Panama private foundations are established under the the Private Interest Foundation Law 1995.

The name of the foundation can be written in any language with characters of the latin alphabet, but must contain the term “Foundation” as part of the title to indicate that the entity is in fact a foundation structure.

The name shall not be the same or similar to an already existing name of another Panama foundation.

According to the Private Interest Foundation Law of Panama (Law No 25 of June 12, 1995) private foundations shall not be profit oriented. However, foundations could still be involved in commercial activities on a non-regular basis to exercise the rights deriving from holding of shares and interests of other business companies if such activities are directed towards the foundations purposes.

The most common purposes:

• Holding – to hold shares and interest in a private and/or public company, hold patents, collect royalties, hold trademarks and business name rights, etc.
• Asset protection – to hold assets of individuals and legal entities providing protection against creditors claims, family members claims, over taxation, local political instability, etc.
• Financial – invest in different financial instruments such as bonds, mutual funds, etc.

Our company drafts the Foundation Charter and Private Document for each foundation in accordance with the purposes of the foundation that our client specifies.

Each Panama foundation has to have a registered office address and agent in Panama, who is an attorney or a law firm.

Principal office address of the foundation may be in any country.

Our annual fees include a Panama registered office address and registered agent for the first year.

A resident of any country individual or legal entity may create a private foundation. Such person is called the Founder.

A minimum of one founders is required. Founders may be also a member of the Foundation Council or beneficiary or both.

A & P Intertrust Corporation is able to provide a nominee founder . Nominee founder services is recommended for two reasons:

• Privacy protection. Founders names and addresses are listed in the Foundation Charter, which is filed with the Public Registry Office and available to the public.
• Speeding up the registration process. The founder is required to sign the Foundation Charter. If you order nominee services our nominee founder would sign it. Otherwise, we need to mail you the Foundation Charter for your signature and the original needs to be sent to the Panama Registered Agent.

Each Panama foundation should have a Foundation Council, which is responsible for carrying out the purposes of the foundation.

The number of members of the Foundation Council should not be less than 3 individuals or 1 legal entity. Residents of any country may be appointed as a council member.

If you need nominee members of the Foundation Council , our company provides such services.

This position is optional. A protector may be appointed by the founder or majority of founders to oversee managerial actions of the Foundation Council.

A resident of any country individual or legal entity may be appointed as a protector.

A beneficiary is a person who benefits from the existence of the foundation. Your children, other members of your family, you or any other individuals or legal entities could be beneficiaries.

When you place your order, you should indicate who you would like to be the beneficiaries of your private foundation. We will prepare a private document indicating the names of the beneficiaries of your foundation.

Information about beneficiaries is not filed with the Panamanian government and not available to the public.

The initial capital of the Foundation is US$10,000

Each Panama Foundation must pay the annual renewal fee starting from the second year. Our annual fees are listed in the Fee Schedule.

Founders names and addresses are listed in the Foundation Charter. The Foundation Charter is filed with the Public Registry Office and available to the public.

Names and addresses of the members of the Foundation Council are also included in the Foundation Charter, and filed with the Public Registry Office and available to the public.

Protector, if required is appointed by the foundation Private Document. This document is not filed with any government organization. Therefore, information about the protector is not available to the public.

Beneficiaries of the private foundation are appointed by the Private Document, which is not filed with the government. As a result, information about beneficiaries is not available to the public.

Our company assists clients with protection of their privacy by offering nominee founder and members of the Foundation Council .

There are no statutory requirements of accounting and audits for Panama foundations. It is up to the founder, protector and Foundation Council to decide what kind of records they would like to keep.

Annual meetings are not required.

Registration of a Panama foundation takes 10 to 13 business days. Preparation of all internal documents takes an additional 3 to 5 business days.

Our company does not offer shelf foundations due to a Private Foundation is a legal entity which is created for a particular purpose, which reflects a particular client’s needs and circumstances.

Our company offers Panamanian mail forwarding services and other tailored office services.