On October 9, 2019 the BVI International Tax Authority published the final version of their ‘Rules and Explanatory Notes’ (the “Rules”) on Economic Substance. The Rules replace the draft BVI Economic Substance Code (the “Code”). The Rules provide very important guidance and explanatory notes to assist with the interpretation of the Economic Substance (Companies and

By way of background, a first draft Economic Substance Code was published by the BVI International Tax Authority (“ITA”) in April 2019. It is anticipated that the final code, now referred to as Rules (and Explanatory Notes), will be published on 30 September 2019 (the “Rules”). A further update will be circulated once the final Rules are available.

Following the introduction of the Economic Substance (Companies and Limited Partnerships) Act, 2018 (the Act) in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) on 1st January 2019 all BVI companies and all limited partnerships with legal personality will need to assess their compliance with the Act and submit compliance reports within six months after the end of