Part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) is a British Overseas Territory that is self-governed and autonomous in all respects except for security, foreign affairs and defence. One of the few tax havens to directly fall under British government control, the British Virgin Islands are one of the most politically stable and economically territories in the Caribbean.

One of the oldest and most highly regarded offshore financial centres in the world; the British Virgin Islands are used as a benchmark for excellence by the international financial services industry. It is the BVI's financial services industry that other offshore jurisdictions strive to emulate.

The island state's financial services sector is the biggest and most important sector of the economy, slightly edging out the tourism industry - a full 51.8% of Government revenue comes directly from licence fees for offshore companies.
The prominence of the BVI as a global centre of offshore finance is obvious. In 2007 the island territory was the second largest source of foreign direct investment in the world with more than 123 Billion U.S. Dollars invested from BVI registered companies. One of the world's leading offshore financial centres, the BVI has incorporated more than 450,000 active offshore companies. The British Virgin Islands currently accounts for 42% of the 1.1 million companies incorporated offshore.

According to the laws laid out in the BVI IBC Act of 1984, offshore companies are exempted from all taxes for the period of 20 years after incorporation. All these features make BVI IBCs ideal for asset protection or international investment vehicles.

Other advantages of BVI based IBCs include: