Bahamas, The

Starting a Business in

Bahamas, The

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Limited Liability Company (LLC)
  • City: Nassau

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Search for a Company name and reserve the proposed name online

The online name search system has been in place since 2004 and its estimate that less than 50% of all applicants use it while the rest still request the search in person. Since the majority of people cannot search it, it is mainly done by lawyers and service providers who include the name fees in their fees. The name reservation expires after 90 days.
1 day no charge (included in proceduer 2)
2 A lawyer prepares and notarizes the company documents (memorandum and articles of association).

Legally, only the memorandum has to be filed at the moment of the incorporation. Standard Articles of Association are available and the memorandum has to be a statutory declaration. Therefore, the most common scenario is to prepares both. Since 2001, the Bahamas has issued many provisions on anti-money laundering and since then the information requested from the client has increased. Usually, a client has to provide the law firm with a financial and a character reference as well as a copy of his or her passport. Affidavit must be executed by witness to subscribers to Memorandum and Articles of Association and a Statutory Declaration must be executed by Notary Public that has notarized the affidavit before another Notary Public. Lawyer should be a notary (at the same time)
1-2 days BSD 500-800
3 A stamp duty has to be obtained from the Public Treasury for the Memorandum.

The fees includes $100 stamp duty is payable on the first $5,000 authorized capital of the company and $3 for every additional $1,000 authorized capital.
1 day BSD 100 stamp duty is payable on the first BSD 5,000 authorized capital of the company and BSD 3 for every additional BSD 1,000 authorized capital
4 File the company documents at the Companies Registry

The registration is usually done by the lawyer. The company is incorporated on the date that the incorporation documents are submitted to the Companies Registry. A registration fee of $330 is paid at the Registrar General’s office($300 for the Memorandum and $30 for the Articles of Association). Once the final incorporation certificate is ready, an additional fee of $4 per page is charged to obtain a certified copy of the Memorandum & Articles of Association.
10-11 days BSD 300 for the Memorundum+ BSD 30 for the Articles of Association + BSD 4 for a copy of the Memorundum and the Articles.
5 Obtain the National Insurance Number for the Company from the National Insurance Board

The National Insurance Number is a requirement to obtain business license. According to the National Insurance Act, every employer has to have a national insurance employer’s number. This could be obtained at no cost and it can be done in a day (by mail or in person). Employer also registers the employees if they have not been registered already. The documents required for registration are birth certificate, photograph, and certificate of incorporation.
1 day no charge
6 Register the company for a business license at the Valuation/Business License Department of the Ministry of Finance.

By law, companies has to have a business license but only non-Bahamians have to have it before starting a business. To obtain the license, the following documents have to be provided: proof of citizenship, copy of the certificate of incorporation, Registration of the business/trade name, a simple copy of the lease agreement of the office space or proof of ownership if owned, and a national insurance number. Flat fee of $100 for the first time registration is charged. However, where foreign persons enter into a contract business, such persons must pay a deposit of 1% of the value of the contract as security for the payment of a license fee to be assessed. Moreover, annual fees are levied as a percentage on the turnover of the company from the second year onwards.
2-3weeks BSD 100 (flat fee)
* 7 Company Seal

A proof of seal has to be provided at the time of filing the first annual income statement. The seal is required from every company according to Art. 26 of the Companies Act. Seals are locally manufactured and can usually be obtained within 2-3 days for $30-35.
2-3 days (simultaneous with previous procedure) BSD 35
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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