St. Vincent and the Grenadines Limited Company
Real formation requirements, real 2026 pricing, and the difference between a base Business Company and a Virtual Asset Business registration.
A St. Vincent and the Grenadines Business Company is the cheapest full offshore entity Otonomos offers — no local director, no public register, no corporate tax on income earned outside SVG. Here's what it is, what it actually costs, and where the real costs hide once you look past the US$100 government fee.
US$100
Annual government fee — the smallest number on this page
24 Hrs
Typical incorporation time once your registered agent files
0%
Tax on income sourced outside St. Vincent and the Grenadines
1 / 1
Minimum directors and shareholders — no local residency required for either
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Business Company, at a glance
| Regulator | Financial Services Authority (FSA) / Commerce & Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) |
| Governing law | Business Companies Act |
| Minimum directors / shareholders | 1 / 1 — can be the same person, both may be non-resident |
| Local director required? | No |
| Minimum paid-up capital | None specified |
| Foreign ownership | 100% allowed |
| Corporate tax rate | 0% on foreign-sourced income; 30% on SVG-sourced income (territorial system) |
| Time to incorporate | Often within 24 hours of a complete application |
| Share types | Registered shares only — bearer shares are not permitted |
| Public register of directors/shareholders? | No |
| Government annual fee | US$100 |
1. Why St. Vincent and the Grenadines
The pitch is unusually simple for an offshore jurisdiction: no local director requirement, no public register, a US$100 annual government fee, and a territorial tax system that leaves foreign-sourced income untaxed. That combination — genuinely no residency requirement on either the director or the shareholder — is rarer than it sounds; most jurisdictions this cheap require at least a local registered agent-as-director workaround. SVG doesn't.
It's a fit for holding structures, international trading companies, consulting and services businesses invoicing non-SVG clients, and asset-protection structures — the same use cases BVI and Nevis serve, at a lower government-fee floor. It is not, on its own, a licence to run a regulated financial business; more on that below.
2. The process, step by step
Choose and clear your company name. Your registered agent checks availability and reserves it — SVG doesn't publish a long list of restricted words beyond the standard "Bank," "Insurance," "Royal," "Chartered" category that most offshore jurisdictions restrict without a licence.
Prepare KYC on every director, shareholder, and Ultimate Beneficial Owner. Certified photo ID and proof of address, held by your registered agent — not filed on a public register, but collected in full before incorporation proceeds.
File Articles of Incorporation through your registered agent. Every Business Company must incorporate through an FSA-licensed registered agent in SVG; there's no direct-filing route for founders the way some OECS jurisdictions allow their own residents.
Receive your Certificate of Incorporation. Often within 24 hours of the Registrar receiving a complete application — one of the faster turnarounds among Otonomos's Caribbean jurisdictions.
Get your Tax Identification Number (TIN). Required from SVG's Inland Revenue Department post-incorporation, regardless of whether you'll owe any SVG tax — the territorial exemption doesn't exempt you from registering.
Nothing on this list requires a trip to SVG. Directors, shareholders, and officers may reside anywhere and hold meetings anywhere they choose — there's no residency or nationality requirement for any of them.
3. The honest number: what an SVG Business Company actually costs
The government's own fee schedule is almost a rounding error: US$125 to register, US$100 a year to keep it alive. That's not what you'll actually pay. Here's the real cost of incorporating and maintaining an SVG Business Company through Otonomos, in full:
| Item | Frequency | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Incorporation | One-time | US$135 |
| Due diligence (KYC processing) | One-time | US$213 |
| One-time subtotal | US$348 | |
| Registered agent and office | Annual | US$1,525 |
| Government fee | Annual | US$100 |
| Annual subtotal | US$1,625 | |
| Total, year one | US$1,973 |
Unlike Singapore or Hong Kong, there's no local-director line item inflating the total three-to-five-fold — SVG's real cost driver is the registered agent fee, at US$1,525 a year, not a resident officer you have to source and pay separately. From year two on, expect US$1,625 a year to keep the entity in good standing, assuming you don't add optional services.
A few of those optional services are worth pricing out before you need them:
| Add-on | Frequency | Cost | Direct link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Nominee Director | Annual | US$4,800/year | Add to cart → |
| Nominee Shareholder | Annual | US$2,400/year | Add to cart → |
| Fiat Bank Account Opening, EU/UK | One-time | US$6,000 | Add to cart → |
| Crypto Exchange Account Opening | One-time | US$1,200 | Add to cart → |
| Skyline Digital OTC Account Opening | One-time | US$1,200 | Add to cart → |
| Cross-jurisdictional Guidance & Structuring Advice | Per 5-hour block | US$2,000 | Add to cart → |
The EU/UK fiat bank account line is the number worth sitting with: at US$6,000 one-time and best-effort (not guaranteed), it's the clearest sign that SVG's low government fee doesn't extend to banking. An SVG entity is not, by reputation alone, an easy account to open at a Tier-1 bank — budget the effort accordingly, or pair it with the crypto-native options above if that fits your business.
Skyline Digital OTC Account, explained
Skyline Digital lets you make fiat payments directly from a self-custodial crypto wallet — a genuine alternative to a traditional bank account for businesses that are paid in or hold crypto and need to spend fiat without a full banking relationship. US persons, natural or corporate, cannot onboard with Skyline Digital at this time.
4. What you owe every year, regardless
Registered agent and registered office
Mandatory for the life of the company — every Business Company must maintain both in SVG, and it's the single largest recurring line item on this page.
Government annual fee
US$100, paid to keep the company in good standing on the CIPO register.
Economic Substance Return
Filed with the Inland Revenue Department within 4 months of the end of your company's financial year — applies to companies carrying on "relevant activities" as defined under SVG's economic substance rules.
Tax return
Filed with the Inland Revenue Department within 3 months of financial year end, TIN required regardless of whether any SVG tax is ultimately owed.
Beneficial ownership information
Kept current with your registered agent — not publicly filed, but must be accurate and updated whenever ownership changes.
5. What to avoid
- Don't assume "offshore and cheap" means "no compliance." SVG's government fee is genuinely low; the ongoing due diligence, registered agent, and reporting obligations are not optional add-ons — they're what keeps the company in good standing.
- Don't run a crypto exchange, custody business, or forex brokerage on the base company alone. The Virtual Asset Business Act 2022 requires separate FSA registration for virtual asset services, with real requirements attached — a statutory deposit, professional indemnity insurance, a resident representative, and an external auditor. Full detail in St. Vincent and the Grenadines Company Tax and Annual Compliance.
- Don't confuse "no public register" with "anonymous." Your registered agent holds full KYC on every officer and beneficial owner; the privacy is about who can search it, not whether it exists.
- Don't skip the banking conversation until after you've incorporated. At US$6,000 and best-effort for an EU/UK account, banking is the part of this jurisdiction that takes real planning — decide your banking or crypto-payment route before you file, not after.
- Don't search for "St. Vincent IBC." The IBC Act was repealed in 2018; the entity is now a Business Company under a single unified Act. Providers still using "IBC" language are describing a structure that hasn't existed for years.
6. How Otonomos helps
We register and maintain St. Vincent and the Grenadines Business Companies — registered agent, registered office, due diligence, and annual filings, all tracked through the Otonomos Dashboard. What we don't do is file a Virtual Asset Business Act registration on your behalf; that's a materially separate regulatory process from company formation, and we'll tell you plainly whether your activity needs it before you spend money assuming a cheap Business Company covers it.
Frequently asked questions
Is a St. Vincent Business Company the same as the old IBC?
Functionally similar, legally different. The International Business Companies Act was repealed in 2018; every company now incorporates under the Business Companies Act instead, with the same core benefits (no local director, low fees, territorial tax) but a single unified legal framework rather than a ring-fenced offshore regime.
Do I need to visit SVG to incorporate or maintain the company?
No. Directors and shareholders may reside anywhere and hold meetings anywhere — there's no residency or physical-presence requirement for the company itself (as opposed to a Virtual Asset Business registration, which does require a resident representative).
Is my ownership information public?
No. SVG does not maintain a public register of directors or shareholders. Your registered agent holds the KYC and beneficial-ownership records, which must be accurate and available to regulators, but they aren't searchable by the public.
Can I run a crypto exchange or forex brokerage through this entity?
Not without separate licensing. Both activities are regulated under SVG law — crypto under the Virtual Asset Business Act 2022, forex brokerage since a January 2023 FSA memorandum — and require FSA registration in addition to the company itself.
Why is the annual cost higher than the government fee suggests?
The US$100 is only the government's own charge. The registered agent and registered office — legally required for every Business Company — is a separate, larger annual cost, and it's the main reason the real annual total runs closer to US$1,625 than US$100.
Related Reading
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines Jurisdiction Overview
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines Company Tax and Annual Compliance in 2026
- Nominees, Explained: The Privacy Layer Every Founder Should Know About
- How to Choose a Tax-Friendly Jurisdiction in 2026
Sources: SVG Financial Services Authority (FSA), fsasvg.com; Commerce & Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), cipo.gov.vc; Inland Revenue Department, ird.gov.vc; Business Companies Act; Virtual Asset Business Act 2022; Otonomos pricing per otonomos.com/order/st-vincent-and-the-grenadines-limited-company. Verified September 2026.
Updated about 2 hours ago