we decide which one you belong in
Good to know
Four things about tax that change the answer
The percentage in the table is where the conversation starts. Four things move it more than the choice between one island and another.
Zero there is not zero where you live
A Marshall Island, Samoan or Vanuatu company pays nothing locally. Where it is managed from is usually where it becomes taxable, and CFC rules can attribute its undistributed profit to you personally regardless.
Transparent is not tax-free
A New Zealand LP pays no New Zealand tax on foreign income with non-resident partners because the partners carry it instead. The tax has moved, not gone.
Local activity only means the rate may never reach you
Nauru charges 10% and Niue 30% on activity carried on there, and Nauru leaves foreign-source income generally out of scope. Both figures look very different once you know what they are charged on.
Australia charges properly and gives something back
25% or 30%, plus 10% GST, and a franking system that can send dividends abroad without withholding on top. That is a compliance premium with a mechanism attached, not a penalty.
Important: A Pacific company is not the wrong answer. It becomes the wrong answer when the reason for it is the rate rather than the asset it is going to hold.
Client notes
Google4.7★★★★★
Founders who wanted it done right.
Google4.7★★★★★
“As a software development crew at FewMoreTaps OÜ, we've had the pleasure of working with Prifinance on some key financial moves.First of all, navigating the world of corporate banking and finance can be a maze, but Prifinance made it feel like a walk in the park. They helped us set up a corporate bank account without the hassle of jumping on a plane or drowning in paperwork. Everything was done remotely, smoothly…”
Google
“I had their assistance in company registration and I would recommend them. They were answering all my clarification during the process and offering all their supportThank you Daniel and Irinia”
Google
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Google
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Google
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Google
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Google
FAQ
What people ask before choosing between the eight
Which of the eight is fastest?+
The Marshall Island and Samoa file in one to two business days, Vanuatu in one to three online. New Zealand takes one to two weeks, Nauru and Niue two to four, and Palau two to six weeks including the FIB approval.
Can I do all of it without travelling?+
Seven of the eight, yes - through a registered agent in the Marshall Island and Nauru, a local agent in Niue, a trustee company in Samoa, fully online in Vanuatu and New Zealand, and in Australia with a resident-director solution. Palau is the exception, and the FIB stage is the reason.
Why the Marshall Islands rather than any other 0% jurisdiction?+
Because of ships. The registry is run by the same group behind the world's third-largest ship flag, the statute is modelled on Delaware and the currency is the US dollar. If you own no vessel and no asset, that reason does not apply to you and the 0% on its own is not a reason.
Is a New Zealand limited partnership tax-free?+
No. It is transparent. With non-resident partners and foreign income New Zealand has nothing to tax, so the LP shows 0%, but each partner is taxed at home on their share. If the partners are in high-rate countries, nothing has been saved.
Which of these are easy to explain to a bank?+
Australia and New Zealand need no explanation at all. The Marshall Island and Samoa are straightforward when a real asset sits behind them. Vanuatu is the hard one - it is on EU watchlists and every account takes preparation. Nauru, Niue and Palau are rare enough that the compliance officer will be reading about them for the first time.
Can I run an Australian Pty Ltd entirely from abroad?+
Not on your own. One director must reside in Australia and every director needs a verified identity. It is a solvable requirement with a real person behind it, not a formality to paper over.
What does Palau require before I can start?+
Foreign Investment Board approval, which is why the timeline is two to six weeks rather than days. Several sectors are reserved for Palauans. If your activity is one of them the answer is no, and you should hear that on the first call.
Are Nauru and Niue still offshore jurisdictions?+
No. The 1990s chapter closed in both. Nauru is a corporation under its Corporations Act taxed at 10% on local activity, with foreign-source income generally out of scope; Niue is a company under NZ-style law in New Zealand dollars, taxed at 30% on local activity. What they offer now is rarity, not tax.
Does the distance actually matter?+
Yes, in the dull practical way. The agent, the registry and the bank all work a day you are not awake for. Nothing is harder because of it - everything is slower, and that is worth knowing before you commit to a closing date.
What if none of the eight is right for me?+
Then the opinion says so and names what is. That happens often enough with this region that we would rather put it on the page than let you discover it after the incorporation fee is paid.
Free consultation
Tell us what the company is for
Your activity, where you live, where your customers are and which bank you need to end up in. You get a written recommendation with a jurisdiction, a legal form, a total cost and the reasoning - including the case for staying out of the region - free of charge.
Written assessment within 2-5 business days