Management and Control in Gibraltar: What Directors and Owners Should Know
Management and Control: What It Means for Directors, Owners, and Gibraltar Companies
Posted on 20 Oct 2025
Disclaimer: This is not tax or legal advice. Rules and interpretations vary by jurisdiction and may change.
When businesses consider Gibraltar as a place to set up operations, the focus is often on setup costs, tax rates, and other financial efficiencies. And rightly so.
What is often overlooked, however, is how the business should be structured and operated in practice to fully benefit from these advantages.
To achieve this, a business must be properly understood, analysed, and established in line with Gibraltar’s specific legal and regulatory framework. Key questions such as who makes the strategic decisions and where those decisions are made throughout the year should be central to the planning process.
This overview sets out what management and control means, how it intersects with Gibraltar’s territorial tax system, and what directors and owners should understand at a high level.
What “management and control” means
Management and control refers to where a company is truly directed. In practice, it is about who makes key strategic decisions and where they do so throughout the year. Labels matter less than observable facts.
Why directors and owners should care
Responsibility
Management and control follows the real decision-makers. If someone sets strategy, approves major risks, and directs the business, their actions and location are relevant to the overall picture.
Consistency
Records, calendars, and communications that reflect how decisions are actually taken reduce uncertainty.
Separate from personal footprint
A company’s management and control and an individual’s personal tax residence are separate questions with different tests.
What it means for a company set up in Gibraltar
Residence and governance
A Gibraltar company that presents itself as directed in Gibraltar is commonly understood to demonstrate that through actual oversight and decision-making, not titles alone.
Territorial taxation concept
Gibraltar looks at where profit-making activities occur. Being a Gibraltar company does not change where profits are created. Activity carried on in Gibraltar generally points to Gibraltar-source profits. Activity carried on elsewhere generally points outside.
Substance
People, premises, records, and vendors that are proportionate to the scale of the business typically support both governance and assessments of where profits arise.
High-level observations for common structures
Group companies
Central direction exercised outside Gibraltar can outweigh formal roles inside Gibraltar if that outside party sets strategy in practice.
Service businesses
Sales, negotiation, and delivery locations often influence where profits arise. Where teams operate across countries, outcomes may reflect a mix rather than a single source.
Digital and IP-heavy models
Product development, user acquisition, and operations may sit in different places. Mapping each value driver to a location helps create a clear factual narrative.
Outsourcing
Delegation is common, but if decision-making and core work primarily occur with external teams abroad, a company’s Gibraltar footprint may appear limited.
Directors and owners: a simple framework
Facts first
Start with how the business really runs and keep records that reflect that reality.
Separate questions
Company residence and profit source are different analyses. Consider them separately.
Think proportionate
Align governance and substance with the size and complexity of the business.
Final word
Management and control is about reality over form. Companies and individuals reduce uncertainty when governance, people, activities, and records tell the same story. For any specific situation, seek advice from qualified professionals in the relevant countries.
Set up in Gibraltar with TAG Consultancy
If you are exploring a Gibraltar company setup, book a free 30 minute call with us. A member of our team will review your objectives, weigh up your options, and advise you on the best course of action from incorporation through ongoing compliance.
