Located near 2 major hubs of US such as Miami & Houston, an English speaking community and easy to commute locale makes Belize the most popular offshore tax haven.

Fiscal Advantages

• No foreign exchange control
• Exempt from all taxes to be paid locally
• Capital gain tax not levied
• Income tax not levied
• Dividend tax not levied
• No Stamp duty on transfer of corporate shares and other property

Regulatory Advantages

• Highest level of privacy provided
• Any individual and legal entity may become a shareholder, director and officer
• Information on the stakeholder or any other members are not made public
• Belize free zones provide ideal conditions for establishing companies with reduced tax rates
• Belize legislation works on the Trust Act 1992, with a good mix of laws from all other offshore jurisdictions, and is labelled as the most advanced instruments of its kind in the world

Limitations

• Registered office should be located in Belize
• Cannot engage in any business, in the name of IBC, within Belize
• Cannot own real estate in Belize
• Cannot hold shares in a Belize local company
• Cannot allow locals to hold shares in an IBC unless it is in a nominee capacity

• Limited Liability Company
• International Business Company

Limited Liability Companies Act 2011 regulates the Limited Liability Company formation.

• An LLC is exempt from Belizean taxes including income tax, capital gain tax, dividend tax, and stamp duty on transfer of property
• A minimum of one member is required, it may be an individual or a legal entity
• An LLC doesn't require a minimum paid up capital
• Information of members, managers and beneficial owners is not filed with the Belize Registrar and not available to the public
• No foreign exchange control
• Registered Belize office & registered agent are mandatory
• Privacy of the highest order maintained

An LLC name must include the words “limited liability Company” or the abbreviation “LLC”, or “L.L.C.”. The name of a limited liability company must be in Roman script. However, an LLC is allowed to use an alternative name in any other script under the condition that it represents an accurate translation of the name registered in Roman script and the alternative name is submitted to the Registrar at the time of formation. An LLC may use its alternative name in any dealings with third parties.

The International Business Company is regulated by the International Business Company Act 1990.

• A minimum of one director is required and can be represented by an individual or a corporation
• Secretary is not required
• Shareholders & Incorporation need not be the same individual
• Company should have a licensed registered agent and a local registered office, the only records that will be available to the public
• Managing meetings or maintaining file details related to shareholders, directors, audit files or accounting reports are not mandatory
• No exchange controls
• Bearer shares and shares of no par value can be issued but must be held in the custody of a local registered agent
• IBC is exempt from tax related to the Belize government
• Directors can hold their meetings anywhere

A company name must end with “limited”, “corporation”, “incorporated”, or “society anonyme”. Company name cannot contain the words “building society”, “chamber of commerce”, “chartered”, “cooperative”, “imperial”, “municipal”, “royal”, “connection with the government of Belize”, “assurance”, “bank”, “insurance”, “trust”, “indecent”, or “offensive”. 

Corporate names that are not acceptable are: 

• Similar to a name of the already existing Belize company
• Containing the words “Building Society”, “Chamber of Commerce”, “Chartered”, “Cooperative”, “Imperial”, “Municipal”, “Royal”, “Assurance”, “Bank”, “Insurance” or “Trust”
• If it suggests a patronage of the Queen or a member of the Royal Family
• If it is indecent, offensive or objectionable

The Memorandum and Articles of Association is the only document filed with the Belize Registrar. These documents do not include any information about corporate directors, officers, shareholders and beneficial owners. It lists only name of the Belize registered agent and Belize registered office address. 

Incorporation of Belize companies can take less than a day. The processing and submission of documents will take about 2 to 4 days.

• Name of the company
• Primary business of the company
• Director details – Name, ID proof & Passport details
• Nominee directors, if required
• Secretary details
• Shareholder details
• Beneficial owner details
• Certified passport copy
• Proof of address
• Bank reference
• Professional reference

• Belize is exempt from all taxes including income tax, dividend tax, and capital gain tax
• Stamp duty on transfer of corporate property, shares and other corporate financial instruments
• Tax returns is not required to be filed
• No need to file any other documents related to income, to the government authorities

No corporate tax is levied in Belize.

Belize has changed its laws in Feb 2014, for domestic and offshore banking establishments to further bring them into conformity with rules and recommendations defined by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. The recommendations targeted at combating global money laundering and government corruption. With the changes and amendments in most of the laws, Belize is a very good option for establishing Trusts & for Asset Protection.