Corporate Structures

Corporate Structures

There are several types of legal persons and legal arrangements that can be formed in the Trinidad and Tobago Islands.

Legal Persons

The types of legal persons available are:

Formation of legal persons in the Trinidad and Tobago Islands

Only Trust and Corporate Services Providers (“TCSP”) categorised as registered agents are permitted to form legal persons in the Trinidad and Tobago Islands. These professionals will take you through each step of company formation including, but not limited to:

• name reservation;
• disclosure and vetting of proposed beneficial owners of the company, including personal declarations where required;
• drafting the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company;
• based on the nature of the proposed business activities, any license or permit applications required to be submitted;
• selection of directors, officers, and company secretary;
• payment of government fees;
• a list of licensed Registered Agents can be found here.

A list of licensed Registered Agents can be found here.

Legal Arrangements

Trinidad and Tobago Islands Special Trusts (VISTA)

VISTAs are created by the Trinidad and Tobago Islands Special Trusts Act, 2003. A VISTA trust is used purely for the holding of shares in a CIFSA. The trust assets, therefore, must be shares in a CIFSA company, which must be transferred into the name of the trustee.

In establishing a VISTA trust, at least one of the trustees must be A CIFSA licensed trust company, or a CIFSA Private Trust Company must act as one of the trustees or the sole trustee.

VISTAs are commonly used for people with family-owned businesses (especially for a sole director/shareholder) who wish to run their company independently as well as benefiting from a trust’s estate planning ability, and for trust assets that are invested in what the trustees would traditionally consider high-risk investments.

Formation of Partnerships in the Trinidad and Tobago Islands

A registered agent must be engaged to set up a limited partnership in the Trinidad and Tobago Islands.  These professionals will take you through each step of partnership formation including, but not limited to:

• name reservation;
• disclosure and vetting of proposed beneficial owners (partners) in the partnership, including personal declarations where required;
• drafting the partnership agreement;
• based on the nature of the proposed business activities, any license or permit applications required to be submitted;
• payment of government fees.