The economy has diversified from sugar production into tourism and financial services. The government has become more business-friendly and lately has been economically sound. Barbados offers a wide range of offshore formats, and benefits from profitable trade partnerships with the US and Canada. The offshore insurance sector is booming, and there are a growing number of offshore banks. The stock exchange is fully computerized with a central depositary, although mutual funds have not yet developed strongly. There is a wide range of corporate formats, but the taxation structure is complex, although not unduly high. There are manufacturing and other domestic incentives but the home market is inevitably small.
Country: Barbados
Region: Caribbean
Currency: Barbadian Dollar (BBD) (Bds$)
Languages: English
Time Zone: UTC -4
Phone Code: +1246
Communications: Good
Suitable for:
Banking, Insurance, Fund Management, Shipping, Yachting, Intellectual Property/Licensing, Holding Companies
Vehicle Types:
Limited companies, public limited companies, trusts, foreign sales corporations, general partnerships, limited partnerships, exempted limited partnerships and societies with restricted liability
Capital primary business districts:
Bridgetown
Good Relationships:
Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Cuba, Dominica, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Kingdom, United States
Bad Relationships:
Burma, Iran, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria
Tax Burden - Business:
Light
Tax Burden - Individual:
Moderate
Headline tax rates:
CIT 15%, PIT 20-35%, VAT 0%
Treaty Jurisdictions:
Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Bahrain, Belize, Botswana, Canada, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominica, Finland, Grenada, Guyana, Iceland, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Seychelles, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela
TIEA Jurisdictions:
Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland, South Africa, United States
