General information
St. Lucia Island is located in the east of the Caribbean Sea; the first people appeared there at the beginning of our era. During the middle ages Europeans discovered the island and in 1643 French began to colonize it. After the developing of the sugar industry, the battle for the island between England and France escalated, and the early 19th century it became colony of Great Britain. In the middle of 20th century Saint Lucia joined the West India Company and in 1979 became independent and joined the Commonwealth. Economic base is tourism and off-shore activities, thus services sector accounts for more than 80% of the island’s GDP. Agriculture is also developed. However, there are difficulties with the trade of agricultural products (mainly bananas) as a result in recent years the government began to pay particular attention to the offshore business development.
The most common business entities
There are following legal forms for company registration:
International business company (IBC), the International Partnership (IP), the International Fund (IF) and International trust (IT).
The main features
There are loyal requirements to the directors and shareholders, information on beneficiaries is not freely available.
Corporate legislation
St. Lucia legislation is unique in the British West India. Part of the corporate legislation is based on English law, while civil law is almost entirely borrowed from French legislation.
Registered capital
Standard allowed capital is 100$ USD, with or without released value. Information about the shareholders (including the names and addresses) is stored in a special register in the company’s office.
The main requirements for the directors and shareholders
Any international company must have at least one director. Other specific requirements for directors and their meetings do not exist. Information about directors is stored in a special register; there is no public access to it. Shareholders do not have any specific requirements, except that the company should have at least one shareholder.
Disclosure of the company’s beneficial to the government bodies
Information about the beneficial owners is closed and it is the stored at registration company- disclosed only after the regulatory organs request or a judicial decision.
Accounting system
IBC companies, who chose no income tax scheme, must not submit declaration. Those who chose the 1% tax option should have accounting records and submit declaration that has already been checked by audit. Overall, the accounting reports are stored in the form agreed by the directors’ meeting with no special requirements.