The deadline for the first filing of annual financial returns (AFRs) by companies incorporated or registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) is Monday, 30 September 2024. On 26 September 2024, the BVI Financial Services Commission (the Commission) announced that due to policy and logistical issues in ensuring full compliance for the first return deadline, […]

As noted in our previous updater, amendments to the BVI Business Companies Act (Revised) came into force on 1 January 2023 introducing the requirement for BVI companies to file an annual financial return (AFR) with their registered agent. The BVI Business Companies (Financial Return) Order, 2023 (the Order) enacted in March, details (1) the form of the AFR, (2) the due and filing dates, and (3) entities exempted from filing the AFR.

We provide a comprehensive guide to the AFR requirements and what BVI companies need to know in order to be ready to prepare their AFR.

Scrutiny on offshore transactions and their participants is at an all-time high. Through an ever growing number of regulations and laws, parties to transactions and third party providers from banks to corporate service providers are required to gather and, in some circumstances, share information with governments and regulatory authorities.     For the underlying officers and […]

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a popular jurisdiction for establishing companies due to its favourable tax and regulatory environment. However, there are instances when a BVI company is no longer needed, and the decision must be made to either strike it off or initiate a voluntary liquidation. This article aims to shed light on […]

Recent amendments to the BVI Companies Act (Revised) have introduced significant changes to the strike off regime and restoration process. We outline the process and implications around strike off and dissolution of BVI companies under the new regime and the temporary transitional period which is currently in force.

The BVI Business Companies (Amendment) Act introduced changes to the strike off regime and restoration process that may impact your BVI company. Specifically, these changes affect BVI companies that were struck off after 1 July 2016 and before 1 January 2023, and that have not yet been dissolved.

If you have any such existing struck off companies that you may need to restore, it is recommended that you take action now to avoid the costly, complicated, and potentially lengthy process of restoration through a Court application.

In order to ensure compliance with the BVI’s anti-money laundering regime, Approved Managers are required to appoint a money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) and implement appropriate policies and procedures for adoption on an ongoing basis.

Regulators are taking firm action again non-compliance with AML and CFT regulations as highlighted by these recent enforcement cases in Hong Kong and BVI.

A director is appointed by company shareholders to manage the day-to-day affairs of a company. With such management comes certain legal and fiduciary duties, and a director must act in the best interests of that company and its shareholders. Amongst these duties, is the ‘disclosure of interest’, which is the focus of this article with respect to BVI and Cayman Islands companies.

Reminder to BVI companies on ongoing maintenance of accounting records and related official documentation detail

Under the BVI Companies Act (Revised) and the Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act (Revised) a BVI company and the registered agent are required to have knowledge of the location of accounting records and also the person responsible for the keeping of such records.

Furthermore, all BVI companies will be required to file an annual financial return with their registered agent to be retained for record-keeping purposes, commencing from their 2023 financial year.