BVI
BC · Business Company
✓The most recognised offshore company in the world✓No corporate tax on income earned outside the territory✓Registered in one to three business days, remotely
Low tax is a structure, not a country.
A zero-tax certificate is worth nothing if the bank will not open an account and the tax authority where you live ignores the company. We choose the jurisdiction against where you actually operate, where you bank and where you are resident, and we say so when the right answer is a normal company in a normal country.
44
low-tax jurisdictions
6,000+
companies registered
70+
banking relationships
Updated
Where we register
Twelve that cover most of what people actually need
Cayman Islands
Exempted Company
✓No direct taxes of any kind - there is nothing to be exempt from✓The jurisdiction funds and holding structures default to✓Exempted Company, incorporated through a registered office
Belize
BC · Belize Company
✓Fastest of the classic offshores - one to two business days✓Territorial system: income earned outside Belize is not taxed there✓The lowest all-in annual cost on the offshore shortlist
Seychelles
IBC · Limited
✓Territorial system - foreign income is outside the charge✓IBC filed by a licensed agent, fully online✓One of the cheapest jurisdictions to keep running year to year
Panama
S.A. · Law 32 of 1927
✓Territorial taxation written into law since 1927✓S.A. under Law 32 - a century of case law behind it✓Registered in three to five business days
Marshall Island
NRDC · Non-Resident Corporation
✓Non-resident corporation - 0% on foreign income✓The standard vehicle for ship and yacht ownership✓Incorporated in one to two business days
Nevis
LLC · Nevis LLC Ordinance
✓LLC under the Nevis LLC Ordinance - the asset-protection classic✓Members are not on a public register✓Set up in one to two business days
Hong Kong
Ltd · private company
✓8.25% on the first tranche of profits, 16.5% above it✓Territorial system - offshore profits can fall outside the charge✓A real banking jurisdiction, not a mailbox
UAE
Mainland LLC / free-zone co
✓9% on the mainland, 0% for a qualifying free-zone person✓Substance, residence visas and banking in one place✓Set up in one to two weeks
Cyprus
Ltd · Private Limited Company
✓12.5% corporate tax inside the European Union✓Extensive treaty network and an EU VAT number✓Registered in five to ten business days
Estonia
OÜ · Private Ltd
✓0% on retained profit - tax falls only on distribution✓Company registered in as little as one day via e-Residency✓An EU company you can run entirely online
Mauritius (GBC-1)
AC · GBC
✓3% effective on qualifying income for a GBC✓Authorised Company pays 0% as a non-resident✓The treaty route into India and Africa
The part that ends badly
A 0% company with no substance is a problem, not a saving
Zero tax in the country of registration does not mean zero tax for you. Where the company is actually managed is where it is likely to be taxed, and that rule exists in almost every country you might live in.
✓Place of effective management can make an offshore company tax-resident at home✓CFC rules attribute the company's undistributed profit to you personally✓Economic substance tests now apply inside the zero-tax jurisdictions themselves✓Banks decline shell companies faster than regulators do - no account, no company
This is why the first conversation is about where you live and where you work, not about which island has the lowest rate.
Ask what would actually work →When it does work
The cases where a low-tax company is the right answer
Plenty of them are legitimate, ordinary and boring. The structure has to match a real business reason, and then it holds up to any question asked of it.
✓Holding an asset. A ship, a yacht, intellectual property, a share portfolio✓A genuine operating business in the jurisdiction, with people and an office✓A neutral vehicle for partners from several countries to invest together✓A group company that needs a treaty network the parent does not have
Each of these has a jurisdiction that fits it better than the others. That is the whole content of the opinion.
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 44, with the real rate and the real timeline
Rates below are the headline corporate rate in the country of registration. What you actually pay depends on where the company is managed and where you are resident. See the panel above.
01
Fastest
Estonia registers a company in as little as one day. Belize, Nevis, the Marshall Islands and Samoa file in one to two business days.
02
Genuinely 0%
The Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos and Vanuatu have no direct taxes at all. There is no exemption involved, because there is nothing to be exempt from.
03
Low but real
Cyprus at 12.5%, Hong Kong at 8.25% on the first tranche, the UAE at 9% with 0% for a qualifying free-zone person. These come with substance and filings.
04
Zero until you take the money out
Estonia charges nothing on retained profit and taxes distribution instead. That is a different shape of tax, not the absence of it.
| Jurisdiction | Legal form | Time to set up | Corporate tax | Remote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnguillaMore details → | IBC · Business Company | 1-3 business days | 0% | Yes - via registered agent |
| AntiguaMore details → | IBC · International Business Corporation | 1-3 business days | 0% | Yes - via licensed agent |
| ArubaMore details → | VBA · Limited Liability Company | 1-2 weeks | 22% · free zone 2% | Yes - by power of attorney |
| BahamasMore details → | IBC · International Business Company | 3-5 business days | 0% | Yes - via registered agent |
| Barbados (IBC)More details → | Ltd · Companies Act company | 1-2 weeks | 9% · small business 5.5% | Yes - via local agent |
| BelizeMore details → | BC · Belize Company | 1-2 business days | 0% | Yes - via registered agent |
| Bermuda IslandsMore details → | Exempted company | 1-2 weeks - BMA-vetted | None · 15% for €750M+ groups | - |
| BVIMore details → | BC · Business Company | 1-3 business days | 0% | Yes - via registered agent |
| CanadaMore details → | LP · Limited Partnership (Ontario) | 2-5 business days | 0% - transparent entity | Yes - fully online |
| Cayman IslandsMore details → | Exempted Company | 3-5 business days | 0% - no direct taxes at all | Yes - via registered office |
| Costa RicaMore details → | S.R.L. · Limited Liability Company | 1-2 weeks | 0% - territorial system | Yes - by power of attorney |
| Curacao (NV - BV)More details → | BV · Limited Liability Company | 1-2 weeks | 22% | Yes - by power of attorney |
| CyprusMore details → | Ltd · Private Limited Company | 5-10 business days | 12.5% | Yes - fully online |
| DominicaMore details → | IBC · International Business Company | 1-3 business days | 0% | Yes - via registered agent |
| EstoniaMore details → | OÜ · Private Ltd | as fast as 1 day | 0% retained / 22% on payout | Yes - via e-Residency |
| GeorgiaMore details → | LLC · Limited Liability Company | 1-2 business days | 0% | Yes - by power of attorney |
| GibraltarMore details → | Ltd · Private Company | 3-5 business days | 15% | Yes - fully online |
| GrenadaMore details → | IBC · International Business Company | 1-3 business days | 0% | Yes - via registered agent |
| GuernseyMore details → | Company limited by shares | 24 hours · 15-min express | 0% standard | Yes - via licensed provider |
| Hong KongMore details → | Ltd · private company | 2-5 business days | 8.25% / 16.5% | Yes - fully online |
| Ireland LPMore details → | LP · Limited Partnership | 1-2 weeks | 0% - transparent entity | Yes - fully online |
| Isle of ManMore details → | 2006 Act Company (NSC) | 48 hours · same-day express | 0% standard | Yes - via registered agent |
| JerseyMore details → | Private company (1991 Law) | 2 days · express same-day | 0% standard | Yes - via licensed provider |
| LabuanMore details → | Labuan Company | 1-2 weeks | 3% - audited | - |
| LebanonMore details → | Offshore SAL · Joint-Stock | 1-2 weeks | 0% - flat duty instead | Yes - by power of attorney |
| MaltaMore details → | Ltd via the MBR | 1-2 weeks | 35% → effective 5% via refunds | - |
| Marshall IslandMore details → | NRDC · Non-Resident Corporation | 1-2 business days | 0% - non-resident | Yes - via registered agent |
| Mauritius (GBC-1)More details → | AC · GBC | 1-3 weeks | GBC 3% · AC 0% | Yes - fully online |
| NauruMore details → | Corporation · Corporations Act | 2-4 weeks | 10% - local activity | Yes - via registered agent |
| NevisMore details → | LLC · Nevis LLC Ordinance | 1-2 business days | 0% | Yes - via registered agent |
| NiueMore details → | Company · Companies Act | 2-4 weeks | 30% - local activity | Yes - via local agent |
| Northern CyprusMore details → | Ltd - Cap 113 heritage | 2-4 weeks | ~10% + layers | Mostly - one visit typical |
| PanamaMore details → | S.A. · Law 32 of 1927 | 3-5 business days | 0% - territorial | Yes - via resident agent |
| Saint Kitts and NevisMore details → | IBC · Companies Act | 1-3 business days | 0% | Yes - via registered agent |
| Saint LuciaMore details → | IBC · International Business Company | 1-3 business days | 0% - territorial | Yes - via registered agent |
| Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesMore details → | BC · LLC | 1-2 business days | 0% - territorial | Yes - via registered agent |
| SamoaMore details → | IC · International Company | 1-2 business days | 0% - international company | Yes - via trustee company |
| San MarinoMore details → | SRL · Limited Liability Company | 2-3 weeks | 17% · new firms 8.5% | Yes - by power of attorney |
| ScotlandMore details → | SLP · Limited Partnership | 3-7 business days | 0% - transparent entity | Yes - fully online |
| SeychellesMore details → | IBC · Limited | 1-3 business days | 0% - territorial | Yes - fully online |
| Turks and Caicos IslandsMore details → | Exempted company | 2-5 business days | 0% - none exist | Yes - fully online |
| UAEMore details → | Mainland LLC / free-zone co | 1-2 weeks | 9% · QFZP 0% | Yes - by POA |
| United Kingdom LLPMore details → | LLP via Companies House | 1-3 days registry | None - members taxed | Yes - fully |
| VanuatuMore details → | IC · International Company | 1-3 business days | 0% - none exist | Yes - fully online |
Important: Several entries here are transparent entities rather than low-tax ones. Canada LP, Ireland LP, Scotland LP and the UK LLP pay nothing themselves because the members are taxed instead. That is only useful if the members are in the right place.
Nothing in this table is a recommendation on its own. The right line depends on your activity, your residence and which bank will take the file.
Before you register
What every registrar and every bank will want
The document list is short. The part that takes time is proving where the money comes from, and that is the same in all 44.
01
Passport and proof of address Certified copies for every shareholder, director and beneficial owner, usually issued no more than three months before filing.
02
A described business activity Not "trading" or "consulting". What you actually sell, to whom and from where. The registrar asks, and then the bank asks again in more detail.
03
Source of funds Documented, not asserted. This is what applications are refused on, far more often than the choice of jurisdiction.
04
Beneficial ownership disclosure Almost every jurisdiction on this page now maintains a register, closed or open. A nominee-only structure hides nothing from a regulator.
05
A registered office and registered agent Mandatory in every one of these jurisdictions, and renewed annually. It is the agent, not you, who files with the registry.
06
Economic substance, where it applies Holding, financing, shipping, headquarters and IP activities trigger substance tests in most zero-tax jurisdictions today.
07
Annual filings An annual return everywhere, and financial statements in a growing number of these places. Restoring a struck-off company costs several times the annual fee.
08
A tax residence certificate, if you need a treaty It is issued only where there is enough real presence to justify it. That is the test. Incorporation on its own does not pass it.
09
A bank that will actually take the file Chosen before incorporation, not after. The bank's appetite decides the jurisdiction as often as the tax rate does.
10
Your own country's reporting CFC filings, foreign-company disclosures and personal reporting obligations do not disappear. We tell you what they are before you commit.
Note: If your answer to the source-of-funds question is thin, fix that before choosing a jurisdiction. Everything else on this list is easy by comparison.
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. 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 shareholder who cannot travel, a bank that wants one more document, a registrar that rejects the activity wording. None of it 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 your business model and which will not even open the file.
03
We say no to structures that will fail
If effective management or CFC rules will undo the whole point, you hear it before you pay, not a year later.
04
Substance is a service, not a slogan
Office, director, staff and the filings that make a tax residence certificate obtainable. In the places where that is what makes the structure work.
05
The company keeps running afterwards
Registered agent, annual returns, accounting and substance reports, in one place, from the same team that incorporated 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: how a low-tax structure is chosen, and when we advise against one
Good to know
Four things about tax that change the answer
The rate in the table is where the conversation starts, not where it ends.
Effective management beats registration
If the decisions are taken from your kitchen table, most tax authorities will treat the company as resident where you are, whatever the certificate says.
CFC rules attribute profit to you
Controlled foreign company regimes tax undistributed profit in your own hands. They exist across Europe and in many other countries.
Substance is now the price of the low rate
The zero-tax jurisdictions themselves impose economic substance tests on holding, financing, shipping and IP activity, with penalties for failing them.
Treaties need a tax residence certificate
And it is issued only where there is real presence. A treaty network on paper is worth nothing without one.
Important: None of this makes low-tax structuring wrong. It makes the shell-only version of it wrong, and that is the version most people are sold.
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
“We found PRIFINANCE COMPANYvia the Internet and asked for help in organizing the opening of their company in Estonia. PRIFINANCE COMPANY specialists helped us a lot with this. Their professional, competent approach and knowledge of their business left us with only the best impressions.”
Google
“I'm thrilled with my experience with PriFinance! They helped me obtain a crypto license in Estonia without any hassle. The team was super understanding and always available to answer my questions and assist. It was great to see how they put effort into preparing the documents to ensure everything went smoothly. I'm delighted with the outcome and highly recommend PriFinance to anyone looking to get a license…”
Google
“Opening an account with Prifinance in a Swiss bank was such an easy and quick process that I was shocked. It all started with the first call, where I received detailed guidance on the required documents and the entire procedure.One of the key highlights was their attention to detail. As someone who usually gets tangled up in paperwork, I was pleasantly surprised when they sent me all the documents and…”
Google
“I recently had the pleasure of working with Boris.. and I must say, it was a fantastic experience. Boris went above and beyond to assist me with my residency needs. His professionalism, knowledge, and dedication truly stood out. I highly recommend working with Boris and the team!”
Google
FAQ
What people ask before choosing a jurisdiction
Which jurisdiction is the cheapest to keep?+
Seychelles, Belize and the other classic IBC jurisdictions are cheapest year to year. The saving disappears if the structure then fails at the bank.
Which is the fastest?+
Estonia can be registered in as little as one day through e-Residency. Belize, Nevis, the Marshall Islands and Samoa file in one to two business days.
Can I do it without travelling?+
In almost all 44 - the table shows which. Bermuda, Labuan and Malta are the places where a visit or an in-person step is normally expected.
Will a 0% company mean I pay no tax?+
Not by itself. Where the company is managed and where you are resident usually decide that, through effective management and CFC rules.
Is any of this hidden from my own tax authority?+
No. Beneficial ownership registers, CRS reporting and bank due diligence make that assumption obsolete. Anyone promising secrecy is selling you a future problem.
What is economic substance, and does it apply to me?+
It is a requirement to have real activity - people, premises, expenditure - in the jurisdiction. It applies to holding, financing, shipping, headquarters and IP activities in most zero-tax jurisdictions.
How long does the bank account take?+
Two to eight weeks, and it depends on your business model and your source-of-funds file far more than on which jurisdiction you chose.
Do I need a nominee director?+
Usually not. A nominee-only structure with no substance is the shape that fails first at the bank and then at the regulator.
What are the annual costs?+
Registered agent and government fee everywhere, plus accounting, the annual return and a substance report where they apply. We quote the running total, not year one.
What if the right answer is not to use a low-tax company?+
Then that is what the opinion says. It happens often enough that we put it on the page rather than leave you to find out later.
Free consultation
Tell us what the company is for
Your activity, where you live, where your customers are and where you want to bank. You get a written recommendation with a jurisdiction, a legal form, a total cost and the reasoning - free of charge.
Written assessment within 2-5 business days