Bermuda Relocation: Economic Substance, office space and staffing

What you should know about relocating your business to Bermuda and the support available to you

?The Economic Substance Act, 2018 introduced a number of measures to which companies setting up in Bermuda must comply.

?If your organization carries on business in any one of the following relevant activities then you are required to adhere to economic substance requirements:

? Banking ? Insurance

? Fund management ? Financing and leasing

? Headquarters ? Shipping

? Intellectual property ? Distribution and service centres

? Holding entity

?For many entities carrying on relevant activities, the legislation requires that you maintain a substantial economic presence in Bermuda. Economic presence in Bermuda is determined as follows:

? whether the entity is managed and directed in Bermuda

? core income generating activities undertaken

? maintaining a physical presence in Bermuda

? having adequate full time employees in Bermuda with suitable qualifications

? actual operating expenditure incurred in Bermuda in relation to the relevant activity

The Bermuda Registrar of Companies is responsible for monitoring compliance with Economic Substance legislation.

Support is available from Corporate Concierge in relation to Premises and Employees

If your company is in scope of the economic substance requirements it must have an adequate physical presence in Bermuda. This must be proportionate to the nature, scale and complexity of your entity. An adequate physical presence means at the very minimum a physical Bermuda address. This can be office space owned or leased by your company or it can be outsourced to third party service provider such as Corporate Concierge that itself occupies adequate premises in Bermuda. Your Bermuda office address may be shared with other entities.

If your company is in scope of the economic substance requirements it must have adequate full-time employees in Bermuda with suitable qualifications in relation to your company’s relevant activity. There are no rules as to what may be deemed ‘adequate’ for these purposes. The Registrar of Companies will assess compliance by an entity with this requirement in the context of the nature, scale and complexity of that entity’s business. Provided that you can demonstrate that your Bermuda entity has, either itself or through outsourcing arrangements, adequate employees the requirement may be met. We work with our sister company Elevate Executive Selection to provide suitable staffing support.

As companies registered in Bermuda move forward with adherence to the Economic Substance Act requirements, Corporate Concierge is the partner of choice providing specialist support.

?Our corporate clients save time and resources by using Corporate Concierge to organize all aspects of their Board Meetings, Directors’ visits, and on-island business trips.

?Our in-depth Bermuda market knowledge and connections helps our clients streamline their Bermuda experience. The services we provide are tailored to individual client needs, however they can be broadly categorized as follows:

·?????Office space rental and Bermuda registered address services

·?????Staffing of your new Bermuda entity, eg. INED, C-Suite, Legal Counsel, Corporate Secretary

·?????For newly incorporated companies we project manage your office-set up, liaise with commercial realtors, utility providers, and service personnel to ensure a successful launch.

·?????For executives travelling to Bermuda to attend Board Meetings, we coordinate all aspects of your on-island experience: airport transportation, hotel stays, meeting arrangements as well as spouse and family activities when accompanied.

·?????Relocation support for executives moving to Bermuda to head up your new Bermuda operations

Corporate Concierge currently works with Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance companies, ILS companies, financial institutions and High Net Worth Individuals. We liaise with law firms, government agencies and realtors.?We provide a host of corporate support services that contribute to the enhancement?and attraction of Bermuda as a location of choice for international business. Working?together?we?can reinforce your company’s distinction and success.