View of Punta Paitilla from Avenida Balboa - Panama City

Anonymous Companies (S.A.)

Panama offers a flexible and well-structured statute of Anonymous (joint-stock) companies; the Panamanian S.A. companies may be used for any legal business anywhere in the world. Panamanian S.A. companies are mainly used as:

• A holding company in order to hold shares in other companies, to own immovables or in order to make banking investments
• A trading or export/import company
• A company which holds trademarks, patents or web sites and which yield a return on the set up trade
• A company which provides online services
• A company which provides online payment services/factoring or
  e-learning (in these cases the Companies must be provided of a specific licence)

The main features of a Panamanian anonimous company may be summed up as follows:

• Shares can be nominal or issued to the bearer
• The board of directors (3) can be totally nominee and provided by us 
• The directors themselves can be appointed respectively as:
  President, Secretary, Treasurer of the company
• It is possible to grant general power of attorney to one or more persons which allows to make any transactions on behalf of the Company (including the opening of bank accounts, the purchase and sale of properties, etc.)
• It is possible to provide the company with a fiscal code (RUC) in order to operate locally
• The minimum capital requirement is of US$ 10.000 and it is not necessary to pay it up
• The time required for the incorporation of a new company is less than two days
• The company meetings may be held anywhere in the world attending personally or by proxy
• There are several available names: S.A., Sociedad Anonima,
  Corp., Corporation, Inc., Incorporated., A.G., Company, etc.

Our documentation and standard services for the Panamanian companies include:

• Pacto Social (charter) written both in English and Spanish plus apostilles
• Minutes of the first meeting plus apostilles
• Certificate of good-standing plus apostilles and certified translation
• General power of attorney (in English) plus apostilles
• A share warrant to the bearer signed in the presence of a notary public plus apostilles
• Three letters of resignation signed by the nominee directors
• Two letters of sale of the shares signed by the subscribers to the company plus apostilles
• Incumbency certificate
• Personal share and partners register
• Corporate Seal
• Personal briefcase
• Nominee service of the board of directors (three persons)
• Use of the registered office (to our office – in a prestigious address and building)
• Turn-key service “to your door”
  
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Limited Liability Companies “S. de R.L.”

Limited Liability Companies, very similar to the anonimous companies in their uses and features, are more simple and understandable to most of clients, and they also differ from the concept of Panamanian IBC (International Business Corporation). The main features of the Panamanian S. de R.L. companies may be summed up as follows:

• They can have from 2 to 20 partners
• One or more partners or a third party may be appointed ‘director’
• The minimum capital requirement is of USD 2000 and the maximum USD 500.000
• The partners can be natural or juridical persons
  (companies, foundations and trusts)
• We can provide nominee partners and the actual ownership of the company will be conferred on the final beneficiary through a trust agreement
• We can provide nominee directors and it is possible to issue general power of attorney to the client or to a trusted third party
  
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Private Interest Foundations.

The Panamanian “Fundaciones”, which must not be confused with charities, are the most interesting structures in the world for asset protection. The Panamanian private interest foundations may be easily incorporated and managed and in comparison with trusts or other alternatives also offer more advantages (such as property funds or different trust mandates):

• The foundation may have an unlimited life (differently from trusts)
• The foundation has its own identity (like a company) and does not depend on the life or the action of a trustee and this figure is not necessary for the maintenance of a foundation
• The security of transactions is guaranteed by a charter committee (which may be entirely nominee and appointed by our office) as well as by a ‘supervisor’ (non mandatory)
• The charter committee may grant power of attorney to one or more trustworthy persons in order to accomplish any actions on behalf of the foundation itself (opening of bank accounts, sale and purchase etc.)
• The minimum capital requirement to be paid up by the ‘founder’ is of US$ 10.000
• The founder may be nominee in order to guarantee privacy protection
• The foundation may receive contributions from many different subjects (differently from the trusts in some countries where only the settlor can provide property)
• The rules which will establish the right to benefit from the assets of the foundation by the beneficiaries can be drafted freely and with all the necessary creativity and accuracy (for example, it is possible to add clauses and conditions as: “the first daughter/son to get married will get the apartment Y … if s/he divorces, the apartment will be given to the second married daughter/son” … or: “if the daughter/son X was unemployed, s/he would have the right to receive an Y monthly sum of money… etc.)
• The rules may supply information not only about the chance to benefit from the assets but also about the chance to transfer (or not) the assets to a beneficiary.

These are the most common uses of private-interest foundations:

• Asset protection
• Testamentary planning
• Joint acquisition of shares
• Asset and fund raising with a precise object

The documents and services we offer for the Panamanian foundations are the following:

• A charter written both in English and Spanish plus apostilles
• A good-standing certificate plus apostilles and certified translation
• General power of attorney (in English) plus apostilles
• Three letters of resignation from the nominee charters
• Incumbency certificate
• Book of the ‘rules’ which determine the sharing out to the beneficiaries (the drawing up of the rules is not included in the and will be invoiced according to the working hours – as well as the translation and asseveration charges)
• Corporate Seal
• Personal briefcase
• Provision of board of nominee directors (three persons)
• Use of the registered office (to our office – in a prestigious address and building)
• Turn-key service “to your door”
  
    FOR MORE INFORMATION  

Panama: a clean tax heaven.

Over the centuries Panama was and will still be the link between Central and South America. It is a country with a unique geographic and strategic position for the world trade thanks to the homonymous canal and the ‘Zona Libre’ of Colòn.
Panama’s unique ‘status’ encouraged such favourable tax and financial laws as to attract foreign investors.

Although the shipping companies which do not carry out any business in the country can benefit from a zero tax regime, Panama could not be officially included among the ‘black listed’ countries thanks to the uniqueness of the charter compared with the one applied to the local companies.

The single tax (Taxa Unica) to be annually paid for the renewal and maintenance of every Anonymous Company is only of US$ 300; in addition to this tax there are the charges for the renewal of the board of nominee directors and of the registered office.

Panama also offers a further significant advantage in comparison with other ‘black listed’ countries: since decades the standard currency (the Balboa) has been equalized to the USA dollar, which is also the legal tender in Panama … for this reason in this country exchange risks are
non-existent.

The services offered by Mazzone & Co. S.A. in Panama may be summed as follows:

• Incorporation of
  Anonimous Companies
• Incorporation of
  ‘S. de. R.L.’ Companies
• Incorporation of Private
  Interest Foundations
• Special licences
• Citizenship and Immigration Programmes
• Shipping Services
• Bank Account Openings

The Global Bank Building, seat of our office.

Living & Investing in Panama.

The Panamanian legislation offers a number of considerable opportunities in the immigration and citizenship sector. These are the services which deserve greater attention:

• Investor visa (the passport is immediately granted)
• Self-economic investor visa (domicile of choice)
• Investor visa (for reforestation or entrepreneurial activities)

A specific section of the website deals with the immigration and second nationality issues.

  FOR MORE INFORMATION  

Panama and its Banks.

The world’s leading banks have branches in Panama and counters are at every corner of the banking center of Paitilla. Our office offers to selected customers banking introduction to the principal banks.
Since few years euro and other currency accounts have been available in addition to the USA dollar.

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Shipping Registration in Panama.

Panama can boast the largest Mercantile Registry in the world both for number of registrations and total tonnage of the registered boats. Our office offers the following shipping services in Panama:

• Registration of pleasure boats (yachts), of freight boats,
  tug boats and fishing boats under the Panamanian flag
• Surveying
• Provision of certificates

To find out more about shipping services, simply click on this link.

  FOR MORE INFORMATION  

Special Licences.

The Panamanian companies can be granted the licence to set up every kind of business in the Country and abroad. Our Panamanian office may consider requests to grant licences in the following lines of business:

• Financial Services
  (factoring, online payment, money transfer)
• Banking Services
• Insurance Services
• Educational Services (universities and
  private schools)

The above-mentioned services are exclusively for customers with excellent references, subject to a previous consulting meeting.

  FOR MORE INFORMATION  

The Public Register is online!

Now it is also possible to consult the website of the public registry (Registro Publico) in order to get information on companies, foundations and boats registered in Panama.