Very often, among proposals for the purchase of offshore companies, you can see ready-made firms being sold.
What does such a business imply? In practice, this means that a consulting firm, at its own expense, registers a certain number of companies in the most popular jurisdictions, for further sale to their customers. As a rule, these are inexpensive, classic offshores - Belize, Panama, Seychelles and many other jurisdictions in the Caribbean region.
Each consulting company may have its own list of proposed jurisdictions.
Ready-made companies are, as a rule, are those with a cost price of up to $ 1000 and a very simple registration procedure. When talking about ready-made companies, as a rule, they imply new companies, without any activity.
They should not be confused with ready-made companies, for example, in Switzerland. There, ready offshores may be companies with a long history. Sometimes, they are very useful for obtaining loans.
Differences between ready-made and new firms
# 1 Name: the company already comes with a name. You can change it, but it takes time. Generally, the cost of a ready company is almost the same as if you would do it on your own.
# 2 Ready companies are issued to the client in a matter of hours. The shelf company is a set of blank constituent documents. You would just need to enter your data into the papers and shortly become its happy owner. The next step is opening a bank account and getting down to work.
#3 When buying a shelf company, you need to pay attention to the date of registration. The newer the date, the later it will be necessary to pay for the renewal (annual maintenance) of the company, which, as a rule, is not much less than the amount of an offshore registration.
Another important thing is the supporting document which shows that the company has no financial problems and is properly registered. It is called a Certificate of Good Standing and is issued by the commercial register of the country. Usually, ready companies do not have it. Why is it important?You won’t be able to open a bank account without such a certificate.
Some shady people sell ready offshore companies with ready bank accounts. Remember: no self-respecting, legitimate bank will open an account for an “empty” offshore company.
This is a fraud. You can’t open an account for an offshore company that is not yet registered!
It should be noted that whether you open a company by yourself or buy a ready-made one - this will not affect your business. You’ll just need to choose the right jurisdiction of the company and the jurisdiction for opening a bank account.
The packages of documents when buying a ready-made company and opening a company from scratch are exactly the same. As a rule, these are copies of passports, sometimes confirmation of the address of residence, copies of constituent documents for legal entities, etc.
To summarize, we can say that ready-made companies are absolutely normal practice. Moreover, the phenomenon is very common. The main advantage is the speed of registration of such companies.
But you need to take into account all the nuances mentioned above. Just keep in mind that whether you buy a shelf company or register a new one - this will absolutely not affect your business, there is no difference.
Need a consultation? The Bizonaire team is ready to help you!
