The USVI annual report and franchise tax, filed before June 30

A filing about the entity, not the money it made

The annual report and the annual franchise tax report are one filing, about the entity’s existence. It is separate from the gross receipts tax and the income tax return, with its own agency, form and calendar. A company owes it in the year it was formed, and in a year when it did no business at all.

We assemble the report, compute the franchise tax, prepare the financial statements the filing calls for, and submit it. The tax is computed from the entity’s paid-in capital stock used in conducting business in the territory, so the capital position matters more here than revenue does.

The Virgin Islands annual report filing

Who files

Corporations, LLCs and partnerships registered in the territory, even in the first year or a year with no activity.

When

On or before June 30 each year, for the entity’s last tax closing year.

Filed with

The Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Division of Corporations and Trademarks.

How

Online, on the territory’s Catalyst portal.

Financial statements

Corporations attach a condensed balance sheet and profit and loss, filed confidentially. LLCs and partnerships do not.

If it is late

A penalty and monthly interest. A year unpaid can end in administrative dissolution or revocation, and the loss of good standing.

The access step, and why June is too late to start

The Division will not let a firm file for an entity it has not recognized. If your entity is already claimed on Catalyst, the current authorized person adds us. If not, a principal signs an authorization letter and a government identification document goes up for the Division to approve. We walk you through either path.

That step is the slow part and only happens the first year, so start well before June. Before anything else we confirm good standing, because Catalyst will not process a filing without it, and we clear any delinquent prior years as part of the work.

You see the report and the amount due before anything is submitted, and the government fee is paid at filing on your card, so you see exactly what was paid.

How an engagement starts, from the intro call through to signing: our engagement process.

What we need from you

The first year is one round of documents. After that we mostly confirm what changed.

• Legal name as registered, entity type, the date and place of registration, and the resident agent on file
• Officers, members or partners, their positions, and their addresses as they should appear on the report
• The paid-in capital used in the territory during the period, which the franchise tax is computed from
• For a corporation, the balance sheet and profit and loss from the tax return set, for the condensed statements
• If the entity is not already claimed on Catalyst, a signed authorization letter from a principal and a government identification document
• A card for the government filing fee, entered at submission

If the books aren’t closed yet, we can close them first and draw the condensed statements from the same set.

Upload documents through your client portal, or drop them at the office. Please don’t email Social Security numbers or bank account numbers. The identification document for the authorization step goes through the portal too.

What the annual report is not

Several agencies want different things from a Virgin Islands company, and these filings are often confused with the annual report. We work out at the start which of them your company owes.

Not the gross receipts tax

A Bureau of Internal Revenue filing on what the business takes in, monthly for most businesses. See how the monthly filing works.

Not the income tax return

Also a Bureau filing, on profit rather than the entity’s existence. The franchise tax is not an income tax. See income tax returns.

Not the business license

A different department. A license does not satisfy the annual report, and the report does not renew a license.

Not the EDC annual report

EDC beneficiaries file their own with the economic development authority. It shares the name but is a different document. See EDC advisory.