As of the 1st of January 2023, multiple amendments to the BVI Business Companies Act will come into force, with some of them being purely technical and some game-changing. Please read on, to find out what key changes to your BVI business you should be aware of.

The key revisions will include the following:

1. Names of company directors will be publicly accessible:
- only the names of the current directors of the BVI company will become available. Dates of birth, nationality, addresses and other personal information will not be publicly accessible. The names of former directors will not be available

 2. Legal framework for the ‘Register of persons with significant control’ will be introduced (but not the Register as such yet)

 3. New Annual Financial Return requirements will come in force:
- the Annual Return form will include a basic balance sheet and profit and loss statement for the company’s financial year. It will not need to be audited. The annual return will only be filed privately with the registered agent of the BVI company and will not be accessible to the public. The filing will have to be done within 9 months after the end of the company’s financial year to which the annual return relates.

4. New requirements for voluntary liquidators:
- a voluntary liquidator of a BVI company (or, in the case of a joint liquidation, at least one of the liquidators) must now be resident in the BVI and must have certain experience and qualifications

There is also a number of amendments related to strike-off, redomiciliation procedures, record keeping, and more.

Please contact us to find out how your BVI companies may be affected, and/or discuss whether redomiciliation to a more favourable jurisdiction, like RAKEZ or RAKICC, UAE, might be the right option for your business.