Forming An Offshore Company: Exploring Panama - written by Earnest Leibermanso

Forming an offshore company in Panama will offer you unparalleled investor confidentiality, a flexible corporate plan and the capacity to perform legal business in the international community.

For the purpose of incorporation, you should have at least two people who are authorized to act as organizers for your company as well as a minimum of three directors, the names and addresses of whom will be kept on public record as directors of your Panama based corporation. The individuals who be acting as organizers for your company will have to appear in front of a public notary to prove their identities.

If you are a trifle apprehensive with the idea of having your name show up in the company's registered documentation, you would be well advised to employ the services of a Panama legal service that will be able to offer nominee directors with signed resignation letters on your behalf.

Panamanian law stipulates that at a minimum the corporation needs to have a; president, treasurer and a secretary. One individual is able to serve as both a President and Treasurer, but the same person cannot be a President and Secretary. The officers your company requires can be provided by a Panama lawyer. Using these officers essentially keeps your name out of the public registry in Panama making ownership difficult to prove.

One of the advantages of establishing an offshore company in Panama is the fact that it is not compulsory to have paid-in capital. However, Panamanian corporations have a standard capitalization requirement of $10,000 for every offshore corporation established.

All of your offshore company records will be filed in the mercantile registry in Panama. Although Panama does not require you to maintain records for your offshore company it may be a good idea for some people especially citizens of the US. In addition, Panama law stipulates that financial statements need not be filed for your corporation so long as the money paid into the company arrives from offshore.

Shares can be made out anonymously in a bearer share format which in essence means that an individual who holds the actual physical share certificates also owns the company. Thus, ownership can easily be passed from one individual to another with no public record of the sale required.

A non-resident Panama offshore corporation can take anything from four to six days to form but in some cases a twenty-four hour express service is available depending on which law firm or service you choose to utilize. If you decide to form an offshore company in Panama it is recommended that you hire a Panama attorney. A Panamanian legal firm can supply you with nominee officers and directors for your offshore company as well as perform the filing all of the necessary paperwork on your behalf.

A lawyer will also visit the public registry on your behalf and file the necessary paperwork since only a Panama lawyer can do this. Forming a Panama company can be done without ever visiting Panama provided you work with a reputable firm. You will need to get copies of your identity documents authenticated through the use of a public notary and the apostille process.