The Federation of St Kitts and Nevis is a Caribbean country that consists of two islands – St Kitts and Nevis. There is a reason why the country is called ‘Federation’: the island of Nevis enjoys quite a lot of autonomy. St Kitts is the larger of the two islands and the central Government is located on that island but Nevis also has its own administration that has a say over a number of local matters. What is more important, however, is that St Kitts and Nevis have dissimilar corporate legislations. If you are looking to register an offshore company, set up an offshore bank account or establish an offshore trust, St Kitts might not be the best option while Nevis is just superb for these purposes.
Nevis LLC
You can register a Limited Liability Company in Nevis and use it as a highly efficient asset protection mechanism. There are several benefits that you can enjoy when establishing an LLC in Nevis. First, registering a company on the island is fast and easy. Naturally, you will have to supply a considerable number of documents when applying for LLC registration but the task is manageable and your company can be established within a week or so. Please consult here with offshore industry experts if you would like to learn how exactly you can register an LLC in Nevis. Please bear in mind that the company registration can be performed remotely, that is, you do not have to go to Nevis to establish a company there.
Second, Nevis remains a tax haven notwithstanding all the international deoffshorization efforts. If you engage in business operations in the country, your income will be taxed and the tax rates are rather high. However, if you derive your income from abroad, it is not taxable in St Kitts and Nevis. There is no capital gains tax in the country, nor inheritance tax, nor withholding tax, nor gift tax. Basically, there are no taxes to evade so the business operations that you perform with your Nevis-registered LLC are going to be perfectly legal.
Third, your Nevis-registered company could hardly be sued by creditors, especially if they come from other countries. Courts of law in the country pay little attention to decisions made by foreign courts. Besides, any entity wishing to sue a Nevis-registered company has to make an upfront payment of US$ 25,000 to the local Ministry of Finance. If the plaintiff loses the case, the money will not be returned. So any creditor who wants to sue a Nevis-based company risks at least twenty-five thousand US dollars. In addition to that, the plaintiff has only twelve months to bring all the evidence to the judges’ attention, which is a short period indeed. Finally, the claimant has to supply evidence that proves the company’s fault ‘beyond any reasonable doubt’. In other countries such as the USA, for example, this requirement applies only to criminal cases and it does not apply to administrative ones. As far as Nevis is concerned, the requirement applies to administrative cases as well. Thus, establishing an LLC in Nevis would be a very good idea if you would like to protect your assets.
Nevis bank account
You can also set up an offshore bank account in Nevis. Please mind that doing so is not as easy as it used to be several years ago. Banks in Nevis have to comply with all the international KYC (Know Your Client) requirements and you will have to pass through stringent due diligence procedures when opening a bank account in the country. In particular, you will have to clearly show to the bank administration where your money comes from and you will have to prove (beyond any reasonable doubt) that the sources of your income are hundred percent legal.
Even though setting up a bank account may not be simple these days, it is still possible to do that. With a bank account in Nevis, you will enjoy several important benefits. First of all, Nevis bankers take banking privacy very seriously. Second, they provide banking services of the highest quality. Third, they also provide a wide range of banking services: personal and corporate accounts, current, checking, and other types of accounts, consultations, brokerage, and many other services that bank clients may require.
Nevis trust
One more efficient instrument of asset protection is an offshore trust. Trusts have been used by wealthy European families for hundreds of years. This is their primary mechanism of avoiding inheritance taxes. How does a trust work? You put your money in a trust and appoint a trustee (or trustees) – a person or a group of people who are going to manage the funds following your instructions. The trust deed determines how the money is going to be used and, most importantly, who the trust beneficiaries are going to be. The Nevis legislation allows the trustor (the person who established the trust) to be its beneficiary so you can freely use your money kept with trust.
At the same time, the money will not be yours, from the technical point of view. This means that neither creditors nor banks will be able to take the money away from you on legal grounds. Moreover, if you establish a trust in an offshore jurisdiction such as Nevis, for example, even foreign courts of law will be unable to get hold of the money that you have in the trust.
To conclude, you can make your financial assets secure if you register a company in an offshore jurisdiction, open a bank account there or establish a trust. Can you combine the three asset protection mechanisms? You certainly can! Needless to say, some paperwork is going to be involved in the process and a considerable amount of time is going to be required. However, all these tasks are possible to perform especially if you apply for professional assistance in these matters.
