Recent content by bulgarian

Safe for lower amounts but as soon as you get in the millions the problems begin. From cops bribing you on the road if you drive a nice car, to regular invasive audits of your company and you as an individual. Better get a good accountant and lawyer (not cheap). The bureaucratic burden is...

You get your accounts/assets frozen for no reason (without any guilt or court order). It's called preliminary collateral measures, lol. You're frozen an unable to operate while they "conduct due diligence". It's also slow as s**t. It's how they bribe you after that. Even if you've done nothing...

No, they will continue to be in Bulgaria and hired by the BG company. So the Maltese company will hire the BG one for services. And then all the tax will be paid in Malta anyway (for the 5% gain). Is this not a sound plan?

I'll keep the BulgarianCo and the employees or incorporate a new LTD that is owned by the Maltese HoldCo and transfer all the workforce there.

I thought I'd be raising money (and a C-Corp is better for that) but ended up bootstrapping and becoming profitable instead. So I just stuck with the good old C-Corp. But it appreas that it's time for it to go. As for Malta - the catch is that, while I remain a BG citizen/resident, I need to...

This has been incredibly helpful @aniglo22 - you're the best! I know very little about Malta. Is this a safe destination to park my money and legally only pay 5% tax moving forward? Can the nominal director basically steal my money, and then move to Aruba or whatever to avoid liability, lol.

I understand completely and appreciate the input. It's a massive tax liability down the line if I continue. So I guess the ideal structure is Malta TradeCo (this is where the money comes in from my clients) -> Malta HoldCo (5% tax) -> then I either distribute dividends to myself as a BG citizen...

Credibility + a lot of Google/Amazon startup credits for servers and stuff (a few hundred K worth) that were never available to BG startups.

I mean I've got 30+ people working in the BGCo to service the USCo, and it's a lot of routine media work. They're obviously getting BG salaries, not US. A US team would cost 2-3X as much.

I'm not a tax professional - I trusted my accountant with it and I've had zero issues in the past 7 years of doing this. But the numbers were lower. Am I correct in assuming that I've got a bomb under my seat with the current US C-Corp structure?

Yes, you guys are right. It's a C-corp (not a pass-through*). No US nexus, though, and I don't personally get paid through the USCo. The BG company invoices the US company for services. Then there's no profit left at the end of the year. I pay my accountant + a registered agent, and then I pay...

The C-Corp has no US nexus and no US shareholders, so it's been fine until now. But I was generating 3-5X lower amounts up until last year. So I guess the best course of action here is to eliminate the US company and make the Malta TradeCo sign a contract with the end clients?

Yes. BG entity invoices the US and we file an annual declaration to the IRS disclosing the connection between the 2 companies and clearly stating we have no US base of operations.

We have no US base of operation. It's a pass-through C-Corp in Delaware. No office, no representatives, nothing. We pay our franchise tax and that's it. I've had this setup for 5+ years but it was US -> BG, not US -> MaltaTrade -> MaltaHold -> BG

Nah, I don't want to do it myelf. I make more by growing my business, plus I'd rather have a reputable law firm do all of it (office, director, accounting for substance). The HoldCo is for asset protection / family office in a way too. Yes, the idea is US C-Corp -> Malta TradeCo -> Malta HoldCo...