Marshall Islands client case studies in 2023

• Economic substance filing for Marshall Islands company

  Background

  Our Client approached us in October 2021 to complete an economic substance filing for their dormant Marshall Islands company, as part of the company’s annual renewal. The company releases mobile games on the Apple Application Store and Google Play, and our Client (who is the sole company director) is based in Mexico.

  After a call with our Client , where I outlined the renewal steps, our Client settled Healy Consultants Group’s Marshall Islands renewal fees. These include i) our time to submit an Economic Substance filing to the government ii) payment of government fees iii) renewing local company secretary and registered office services with our Marshall Islands supplier and iv) renewal of the mail forwarding service from the registered office address to our Client in Mexico.

  Engagement planning

  • We confirmed with our Client our fees to complete the i) economic substance filing and ii) annual renewal submission to the Marshall Islands government.
  • We explained to our Client what information we would need from him to complete the annual renewal.

  Economic substance filing

  • Based on our Client’s feedback, I prepared the required government form for an economic substance filing for a dormant company for our Client’s review and approval. This form follows a prescribed format and includes i) confirmation of whether the company conducted any business activity in the reporting period ii) confirmation of whether the company has local staff or office and iii) the name, address and phone numbers of the company directors.
  • Upon confirmation of the above from our Client, I submitted the economic substance report form through the Marshall Islands government online portal.
  • One day after filing the economic substance form online, I received the Economic Substance Certificate – containing the company name and number – from the Marshall Islands government and e-mailed the same to our Client.

  Annual renewal

  • To renew our Client’s Marshall Islands company, we also had to renew the local company secretary and registered office services with our local supplier in the Marshall Islands.
  • To complete this step, I settled the fee with our supplier. Within one week, the supplier confirmed that our Client’s services had been renewed for one more year, and this was subsequently confirmed to our Client.

  Engagement completion

  • We sent our Client the Economic Substance Certificate and confirmation that the renewal was complete.
  • I requested a professional reference from our Client, and our team also requested the Client to post an online review.

• Annual economic substance reporting obligations met

  Background

  Our client, based in Canada, runs a pharmaceutical distribution company incorporated in the Marshall Islands. It was incorporated in 2012 and has been dormant and not generated any forms of income since.

  In the third quarter of 2021, our Client engaged Healy Consultants Group for our Marshall Islands annual company renewal services, including i) economic substance 2021 report filing for a dormant entity to be submitted to the International Registries ii) company secretary and legal registered office and iii) the settlement of the annual corporation maintenance fee to the Trust Company of the Marshall Islands, Inc.

  Engagement Planning

  • In the third quarter of 2021 our Client settled our renewal fees.
  • Within a week, this engagement was assigned to Elmira, our in-house accounting and tax expert based in Singapore.
  • Elmira verified all economic substance reporting obligations for this Client and informed the Client about all upcoming deadlines, as well as the main milestones of this engagement to clearly define an action plan for the upcoming months and set Client expectations.

  Economic Substance Reporting Obligations

  • Firstly, Elmira verified and confirmed with our Client via email that the company was dormant during the financial period.
  • Upon confirmation of the dormancy, Elmira adjusted list of mandatory filings applicable for our Client’s business.
  • Thereafter, she prepared a draft economic substance reporting filing form, which was sent to our Client for their review and approval.
  • Within 24 hours of receipt of confirmation from the Client, Elmira submitted the economic substance filing to the International Registries on 1 October 2021 and sent confirmation of the same to the Client.
  • At the same time, Elmira settled the annual corporation renewal fee with the Marshall Islands Registrar.
  • On 2 October 2021, International Registries successfully issued the Certificate of Economic Substance Reporting Compliance to our Client and proof of annual corporation renewal fees payment.

  Engagement completion

  • Our team sent an email to our Client on 6 October 2021, summarizing all legal, compliance, and economic substance reporting obligations for the financial year end 2021, and confirming completion of the same. The email included proof of the economic substance filings from the government and proof of payment to the Trust Company of Marshall Islands, Inc., confirming completion of the same.
  • Healy Consultants Group asked our Client for a online professional reference.

• Corporate Services in Marshall Islands

  The Marshall Islands is one of the leading ship registries in the world, as well as being a key offshore financial services centre. Healy Consultants was approached by the Marshall Islands government to promote their website and corporate services via a search engine marketing campaign.

  Healy Consultants achieved the following:

  1. Set up a ‘Pay Per Click’ campaign on Google AdWords for the Marshall Islands government website;
  2. Achieved first-page ‘Pay Per Click’ ranking for the keywords provided by the government;
  3. Managed the ‘Pay Per Click’ campaign on behalf of the Client.

  Based on the success of the above campaign, the Marshall Islands government then engaged Healy Consultants IT team to launch a search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign by:

  1. Optimising the Marshall Islands government website pages to achieve first-page ranking on non-sponsored listings on Google, Yahoo and MSN search engines for 10 approved keywords;
  2. Monitoring website traffic and preparing statistical reports for the Client.