Nevis LLC Information & Laws

Nevis is a small Caribbean tax haven, often referred to as St. Kitts & Nevis.

The Nevis LLC Shares- The Nevis LLC uses bearer membership certificates in place of bearer shares of stock. Nevis does have bearer share corporations but the shares must be retained by the registered agent in Nevis and they need to know the names and have ID on the shareholders. The Nevis LLC is a superior vehicle and much more private than the Nevis bearer share corp..

Nevis Has No Public Registry – This is a big plus. The Nevis LLC is extremely anonymous. Nevis does not maintain any publicly accessible database of corporate records. Only the government and Nevis lawyers can access this database. This means a financial enemy could not even get any basic information about your corporation like when filed and so forth let alone who owns it. There is no public registry to look up any corporate information in. Imagine that! The way we structure the Nevis LLC the names of the owners do not appear in the non-public registry anyway.

The Nevis LLC and Financial Enemies - The nice thing about Nevis is that if a financial enemy decided to pursue you to Nevis they would have to hire a Nevis attorney and post a $25,000 cash bond with the court to begin any sort of court action. If he loses the case he will forfeit this bond to pay for court costs and damages to you. Since Nevis is a small Caribbean Island jurisdiction there are not a lot of lawyers there. When the lawyers hear the client is from another country they are going to charge $5,000 to $10,000 just to review the case, not take the case, just give an opinion. They will render a discouraging opinion since they know the chances of success are very slight at best and they will wish to cover themselves. Figure at least $25,000 in legal fees plus the $25,000 cash bond to bring a lawsuit that has an extremely poor chance of winning. Don't forget they are still paying an attorney from the jurisdiction of the original judgment as well. This is going to stop the vast majority of any creditors following you to Nevis to file complaints for anything and that is for sure worth a lot.

Remember the financial enemy has no freeze order on your funds. He just has an action filed in court. When you are notified of the case that was filed you just move the money to another country and they lose the $50,000 it cost them to file. After this they would be unlikely to chase you again thinking that the same thing will happen to them in the next country. The chances of a financial enemy successfully pressing a case against you in Nevis is basically slim and none. Just banking in Nevis does not give grounds for lawsuits when the events took place offshore to Nevis with people not nationals of Nevis. Remember they need to establish who the owners of the Nevis Corporation are to transfer any debts you have to this corporation as an asset of yours. This is an extremely difficult task in Nevis. It will also require them to post the $25,000 bond and pay the lawyers inNevis. They will also be paying the lawyers in the country where the judgment is originating from. Costly with a very poor chance of success. Nothing to stop you from moving funds around after you know there is an action in the courts.

Charging Order Protection – Let's say you actually lost a case in Nevis. Say for instance an ex spouse had copies of the LLC paperwork showing that you were indeed the owner of the LLC. The best asset protection for the members of the Nevis LLC derives from the so-called “charging order” protection. A creditor of a member personally may somehow find out about the interest the person has in the LLC. Hint – Do not discuss your affairs with other than trusted people. This would require the member to reveal this information since it is not in any public records so the person has to trip over his or her own shoelaces and talk about it to the wrong people. There is a remedy where the creditor can be restricted exclusively to obtaining a court order requiring that distributions to the member’s interest be directed to the creditor instead. The good part is if the LLC’s manager (you) refuses to make distributions to the member’s interest, then the charging order (or even the membership interest itself) is of little value to the creditor. Thus the creditor collects nothing even though he has a win in the Nevis court which is something rarely seen to start with. Since we normally use the banks in Belize with the Nevis LLC having the bank account, it would make the fight your financial enemies has a two step process. First establishing who the owner of the corporation is in Nevis and then attempting to domesticate the judgment in Belize. Remember at any point in time when you become aware of such proceedings you can move the funds to another jurisdiction leaving them having to start all over again.

Nevis Taxes - No corporate tax, income tax, withholding tax, no inheritance tax, stamp tax, asset tax, exchange controls or other fees or taxes are levied in the jurisdiction on assets or income originating outside the island. No tax returns or other filings need be filed with Nevis.

Owning Assets – The Nevis LLC can own shares of other corporations, be beneficiaries of trusts, own real estate, boats, airplanes, and of course have bank accounts.

What is a Limited Liability Company? - The Limited Liability Company (LLC) was first designed in Wyoming in 1977 and almost all US states have adopted its use over the past 10 years. Sophisticated businesspersons and attorneys saw the benefits of the marriage of LLCs with offshore jurisdictions. Thus, in short order several offshore jurisdictions implemented LLC or similar legislation, either as a supplement to their existing Companies Act or as stand-alone legislation. Be advised that USA corporations LLC or otherwise offer no privacy, or protection. Any judge or government official anywhere in the country and in many other countries can readily access all the records with a phone call, fax, email etc.

Legal Basis - The Nevis LLC is organized under laws that (1) creates the entity, (2) endows it with a legal existence or juridical personality separate from its members, (3) shields those members from personal liability, (4) governs the company's operations, and (5) determines how and when the entity will come to an end.

A Nevis LLC is neither a partnership nor a corporation. It is really a hybrid between the partnership and the corporation. It is a distinct entity created by statute that offers business an alternative to partnerships and corporations by combining the corporate advantage of limited liability with the pass-through tax advantage of a partnership.

The structure of the Nevis Limited Liability Corporation or LLC is extremely flexible, and is a matter of contract among its members.

Nevis LLC Shares – There are no shares with a Nevis LLC. No bearer share certificates or registered shares. This solves any problems with filing beneficiary owners names in public registry or with the registered agent holding the shares. Very private at a low cost.

Transfer of Ownership – A Nevis LLC ownership can be transferred to another entity be it a natural person or a judicial person (corporation, trust or foundation) without reporting the transfer to any entity. The registered agent does have your ID documents (notarized copy of passport and driver license) so it would be a good idea to know who you are selling the LLC to and get a signed bill of sale.

Nevis LLC Records – These records may be kept anywhere in the world.

Nevis LLC Management Titles - In governing an LLC, the members are free to adopt any titles they wish to use. For example, they may call themselves directors or owners. In addition, if managers or officers are to be appointed to direct the affairs of the company, they may assume any titles that the members decide such as President, Secretary, etc.

The members and managers of an LLC are free to issue powers of attorney to third parties to conduct business on behalf of the LLC. Generally these are notarized and sometimes apostilled as well.

Nevis LLC Membership – The Nevis LLC membership may be determined by the operating agreement of the LLC, which is a private document not on file in any public registry or database. The operating agreement typically names the members of the LLC which can be natural or corporate persons along with their proportionate share or interest in the LLC, and sets forth the internal structure of the LLC. Additionally, the LLC may issue "membership interest certificates" to all the members (similar to shares or stock of a corporation), which certificates will typically bear the name of the LLC, the name of the holder of the certificate, which can be a corporation, foundation or trust, and the proportion or percentage of the interest in the LLC the certificate represents. In many cases, offshore LLC’s do not issue certificates nor provide operating agreements. This allows more flexibility in the future to the members or managers.

Nevis LLC Operating Agreements – These operating agreements grant Nevis LLC's powers formerly reserved only to corporations. For example, Nevis LLC's can have perpetual existence, protect the members from personal claims against creditors of the LLC, allow members to transfer their interests freely, and elect managers (or directors) to run the LLC. In addition, like by-laws, operating agreements can allow for the issuance of certificates to members in the LLC with differing or preferential rights with respect to voting and/or the types of distributions they may receive.

Nevis LLC Liability Limitations - None of the owners are exposed to personal liability. The owners can participate in management without becoming personally liable for the company’s debts.

Owners Names Kept Secret - Nevis LLC offers its members full secrecy, as there is no public filing of their identities.

No Limit on Amount of Members – Nevis Limited Liability Companies have no limitation on the number of members.

Ownership of the Nevis LLC - The ownership of a L.L.C. has no limitations. The owners can be trusts, anonymous corporation or anonymous foundations.

Due Diligence - For a Nevis LLC we require a copy of a passport notarized, a notarized copy of a utility bill showing your address (if you are a renter can be in landlord name, they are used to this) and a reference letter from a lawyer on a professional letterhead (not notarized). This can be sent as an email attachment to: staff@panamalegal.org These due diligence documents will suffice to open the Belize bank account.

If you prefer less due diligence look at our Guatemala option which only requires a scan of a passport:

Guatemala Bank Account

Time Required – Seven to ten days from time we receive documents and payment.

Fee - $1495 for Nevis LLC complete including:

• Government filing formation fees
• Registered Agent and Registered Office fees for the first year
• Certificate of Formation
• Articles of Organization
• Subscriber resignation letter
• Sample Operating Agreement (optional custom designed Agreements are available from our firm)
• Organizer First Minutes
• 1 Blank Membership Certificate
• Manager or Member organizing memo

Nevis LLC and Bank Account in Belize - $2795

Nevis Bank Account – We prefer to not use Nevis banks since they charge percentages on wires.