Belize | Increase in Government Fees and Enhanced Due Diligence Requirements

The Belize International Business Companies (Fees) Regulations (Statutory Instrument No. 11 of 2016), as published on the 16th of January 2016, introduced changes to the government fees for Belize International Business Companies with effect from the 1st of April 2016.

The following changes apply:

  • For companies with authorized capital of up to 50 000 USD.
    • Increase of the registration and renewal fee from 100 USD to 200 USD.
  • For companies with authorized capital exceeding 50 000 USD, the government fee remains the same.

Furthermore, the government fees have been increased for:

  • filing corporate amendments (ie. amendment of Memorandum & Articles of Association etc)
  • filing registries of directors and shareholders;
  • issuing certificates of incumbency, strike-off confirmation, continuation of a foreign company in Belize
  • and others.

Furthermore, please note that due to the Belize Money Laundering and Terrorism (Prevention) Act and other related regulations on the prevention of money laundering, the AML procedures and requirements have become more rigorous.

As a result, corporate services providers in order to ensure compliance with the aforementioned regulations have to:

  • proceed to an annual file review for each company they manage;
  • perform a risk assessment;
  • update the relevant identity and address details;
  • obtain updated information on the transactions and business operations of each company under their administration.

The implementation of these AML measures may result in an additional corporate service fee.

If you are interested in a particular service for your Belize Company, please get in touch with our Corporate Department for further information.