Offshore company cost: what you'll really pay over three years

Here's the deal: the only price worth comparing is the one you'll pay over the years you keep the company.

Pick a place and how many years. Every government fee is included, and the market median from our study sits next to it.

Every price is two bills in one: what the government charges, and what the provider charges.

Most quotes blend them into one number, so you can't tell whether you're paying for the registry or for markup. Here's the split for every place we form, year one and every year after:

What each part of the price buys

• The registry fee creates the company and keeps it on the register. It's set by law and identical with every provider.
• The registered agent or office is the local address the law requires, every year. Offshore, only a licensed firm can provide it.
• The filings are the yearly return, report or notice each place asks for. Some are free to file; the work is in getting them right and on time.
• The service is everything around it: identity checks, documents, the bank account set up with you, reminders.

Where the money goes in year one

Two places flip the usual pattern. Cayman's government fee rises to US$1,250 a year from 2027, more than its registration fee. And RAK ICC's renewal (AED 3,950) costs more than its formation (AED 3,250). A provider that holds its price flat absorbs the difference.

Totals are abstract. Receipts aren't.

Here are three common cases, itemised line by line over three years. Every number is a real fee, from the registry or from our own price.

The yearly cost doesn't always arrive in one bill. More calculators and checkers like this one are on our free tools page.

Some places bill on your company's anniversary. Others bill everyone on the same date. Pick a place to see your second year, for a company formed this month:

How each place times its bills

• Fixed dates for everyone: Delaware's tax on 1 June and Cayman's fee in January, whenever you formed.
• Half-year dates: the BVI bills companies formed from January to June by 31 May, and the rest by 30 November.
• Your anniversary: Wyoming, Hong Kong, RAK ICC and the UAE free zones bill on the month you formed.
• No yearly state fee: Estonia charges nothing to keep the company registered; the annual report is still due by 30 June.

Banks, exchanges and partners abroad will ask for documents. Each one has a fee.

The two you'll meet most: a certificate of good standing, which proves the company is up to date, and an apostille, which makes a document valid abroad. Here are the official fees, plus whether accounts must be audited:

When you'll actually need them

• Opening a bank or exchange account abroad: often a recent good standing certificate, sometimes apostilled.
• Signing with a large client or investor: a good standing certificate, and the company's register of directors.
• Registering the company in another country: apostilled copies of the certificate of incorporation and the articles.

Most founders need a handful in the first year, then one or two a year. The registry fee is small; the courier and the waiting are what cost time, so order what you'll need in one go.

The most expensive line on any company bill is the one you forgot.

Miss a yearly fee and the penalty grows with time. Miss it long enough and the company is struck off, which means it can't trade, sign or bank until it's restored. The official numbers:

The same late fee, worked through

We did the adding up the advertised prices leave out.

We read 53 published packages from 34 formation providers across nine places, last on 4 November 2026. 37 published enough to work out a three-year cost. Here's the market, place by place:

Five findings

How we ran the study

Which packages. We covered the nine places we form companies in: Wyoming LLC, Delaware LLC, BVI business company, Cayman exempted company, Hong Kong private limited company, RAK ICC company, UAE free zone company, Estonian OÜ and Swiss GmbH. For each place we took the formation providers we already follow, then added providers that came up in search results for that place's formation and cost questions, until each place had five or six. That gave 53 published packages from 34 providers.

When. We first read 43 packages on 26 October 2026. On 4 November 2026 we opened each of those pages again, recording every price as unchanged or updated, and added 10 more packages. 50 of the 53 were read on 4 November. Three pages refused automated visits that day, so their 26 October prices stand. For four packages, the renewal price came from the provider's own page as shown in search results, because the page itself would not open. We used public pages only: no quotes, forms, accounts or checkouts.

What counts in the three-year bill. Year one plus two renewals. When a package left out a government fee, we added it. When it left out something the law requires, such as the registered agent, we added that provider's own published price for it. We added nothing else: no VAT, share capital, bank fees, accounting, audit, tax returns, Form 5472 or residence visas, unless the package already included them. A package counts in the statistics only when its first year, its renewal and its treatment of government fees are all published: 37 of the 53 do. The 3.0 times figure uses the 34 of those with an advertised first-year price above zero. We estimated nothing.

Government fees. Each comes from the registry's or authority's own schedule: the Wyoming Secretary of State fee schedule of 1 July 2026, the Delaware Division of Corporations fee schedule of 1 August 2026 and its annual LLC tax, the Cayman General Registry fee schedule, the Hong Kong Companies Registry fees and business registration fee table, the RAK ICC fee schedule 2026, the Estonian e-Business Register, the Swiss commercial register fee ordinance, RAKEZ's published package and the BVI Business Companies Act fee schedule. Wyoming's state fees include the 2.4% card fee charged online. Where a market package left out a government fee, we added the same official figure, with one exception: Swiss notary fees are not published, so for Swiss packages that left them out we used the provider's own stated estimate.

Currencies. Prices stay in the currency the provider uses. AED and HK$ are converted to US dollars at their pegs (3.6725 and 7.8); euro and Swiss franc prices are not converted, so each place's statistics are worked out per currency. That is why RAK ICC and Switzerland show one package each in the table: only one published three-year price in AED and one in CHF.

Providers are not named. The point is the gap between the advertised price and the bill, not who charges what. We keep each provider's page address, the date we read it and the figures we used in our files.

Limits. Prices are from two days and change often. RAK ICC and Switzerland have too few published prices for a true market median. Hong Kong excludes the yearly audit in every row, ours included. Two renewals are counted in three years, so a Cayman company formed in November or December, or a Delaware LLC formed late in a year, can pay one more government charge inside 36 months. Heirson's prices are shown next to the market and are not part of any statistic.

The cheapest first year is rarely the cheapest company.

The cheapest first year and the cheapest company to keep are different things. Ranked by year one plus two renewals, with every government fee included:

The cheapest isn't always the right one. A Wyoming LLC suits US clients; a BVI company suits holding assets at 0% tax. Our five-question guide helps you pick.

Most savings come from what you don't buy.

The gap is the price of 0% tax and private owners. Pay it when you need those; skip it when a US company does the job.

1. Choose by the yearly cost

   A company you keep for five years costs one year-one and four renewals. Compare renewals first.

2. Skip what you don't need

   Nominee services, extra share capital and express filing all add up. Ask whether each one is required.

3. Keep one company until you need two

   A holding company over a trading company doubles the yearly fees. Add it when there's something to protect.

4. Never miss a date

   Late fees run to 50% of the BVI's annual fee and 100% of Cayman's. A reminder costs nothing.

5. Pay government fees at cost

   Ask for the fee on its own line. If it's higher than the registry's own schedule, ask why.