BVI Company Secretarial Services: Scope & Fees

Read the annual fee as a scope question

The three observed figures describe annual secretary provision, but they do not establish the same volume of board work, responsibility or transaction support. The higher published schedule assumes a passive investment holding company and allows increases for activity or additional responsibilities. The lower schedules separate other agent and administrative items. That difference prevents a reliable average or a ready-made budget.

The source schedules were publicly accessible on the verification date; one bears an older schedule date. Availability is not confirmation that the provider will accept your company at that price. These numbers are scope-checking evidence, not an approved price list. No standalone HSJGlobal BVI secretarial fee has been established for publication here.

Ask for the contracting entity, applicable tax treatment and service start/end dates. State whether the quote is for appointment only, a fixed annual workload or time charged as used. Government charges and other professional services should be separately identified rather than presumed to be inside the secretary line.

Separate the officer appointment from the work

A person appointed as secretary and a team providing secretarial assistance are not necessarily the same arrangement. The company may need practical record support without buying the particular appointment advertised by a provider. Conversely, a named appointment may carry little routine document work unless the engagement includes it.

The BVI Business Companies Act’s provisions on authentication and management distinguish document authentication from management by directors. The published consolidated text is dated 2020 and must be read with applicable amendments; it should not be used as a reason to assume a secretary has unrestricted authority. Check the company’s current Memorandum and Articles of Association and the relevant approvals.

During BVI company incorporation , the initial constitutional documents and governance records establish the starting position. Continuing secretarial support should preserve that history and document later decisions. It should not invent approvals after the event or convert a service provider’s template into a decision the company never made.

Administrative preparation is different from corporate approval. A secretary can prepare a draft for the authorised decision makers, circulate it and maintain the executed version within the agreed scope. Identify who approves the substance and who checks whether specialist advice is needed.

Map each corporate event to a deliverable

Use an event schedule to make the engagement measurable. It should specify what triggers work, what information is needed and which output closes the request. The following map is an original scoping tool, not a statutory filing list or a representation that every event uses the same procedure.

Allocate instructions and approvals to actual people. For a share transaction, the secretary should not be expected to resolve ambiguous ownership, negotiate investor rights or give an unscoped legal opinion. Pause the administrative timetable when those questions remain open, then restart from settled instructions.

Be equally precise about recurring support. A calendar reminder, preparation of a return, submission and retention of the receipt are distinct outputs. renewal services and their exclusions need checking against the secretarial schedule so that neither team assumes the other has completed the work.

Agree how errors are corrected. The scope should distinguish a correction to the provider’s draft from a new instruction that changes the transaction. This helps resolve whether additional work belongs inside the original fee or needs a separately approved change.

Build a budget from the expected workload

For an ordinary non-regulated BVI Business Company, use this planning formula: annual appointment or retainer, plus chargeable events, plus approved time beyond the allowance, plus official and third-party disbursements, plus applicable tax. This is a fee model, not a numerical quotation. Do not count the same event twice when a retainer already covers it.

A workload allowance needs a unit. It could be a stated number of standard resolutions, a defined meeting service or an agreed number of hours. Ask how a complex event is identified, whether unused capacity carries forward and what happens when a request crosses the annual renewal date.

• Quiet holding company: prioritise reliable records, a named contact and a clear event-charge schedule.
• Active board: specify meeting preparation, attendance if needed, minute turnaround and the approval process.
• Investment or restructuring period: obtain a transaction-specific scope for share rights, ownership updates and specialist coordination.

Keep registered agent and office charges in their own budget line with their own service periods. Government filings, legal opinions, accounting, tax, economic substance, bank certification, translation and courier belong in separately confirmed lines where relevant. Share capital and money retained in the company are not secretarial revenue.

Before accepting the total, request a worked quotation for your expected year: the retainer, one representative event and the renewal basis. If the provider cannot define the event work, the annual headline cannot reliably support a total-cost comparison. Avoid using an unrelated formation starting price to fill that gap.

Choose support that matches your record work

Choose an appointment-only arrangement when you understand what the appointment covers and have allocated routine administration elsewhere. Choose a defined annual service when predictable board and record work justifies it. For unusual transactions, obtain a separate scope before assuming that an annual secretary fee includes the work.

Do not approve a total that has no defined workload. Resolve service periods, authority, included outputs, additional rates and document access first. Where current price or scope cannot be confirmed, retain the evidence and obtain a written proposal; the observed market figures cannot substitute for that commercial decision.

Accept completed work against the event map: approved decision, current record and any required submission evidence. That gives the company an orderly file and a transparent basis for renewal, even when different providers perform the appointment, administration and registered-agent functions.