Panama Company Formations

It usually takes 3 to 4 days to incorporate a Panamanian company and there is no requirement to visit Panama in order to register the company.

To incorporate a company in Panama we require the following:

• Your proposed Company Name
• Details of the proposed business activities
• The directors full name, date of birth, address and nationality
• The shareholders full name and address

Panama Corporation Incorporation

Our Panama incorporation package includes all necessary documents:

• Reserving Company Name
• Articles of Incorporation
• Notarial registration fees
• Capital registration tax based on authorised capital of US$10,000
• Share Certificates
• Minutes of Board Resolution
• Certificate of Incorporation
• Government fees
• 3 Resident Directors can be supplied
• Company Secretary if required
• Nominee Shareholders
• First years franchise fee payable to the government of Panama
• Certified English translation of documents
• All documents and certificates supplied in a professional folder
• Delivery of documents by FedEx / DHL

After you have submitted the name of your Corporation to us, approval of the company name will be obtained within a few hours. We then present the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company to the Registrar, a Certificate of Incorporation will be issued and your new company is incorporated.

Company Name

• All Panamanian corporations must end with the following designations or their abbreviations: Corporation (Corp), Incorporated (Inc) or Sociedad Anónima (SA)
• A Panama company name check can be carried and we can reserve your company name for 7 days

Share Capital

Upon incorporation you must select the number of shares your new company will have, along with choosing if they have par or no par value. The following information must be considered:

• The authorised Share Capital for a Panamanian company is US$10,000
• The Share Capital is divided into 100 common voting shares of US$100 or 500 common voting shares at no par value
• The capital may be expressed in any currency
• Shares may be of par or no par value

Panama Company Director

Both corporations and individuals may act as directors and we can supply nominees if required.

Directors may be of any nationality and need not be residents of Panama. The board of directors must be composed of at least three directors/officers – president, secretary and treasurer.

Panama Company Shareholder

At least one shareholder is required and the shareholder records are not publicly available.

Company Secretary / Treasurer

A company secretary must be appointed we provide this service.

Registered Office and Registered Agent

A Panamanian registered office and registered agent is required for your company, and we provide this service for you.

Advantages of Panama Incorporation

• Official translation into English of Articles of Incorporation
• Incorporating a corporation takes 4 days to be registered at the Panama Registry
• Corporation may be owned by a single person
• The Directors and officers can be any nationality
• The Board of Directors must be composed of at least 3 directors
• Meetings of the Board of a Panama corporation may be held in any country and the directors can attend personally or by proxy
• The meetings of shareholders of the corporation may be held in any country
• The corporation may engage in any lawful business, even if it is not similar to any of the objects of the corporation specified in the Articles of Incorporation
• Corporations only have to pay Panamanian income tax for income derived from sources within Panama
• The legal protection afforded for the confidentiality of business and banking transactions
• The tax exemption status provided to offshore companies

The Articles of Incorporation contain the following information:

• Name and domicile of the subscribers of the Articles of Incorporation
• Name of the corporation
• Purpose of the corporation
• Issued Capital
• Resident Agent
• Name of the officers
• Name and address of the directors

Annual Government Tax

The only tax paid by non-resident offshore Panama Corporations is the flat annual government tax (Tasa Unica).

Panama Ready Made Companies

Kindly note that we do not have available shelf companies as in practice nowadays there are no longer significant advantages of acquiring them and their costs are considerably higher compared to a new company.

Panama Annual Compliance

In line with the Anti-Money Laundering regulations, we complete compliance checks and update the records held at the Registered Office, to ensure your Panama company meets its regulatory obligations and remains in Good Standing.

We conduct annual reviews to ensure that the due diligence documentation held on your company file are up to date.

The fee covers the additional time spent monitoring Know Your Client for the Company Directors, Shareholders and other connected entities, in addition to general matters concerning corporate governance and regulatory updates.

Our annual compliance is based on a Panama company with standard Share Capital, two Directors and two Shareholders. If your company has a higher Share Capital or additional Directors or Shareholders, there will be additional compliance charges.

Shareholder & Directors Maintenance

Under the Companies Act, we need to ensure your company registers, including the directors register and shareholder register are maintained. An updated copy of the Directors register is held at the Panama registered office of your company.

If there are changes to the Company Directors of your company, we will need to get updated due diligence records and file an updated directors register with the Companies Registry.