About British Virgin Islands
History and Government
The British Virgin Islands is a group of more than forty islands situated in the Caribbean approximately sixty miles east of Puerto Rico. It follows United States Eastern Standard Time and is connected by numerous daily flights to San Juan in Puerto Rico. San Juan is an international juncture with direct flights to the United States, South America and Europe.
The British Virgin Islands is a British protected territory and a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It became self-governing in 1967 and has a democratically elected Legislative Council of eleven members and an Executive Council comprising the Governor and four Ministers drawn from the Legislative Council.
Legal System
The legal system is based on the English Common Law. The judiciary is appointed by the territorial government. The ultimate appellate court is the Privy Council in London.
International Financial Services Centre
The BVI is an international finance services centre having registered over 1,400,000 International Business Companies. Trusts (including VISTA trusts) and limited partnerships are also available. There are no direct taxes on non-residents and no exchange controls. Portcullis TrustNet (BVI) Ltd has considerable experience in the BVI and is able to assist in the establishment of these and other BVI entities.
The British Virgin Islands, by virtue of its double tax treaties, was a financial centre long before the enactment of the International Business Companies Act in 1984 ("IBC Act"). In 1984 the Territorial Government enacted legislation to enable the jurisdiction to meet the increasing demands of the international financial community. The cornerstone of the corporate legislation has been the IBC Act.
This legislation has proved so popular with the international financial community that the British Virgin Islands is now one of the world's pre-eminent offshore financial centres.
In 2004 the BVI Business Companies Act 2004 was enacted. This piece of legislation retains almost all of the provisions of the IBC Act but improves and enhances the IBC Act's features. From 1 January 2007 the new Act repealed and replaced the IBC Act.
In keeping with its role as one of the world's pre-eminent financial centres, the Territorial Government has also been conscious of the need to provide the international financial community with a broader legal framework within which to provide offshore financial services.
The BVI regularly reviews its statutes and recently this has seen the amendment in 1993 and 2003 of the Trustee Ordinance, 1961, the enactment of the Partnership Act, 1996, the Mutual Funds Act, 1996 (amended in 1997), the Business Companies Act 2004, the Virgin Islands Special Trusts Act 2003 and the Insolvency Act 2003.