A Corporation or a Panamanian Private Interest Foundation in the Republic of Panama can be formed by anyone who retains an attorney as his/her resident agent or Foundation Council.

Therefore, it follows that there are an enormous number of choices for your offshore agent. All can provide you with a duly formed company, a registered office and act as your registered agent, all of which are required under the provisions of the law.

In addition there are many onshore "consultants" offering the same service, however all of these will be operating through a third party here in Panama - the process cannot be carried out other than offshore.

In theory it is possible for you to file the necessary documents with the Registrar here for your own company but you would still need the services of a registered agent and a registered office, so this becomes impractical economically and unnecessarily complicated.

Charges levied by the registered agent range from US$ 850 to US$ 1,200. However, at these prices you will receive little more than the company documents and the required agent and office and your company will exist only on paper. All the other services needed to make your company work will incur additional charges and, as these can add up substantially, they should be reviewed carefully.