Hong Kong Company Formation Price
What You Need to Know to Start an International Corporation Netherlands
Company formation takes a minimum 2 weeks often dragging on much longer
Director/ownership details are public
There's no domestic corporate banking to speak of
Over a certain level audited financials are required Reading the list it doesn't sound that compelling to me and unless there are special circumstances I'd say if you're going to form a resident Gibraltar company you're probably better off looking elsewhere (alternatives discussed in other posts). It used to be that Gibraltar being an EU member but not a member of the VAT regime was helpful but updates to the VAT regime have mostly eliminated these benefits.Favorable Tax TreatmentHowever, Gibraltar is one of only 3, really only 2, jurisdictions within the EEA (European Economic Area) with a particular nuance in their corporate residency laws. Tax residency in Gibraltar is based ONLY on management and control, which means you can have a non-resident Gibraltar company. What does that mean?A non-resident company isn't liable for any local income taxes except on domestic source income (no income in Gibraltar = 0% corporate tax rate). So we've just gone from Gibraltar being a 10% tax jurisdiction, which is OK, but not exceptional, to a fantastic 0% tax regime.
Non-resident Gibraltar companies also benefit from not having the same requirements when it comes to the likes of audited financial statements that resident companies have.Non-Residency RequirementsBy default a Gibraltar company is not non-resident so to ensure it is you need to file according with the local financial authority and meet the appropriate criteria. These include:
There are a few gems in there but a lot that aren't particularly attractive.Gibraltar actually has a pretty strong reputation as it is what might be called a mid-shore jurisdiction competing within the global incorporation landscape on reputation as much as on tax and other features. This is very helpful in some parts of the world but in Asia it is a very unknown as a result hands on experience has shown in spite of a much better reputation it can be more difficult to open a bank account for a Gibraltar company in say Singapore than for say a Marshall Islands company as illogical as that might seem. Opening accounts in jurisdictions such as Singapore and Hong Kong is certainly possible but typically more of a hassle than doing so with some of the more well-known tax havens or by contrast more of a hassle than opening an account in a European jurisdiction where Gibraltar companies are more common.Incorporating in GibraltarWhen actually forming a company in Gibraltar be prepared for a fairly rigorous process, this is not like opening a company in say Delaware or Anguilla where essentially just providing the name of the company and owners is good enough. In order to safeguard their reputation that Gibraltar agents will require details about the nature of the business comparable to what's required to open a bank account and may decline applications based on certain types of business, which might negatively impact the reputation of the jurisdiction. If you're aware of this in advance and have prepared the process can be relatively smooth but expect some hassles as compared with more traditional offshore jurisdictions.
