Company formation for non-residents
We register International Companies (ICs) - Samoa's core vehicle for cross-border business. In January 2026 the jurisdiction moved to a territorial tax system, and on 17 February 2026 the EU removed Samoa from its blacklist. Foreign-sourced income is not taxed in Samoa, the register of directors and shareholders is closed, and no accounts are filed with the registry. We draft the memorandum and articles, file through a licensed trustee company regulated by SIFA, and support the company after incorporation. Everything is handled remotely.
Corporate, tax and annual conditions for non-residents following the 2026 reform.
Incorporated under the International Companies Act 1988. A limited liability vehicle for cross-border activity: it holds assets, enters into contracts and trades outside Samoa. It cannot carry on business within Samoa or own local property.
This is a statutory requirement, not an option: only non-residents of Samoa may hold shares in an IC. One director and one shareholder are sufficient, and the same person may hold both roles. Corporate directors are permitted and there are no nationality restrictions.
You cannot file with the registry directly. Incorporation is handled exclusively by a licensed trustee company, which also acts as resident agent or secretary and provides the registered office. The register is maintained by the Samoa International Finance Authority.
Since January 2026 Samoa has applied a territorial system: income from sources outside the country is not taxed, while Samoa-sourced income is taxed at 27%. The statutory exemption for ICs is being withdrawn from 1 January 2028, so structures should be planned with that date in mind.
No local office, no staff in Samoa, no mandatory audit and no annual economic substance return. Accounting records reflecting the company's financial position are held by the trustee company and are not published - they must be kept for 7 years.
An annual licence fee payable to SIFA, plus renewal of the trustee company and registered office. No financial statements or tax returns are filed with the registry unless the company earns Samoa-sourced income.
The final cost depends on the package you choose, the trustee company services included and any additional work required by your project.
Information current as of July 2026.
From basic International Company incorporation to a full package with annual maintenance and banking support.
Basic IC incorporation
Annual maintenance included
Director, shareholder and documents
For launching an IC with director and shareholder services, a full set of corporate documents and a banking solution matched to your business.
Important: we advise on choosing a bank or payment provider and help you prepare your application, but we cannot guarantee that an account will be opened. The final decision always rests with the bank or EMI after it has reviewed the company and its beneficial owners.
A territorial jurisdiction with no economic substance requirements: foreign income is not taxed, the registers are closed, and the company is entered on the register within 24 hours.
Holding shares in foreign companies, securities and intellectual property rights. Income from sources outside Samoa is not taxed in the jurisdiction.
A base for cross-border supply, consultancy and IT services with counterparties outside Samoa. There is no exchange control and capital may be denominated in any currency.
The register is closed and beneficial ownership data is held by the licensed trustee company. An IC is often placed beneath a Samoan or foreign trust as the lower tier of the structure.
Transfer of domicile into Samoa is permitted by law. On redomiciliation the annual licence fee is reduced to US$100 instead of the standard US$300, and the company's original incorporation date is preserved.
Since January 2026 a territorial principle has applied: only Samoa-sourced income is taxed, at 27%. Profits from activity abroad fall outside the tax base.
Details do not appear on any public register. They are held by the trustee company and disclosed only to the regulator or by court order, with penalties for unauthorised disclosure.
No local office, no staff in Samoa, no mandatory audit and no annual substance return. Compared with the BVI and the Cayman Islands, this materially reduces the cost of holding the company.
On 17 February 2026 the Council of the EU removed Samoa from its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions following the tax reform. Samoa does not appear on the FATF or OECD lists either.
To incorporate an International Company you will need documents for the shareholders and director, plus a decision on the company structure. Every stage is handled remotely through a licensed trustee company.
The exact set of documents depends on the ownership structure, the residency of the beneficial owners and the requirements of the trustee company involved.
A single director is sufficient - an individual or a corporate entity of any nationality. No Samoan resident is required, and the register of directors is not public.
One shareholder is enough, whether an individual or a company. The same person may act as both shareholder and director. Ownership must be 100% foreign: residents of Samoa cannot hold shares in an IC.
Required by law. Filings with the SIFA registry are made exclusively through a trustee company licensed under the Trustee Companies Act 2017 - a non-resident cannot incorporate directly.
The same trustee company provides the registered office in Samoa and acts as resident secretary or agent. This is a statutory condition and is included in the package.
The name must be in Latin script and end with Limited, Ltd, Corporation, Inc or Incorporated. There is no minimum capital, the usual authorised capital is US$1,000,000, and shares may be issued with or without par value. A name can be reserved with the registry for up to 3 months.
Since January 2026 Samoa has applied a territorial principle: income from foreign sources is not taxed, while Samoa-sourced income is taxed at 27%. No accounts are filed with the registry.
Foreign-sourced income
no tax on profits from sources outside Samoa
Samoa-sourced income
an IC may not carry on business in Samoa, so in practice no tax base arises
Economic substance
no local office, no staff and no substance return
Financial statements
no audit required, accounting records kept for 7 years
The January 2026 reform replaced the status-based exemption for ICs with a territorial system. Only Samoa-sourced income is taxable. This is what allowed the country to come off the EU blacklist.
An annual licence fee of US$300 payable to SIFA, reduced to US$100 for redomiciled companies. The fee does not depend on turnover, profit or the size of the share capital.
The tax exemption for ICs is withdrawn from 2028. By then the structure will need to be rebuilt or moved to another jurisdiction. We flag this before you commit and plan the timeline with you.
Pay the licence fee through the trustee company to keep the company in good standing
Renew the trustee company services and the registered office
Keep accounting records reflecting the company's financial position for 7 years
Update beneficial ownership details with the trustee company whenever they change
Assess tax in your own country of residence: a 0% rate in Samoa does not remove it
Samoa participates in the automatic exchange of information under the Common Reporting Standard and is a member of the BEPS Inclusive Framework. A zero rate in the jurisdiction does not exempt the beneficial owner from tax in their country of residence - review the CFC rules that apply to you before you incorporate.
Information current as of July 2026.
The account is not opened in Samoa. Local banks serve residents, so for an IC the working route is payment institutions and banks in third countries. To be blunt: banking is the tightest bottleneck for a Samoa company, and it needs to be planned before you incorporate.
The main working route for an IC. Live in a matter of weeks, multi-currency details, opened remotely with no visit required. For an operating business this is usually faster and more realistic than a bank.
The bar is high. Years on the EU blacklist left their mark: banks in Hong Kong and Singapore scrutinise Samoan companies particularly closely. The February 2026 removal from the list helps, but not overnight - you will need genuine trading activity and a meaningful balance.
Compliance teams look at good standing, source of funds and whether the operations are real. For Samoa we build the file more thoroughly than usual: the bank needs to see a working business, not an empty shell. The quality of your file matters more here than the choice of bank.
We assess your activity, payment geography and each bank's requirements before any application is made.
Entry on the SIFA register takes up to 24 hours. Most of the time is spent on the trustee company's compliance checks. Every stage is handled remotely.
Samoa has come off the EU blacklist and is a noticeably cleaner jurisdiction than it was. It still has limits. Here they are honestly, along with the jurisdictions that cover them.
The tax exemption for ICs is withdrawn from 1 January 2028. If you are building a structure for the next ten years, budget for rebuilding or relocating it. Jurisdictions without that date in the calendar are an easier fit for a long horizon.
Samoa spent eight years on the EU list, and bank compliance moves more slowly than regulators do. Opening an account is the longest and least predictable stage of the project.
For a funding round, an M&A deal or a pre-IPO structure, Samoa is the wrong choice: funds and exchanges will not look at the company. That is BVI and Cayman territory.
An IC cannot deal with residents of Samoa or own local property. Banking, insurance, trust business and fund management are prohibited or require a separate licence.
Delaware-style corporate law, no direct taxes, and companies that trade on the NYSE and Nasdaq. Easier for banks and investors to read, though an annual economic substance return is mandatory.
The benchmark of the offshore segment, recognised by funds, exchanges and banks. More expensive to maintain and subject to economic substance rules, but it opens doors that stay shut for Samoa.
A classic IBC with closed registers and minimal annual upkeep. Comparable running costs to Samoa, and Seychelles is now off the EU grey list as well.
The fastest and cheapest way into the offshore segment. A good fit when all you need is a straightforward holding or trading vehicle with no listing ambitions.
Every project is different - we tailor the solution to the specific task, jurisdiction and business model.
Samoa The client builds custom software, with clients in the US and Australia. He needed a company to invoice through and sign contracts, but without BVI-level running costs. He looked at Cayman, added up the annual maintenance and walked away: for two contracts a year, that structure does not pay for itself.
Solution We incorporated an IC in Samoa. The jurisdiction has no economic substance requirements and no audit, and the annual fee is fixed - running costs come out several times lower than the Caribbean options. Account details were set up with an EMI, and the account was live before the courier arrived with the originals. We flagged 2028 up front.
I didn't need a fortress of a company, I needed to send invoices and sleep at night. Half the jurisdictions I ruled out purely on renewal cost - the annual maintenance was more than I earn on that company in a quarter. I know about 2028, we'll deal with it when we get there.
Samoa The client trades electronics with buyers in the EU. His old company was in a jurisdiction on the EU list, and European counterparties started asking questions: first they wanted assurances, then one of them simply asked him to change the contracting party. Losing the buyer was not an option, and an expensive European structure did not fit the budget.
Solution We moved the contracts onto an IC in Samoa. In February 2026 the EU removed the country from its blacklist, and conversations with counterparties got noticeably shorter. It is not a guarantee, but the list stopped coming up in the correspondence. The account was opened with an EMI while we prepare the file for a bank.
I never thought a line on some European list would cost me a buyer. It did. There are fewer questions now - not that everything is smooth, but at least people read the documents instead of shutting the conversation down. For me that is already a different conversation.
Samoa The client was setting up a trust for family assets, with the upper tier put together by lawyers in the BVI. He needed a holding vehicle for stakes in two foreign businesses: no trading activity, no public footprint, minimal cost of ownership. Paying for an expensive structure to do that made no sense.
Solution We placed an IC in Samoa at the bottom of the structure. The registers are closed, beneficial ownership data sits with the licensed trustee company, and nothing is filed with the registry. The company does nothing at all - it just holds the stakes, and the running cost reflects that. We checked the timeline against the date the exemption ends.
The trust lawyers told me to put something simple and quiet at the bottom, since the whole thing sits at the top anyway. Honestly, I couldn't tell these islands apart until someone showed me the renewal figures. The running cost turned out to be three times lower, for a company with exactly one job.
If your question is not answered here, send us a request and we will look at your situation directly.
Request a consultationEntry on the SIFA register takes up to 24 hours - in terms of the filing itself, this is one of the fastest jurisdictions in the world. But that is the final step. The real timeline is set by the trustee company's compliance checks on the beneficial owners, the source of funds and the intended business. Allow from 5 working days for incorporation, and separately several weeks to open an account - these are two different stages.
Since January 2026 Samoa has applied a territorial principle: income from sources outside the country is not taxed, while Samoa-sourced income is taxed at 27%. Because an IC is prohibited by law from carrying on business inside the country, in practice no tax base arises. One thing you should know: the tax exemption for ICs is withdrawn from 1 January 2028, so we plan long-term structures with that date in mind.
No. On 17 February 2026 the Council of the EU removed Samoa from its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, following the tax reform that replaced the status-based exemption with a territorial system. Samoa does not appear on the FATF or OECD lists either. That said, banks work through eight years of reputational history more slowly than regulators do.
No, the whole process is handled remotely. Documents are signed and submitted from wherever you are, and the filing is made by a licensed trustee company. The original corporate pack is couriered to you in any country.
Details of directors, shareholders and beneficial owners do not appear on any public register - they are held by the licensed trustee company, and unauthorised disclosure carries penalties. At the same time, Samoa participates in the automatic exchange of information under the Common Reporting Standard, so this is confidentiality from the public, not opacity towards tax authorities.
No. Samoa requires no local office, no staff in the country, no audit and no annual economic substance return. This is the key difference from the BVI and the Cayman Islands, and the main reason the cost of holding a Samoan company is materially lower. You do need to keep accounting records and retain them for 7 years, but nothing is filed with the registry.
No financial statements or tax returns are filed with the registry, provided the company has no Samoa-sourced income. Each year you pay the SIFA licence fee and renew the trustee company services and the registered office. Accounting records reflecting the company's financial position are held by the trustee company for 7 years.
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. For Samoa this is the hardest stage: years on the EU blacklist left their mark, and banks in Hong Kong and Singapore scrutinise these companies particularly closely. We advise on the route, build the file and prepare you for the application, but the final decision rests with the bank or EMI. For an operating business, a payment institution is often the more realistic option.
The basic mechanics are similar: closed registers, no filed accounts, one director and one shareholder. The differences are in the detail. Samoa has no economic substance requirements and a strong trust framework, but it also has the 2028 exemption deadline. Seychelles and Belize are cheaper to set up, while Samoa wins on annual running costs. We match the jurisdiction to the job, not to the incorporation fee.
Get a consultation
Send a request. We'll get back to you within 30 minutes and find a solution for your task
By clicking "Send request", you agree to the processing of your personal data in accordance with the Privacy Policy.
