When you do business are you going sole proprietorship or company?

[clemens]

I was just wondering what the vast majority is doing when they do business online! What I wonder is if they are trading as sole proprietorship or if they actually form a company to do business and what is your experience in order to not have a company but doing a good amount of money? I mean we all know that there is risk involved when doing business and for that reason most would prefer doing business within a company but not all can afford it.


Which business do you think is less risky? Do you have any experience in doing business online risk free and without to incorporate a company anywhere?

 

[JohnLocke]

We recommend anyone doing business online or offline to form a company! There is no need to risk your savings, assets and what else you may have just because of a business venture.

 

[pontiacG8]

I do alot of freelance jobs, like article writing, link building and other SEO stuff. All invoiced from my offshore corp.

 

[alain]

Never do business under sole proprietorsh it's simply to risky if you ask me.

 

[lavel]

In my opinion you should never do business sole proprietorship since the risk of making depts, getting lawsuit or other similar circumstance is simply to high. Your are better of to look into some sort of company formation say even if you don't have the money to go offshore you better form a local company to do business.

 

[firestorm]

Valid questions and as already told here. Never do business sole proprietorship the risk and liabilities are simply to high.

 

[JohnSeed]

Valid questions and as already told here. Never do business sole proprietorship the risk and liabilities are simply to high.

Second that... same as the other members.

 

[buzzoffshore]

Never considered anything else than doing business within a company.

 

[JohnLocke]

Most are into Investments and Holding structures with offshore entities. But there is a great portion of IM's that use it for anonymity and privacy reasons.

 

[JohnSeed]

It's very cheap to establish a Seychelles or Belize company and you can use it for almost any type of business so why do you want to risk your private live and privacy at all? It's not worth it.

 

[suzy]

At least you want to do business with an limited offshore company anything else makes no sense.

 

[JohnSeed]

At least you want to do business with an limited offshore company anything else makes no sense.

I totally agree with that. It is so cheap to form a IBC in one of the popular offshore jurisdiction so why go through the hassle to do anything else!

 

[clemens]

I totally agree with that. It is so cheap to form a IBC in one of the popular offshore jurisdiction so why go through the hassle to do anything else!

exactly what I thought why take any risk if you can avoid it for little money!

 

[GPT]

Always use an entity. So I second the others. Price also doesn’t have to hold you back. A UK limited can be had for 50-ish pounds for instance.

Where I want to distinguish something is at the following level.

I n some occasions I do recommend starting with a sole proprietor ship as income isn’t high enough to set something up properly from the start. Think a part time activity for instance. At a later stage when there is solid turnover you then incorporate and slowly transfer to your company.

The other option is that in some situations clients don’t like change and it could lead to loss of clients and turnover. In such a situation, keep your sole proprietorship -and- setup an IP company to which you transfer your IP. Be creative there. In that way you can still limit exposure to financial risk. In such a situation it is important that you are however not the shareholder of that company. Park it’s shares in a trust and you can be -a- beneficiary.

Overtime it normally does lead to having less and less clients as a sole proprietor which lets you move everything completely to a new entity. Between this new entity and the IP entity you keep a similar agreement in place.

Very specifically I don’t mention taxes here. It would make the example very difficult to explain as there are a lot of factors to take into account.