There is a development on the obligation of BVI companies to prepare and submit financial return information (balance sheet and income statement) on an annual basis. This is in continuation to our previous announcement of September 2022 regarding important amendments to the BVI Business Companies Act.
The BVI Financial Services Commission has now finalised the form of the Annual Financial Return (“AFR”) that every BVI company is obliged to prepare and file on an annual basis with its Registered Agent.
The BVI Business Companies (Financial Return) Order, 2023, published on 2 March 2023, provides details on the required form of the ARF, the due and filling dates as well as the entities that are exempted from this filing. In summary, the AFR must include a simple balance sheet and an income statement in the format depicted in the Schedule of the aforementioned law (click here).
The first AFR must be filed within 9 months after the end of the company’s financial year ending on or after 31 December 2023. For example:
- Companies with a calendar year financial period (e.g. 31 December 2023), their first AFR becomes due on 1 January 2024 and needs to be submitted to the Registered Agent by 30 September, 2024.
- Companies with a non-calendar year financial period (e.g. ending 31 March), their first AFR becomes due on 1st April 2024 and needs to be submitted to the Registered Agent by 31 December 2024.
For companies that already initiated a liquidation procedure, AFR is not required to be prepared for any financial periods in which the company is in liquidation. Nevertheless, AFR’s must be filed with respect of all relevant financial years prior to the commencement of the liquidation.
If a company fails to provide the AFR to the Registered Agent, the Agent must notify the BVI Financial Services Commission of this, within 30 days after the deadline of its submission. Failure by a company to file its AFR constitutes an offence and shall be subject to penalties. Further, the company cannot be deemed to be in good standing, and may even result in it being struck-off by the Registrar.
Due to this obligation, you are prompted to start collecting the financial records of your BVI Company, as incurred and prepare management accounts accordingly.
If any assistance is required in this respect, Totalserve can help you with the bookkeeping and AFR preparation.
For more information or further assistance concerning this matter, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your usual contact person or at [email protected].
