Background
New low fees for re-domiciliation
Ever growing professional and commercial infrastructure
Chinese characters allowed in companynames
Introduction
Samoa, which changed its name from Western Samoa in July 1997, is a group of 9 islands situated in the South Pacific, east of the International Date Line. At various stages, it has been administered by Britain, Germany and New Zealand. Samoa, where English is the language of government and commerce, became independent in 1962 and retains a parliamentary form of government. Since independence, it has developed into a politically stable nation.
Law And Taxation
Samoa's offshore corporate legislation was originally introduced in the late 1980s and was based on Cook Islands legislation but now includes numerous enhancements, making it more user-friendly to suit the requirementsof the Asian market. Of particular note are the following:-
(i) Chinese character names (and other foreign languages) are permitted, in addition to English names on the Certificates of Incorporation, in a properly supervised manner;
(ii) Documentsmay be filed in any language. We have developed a Chinese language M&A to make Samoan companies even more appealing to Chinese language jurisdictions;
(iii) Companies may pay their license fees for 5, 10 or 20 years in advance and substantial discounts are offered to companies that have elected to take up this offer;
(iv) In order to attract businessfrom more expensive jurisdictions in difficult economic times, Samoa has, in August 1998, introduced a new legislation that enables the easy migration of companies in a convenient and effective manner. The government fee for re-domiciling is USD100. Samoa has also reduced the annual license fees for these companies (no matter what the authorized capital is) and announced a special offer for re-domiciled companies at only USD100.
Provision has been made to allow the filing of documents and maintenance of accounts by electronic means.
Corporate Requirements
Chinese names are permitted and can be included on a company's Certificate of Incorporation.
All companies must have a minimum of one director, one shareholder and a secretary. Corporate directors are permitted and bearer shares are also allowed. All companies must have a Registered Office and a Resident Agent in Samoa which must be a licensed trust company. There are requirementsfor Samoan companies to prepare Registers of Directors, Secretaries and Members and for these to be kept at the Registered Office. The shareholders may waive the requirementsfor audited accounts.
Local Infrastructure
The local infrastructure in Samoa is presently very sound and improving continually. A number of leading accounting firms have offices in Samoa and there are numerous legal practices. At present there are three retail banks in Samoa. Another important feature is the presence of a Chinese Embassy which is particularly helpful when legalizing or apostil ling documents requiredfor transactions and businessin mainland China.
Our Services
We have a large stock of companies with English names, English and Chinese names, and the M&A in English and Chinese characters, which are immediately available for purchase. We can incorporate a companywith your choice of name and can also confirm the availability of names in advance. All companies are provided with a complete companykit, including share certificates, 5 copies of the M&A plus an electronic copy on CD-ROM, statutory registers, common seal, companychop and a certificate of guarantee of quality. In addition, we can assist clients in obtaining certificates of good standing, resident agent certificates and other certificates of corporate existence. We do not provide corporate management services but would be pleased to introduce you to other professional firms which do.
Through our Group's licensed trust company in the Samoa, we provide the necessary ongoing services as Registered Office and Resident Agent for all companies that we incorporate. We would also be pleased to provide such services to other Samoan incorporated companies.
