Offshore company lawyers promote the benefits of certain corporate structures, jurisdictions, secrecy-oriented financial products, offshore banks, and even tax strategies.
But, there are a lot of nuances that they tend to gloss over that can severely impact their clients’ abilities to actually capture these benefits.
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for offshore company lawyers (and corporate service providers) to mislead their clients.
Classic examples include: pushing exotic (or complex) structures that aren’t functional, selling unlicensed forex brokerages that can’t be used, promising that the companies they incorporate can easily open bank accounts (when they can’t), or touting the benefits of anonymous bank accounts that aren’t anonymous.
That’s why it’s crucial to carefully select which lawyers you work with. In fact, there are many offshore company lawyers that are excellent and well worth the investment… if you can find them.
In this article, we’re going to look at some of the most important variables to consider when choosing a lawyer as well as some of the most frequently asked questions we receive.
Feel free to jump ahead to the areas most relevant to you by using the table of contents below.
Table of Contents
Offshore Lawyers & Offshore Companies 101
One important point is that you don’t technically need an “offshore company lawyer” to incorporate an offshore company for you.
In fact, in most cases, individuals choose to use a corporate registration service to incorporate and maintain their offshore entities.
That said, many law firms and lawyers do offer corporate registration, secretarial services, and other offshore company-related activities as part of their services.
With this in mind, if you are considering using an offshore lawyer to assist with company registration, it’s important that you consider the following:
Jurisdiction of Company Incorporation
Many offshore lawyers offer incorporation services across a wide range of jurisdictions. Typically, this indicates that they are acting as a reseller. This means they’re usually acting as a middleman between the client (e.g. you) and a local registered agent.
As a result, if you use an offshore company lawyer who isn’t licensed as a registered agent in your preferred jurisdiction, you’re often charged a premium. In other words, customers pay higher than normal fees to compensate the additional party involved (e.g. the middleman), have less responsive support (since they now have to communicate with a middleman), and get less specialized advice since most resellers don’t have local expertise.
That said, for some people who plan to register entities in multiple jurisdictions, it can sometimes be beneficial to pay a premium to work with a lawyer who can act as a single point of contact across jurisdictions. This assumes, of course, the corporate structure is based on good advice in the first place and the lawyer isn’t selling you an overly complex structure simply because it’s profitable to do so.
The Reputation of the Law Firm or Lawyer
Depending on where you register your offshore company, you may decide you want a local bank account. If that’s the case, you could find that the reputation of your lawyer will impact your chances.
In addition to considering the reputation of the offshore company lawyer, it is also crucial to assess their expertise as a banking and finance lawyer, as this can greatly influence your ability to open a local bank account for your offshore company.
In fact, our team has had bankers in prominent offshore jurisdictions tell us that knowing which lawyer is providing the secretarial services to an offshore company can often tell them “a lot about the beneficial owner and whether they might be a suitable client for the bank.”
So, when selecting an offshore company lawyer, choose carefully. Make sure they have a reputation that you want to be associated with and they don’t have a negative reputation within the banking community.
Fees for Company Incorporation & Maintenance
Additionally, when considering which offshore company lawyer to use for company registration and maintenance, pay close attention to the fees.
The reason is that there can be many additional (and hidden) fees levied by offshore lawyers when it comes to registering and maintaining a company. With this in mind, it’s important to request a full itemized fee list from any lawyers (or corporate service providers) that you are considering.
Also, make sure to confirm whether there are any additional fees that could be potentially levied in relation to your company and if there are any expected increases in those fees moving forward.
Here are a few examples of fees that customers overlook or forget to confirm when incorporating a new company:
- Cost of incorporation and government fees
- Cost of registered address
- Cost of the provider’s service fee (can vary widely from firm to firm)
- Cost of renewal and annual maintenance in year 2
- Cost to issue specific documents required for bank account opening
- Courier fees
- Company closure fees
- Cost of any other support services your company might need in the future
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Frequently Asked Questions
Below are three of the most common questions that we receive from people trying to navigate service providers and offshore incorporation. If you have further questions you would like answered, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us directly.
What Services Do Lawyers Offer for Offshore Companies?
Lawyers offer a range of services related to offshore companies, including incorporation, corporate secretarial services, registered office addresses, nominee director services, and more.
Can a Lawyer Help Open Foreign Bank Accounts?
Many lawyers claim that they can help with opening foreign bank accounts. However, in most cases, they are not able to do so. The reason for this is that lawyers are not banking experts, typically maintain few banking relationships, and are often not familiar with the nuances of opening bank accounts for various business profiles and corporate structures.
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