International Nominee company

Examples of uses of a nominee company:

  • Mr. Kaufmann in Germany is buying textile products from various international suppliers. He wishes to centralize his international purchases through an offshore structure in order to access stable interest rates offered by international banks and in order to access all available international discounts; there may also be reasons of confidentiality involved. However, if his German company purchases these goods directly from a British Virgin Islands (BVI) or Seychelles company a tax investigation is likely to follow. Mr. Kaufmann therefore utilises a Nominee company to sell the goods on behalf of the offshore company into Germany.
  • Mr. Brown is selling high tech equipment from the Asia into North America. Mr. Brwon is based in Europe and does his trading through an offshore company. Some of Mr. Brown's clients in North America tell him that they would rather not receive invoices from an offshore company, so Mr. Brown uses a nominee company to keep his clients satisfied.
  • Mr. Oscar wants to own some real estate in his favorite holiday destination, but using an offshore company might give him problems. He therefore uses a nominee structure to avoid tax problems in the holiday resort and his own jurisdiction.

Practical Considerations:

  • Any assets should be in the ownership of the Offshore Company.
  • If physical goods are sold, these are owned by the offshore company and sold for it by the nominee company. Title remains with the offshore company.
  • We recommend that the two companies have different directors and shareholders.
  • Contracts with the nominee company must be signed outside its country of incorporation.
  • It is preferable that the directors of the nominee company live OUTSIDE the jurisdiction of its incorporation. The directors of the offshore company should also be non-resident. We can provide suitable directors subject to certain safeguards.
  • Both companies, both offshore and onshore may not trade in their own countries of incorporation.

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