Seven hundred islands off Florida's coast, 85% English-speaking, English common law enforced through courts up to a Privy Council, allied economically with the US, and cheaper to incorporate and maintain than most of its offshore rivals. The Bahamas is the low-cost, low-friction option for founders who want offshore economics close to home. Two warnings keep it honest: brutal customs tariffs on physical goods, and a legislative track record of tightening under EU pressure.
What it gets right
Cost first: low incorporation fees, modest annual renewals, light-touch reporting. The maintenance burden is genuinely small - a real differentiator against jurisdictions that pile on filings.
Stability and familiarity back it up. A democracy with an elected prime minister, an economy built on tourism and a mature financial-services industry, common law that international counsel already understand, and offices of large international firms on-island. For a founder who wants an offshore holding or revenue center without learning a new legal system, the Bahamas asks little.
Tax runs the standard offshore split: zero corporation and capital gains tax for business conducted entirely outside the Bahamas. Serve the domestic market and significant taxes and tariffs apply.
The privacy split
Shareholders: not publicly listed, not notified to the registry - genuinely private. Directors and officers: notified to the registry and publicly visible, with nominees permitted for those who want cover. Standard offshore asymmetry - owners hidden, board exposed unless you nominee around it.
KYC applies at incorporation, with certified ID and address documents.
The two warnings, stated plainly
Physical goods. Bahamas customs tariffs are very high. An e-commerce operation moving physical inventory through the Bahamas will feel it; a SaaS, crypto, or IP-holding structure that never touches a container won't.
The tightening trajectory. The Bahamas has amended its regulations under EU pressure and signals willingness to keep doing so. Current leniency is a snapshot, not a promise - build structures that survive the rules getting stricter, because the pattern says they will.
The fit: choose the Bahamas when you want a cheap, familiar, US-adjacent offshore for holding assets or booking offshore revenue, and your business is digital enough to shrug off the customs problem. Look elsewhere if physical goods or long-horizon regulatory certainty top your list.