Hello everyone,
I moved to the UAE almost 1 year ago now and I have my company here where I work on my online business (mainly e-commerce).
The problem is that my clients are mainly individuals living abroad but not in the Middle East. The payment services available in the UAE (including Stripe or Checkout.com) are not really suitable for international sales as the payment methods available are very limited. When selling online abroad, it is quite important to be able to offer popular local payment methods (AMEX, JCB, dinner's club,...) but these payment methods are not available for UAE, not to mention the much higher fees. It is also important for me to be able to accept payments (and payouts) in multiple currencies which is not always available here.
Since I currently use Shopify, the best solution would be to be able to use Shopify Payments, which as you probably know is only available in certain countries (not the UAE). I wanted to know if a set-up with an LTD/LLP in the UK (or even an LLC in the US) could be interesting in my situation. I wouldn't mind paying taxes on my local sales (in the UK or US) but since I'm in the UAE (0% tax), I would find it stupid to have to pay taxes on all my profits from my worldwide sales while having a company and living in the UAE.
I was considering setting up an LLP in the UK (UK agency company) that would act as an agent for my UAE company: in exchange for a certain %, it would act as an agent that receives my sales on its Shopify Payment account on behalf of the UAE company. So technically I would only have to pay taxes on the profits of that company rather than on all the sales. Is this a feasible solution? Or are there other similar setups that might be useful in my situation?
It is actually possible that Shopify Payments rejects an LLP (whose shareholders are both non-resident), so is there a similar setup with Ltd? Since I live in a 0% tax country, is it "acceptable" to take out a large part of the profits as a salary to lower the taxes? Or will salaries for non-resident employees/directors also be taxed in the UK?
Finally, my last question is to know if it is ever possible to have access to local IBAN (in EUR, GBP and USD) with my company in the UAE? Since Wise is no longer available in the UAE, are there any other financial companies that can provide this type of service for a UAE company? Because I also work with companies in Europe/USA and I would like to be able to accept payments by automatic bank transfers or direct debit.
I have already done a lot of research but the answers I find remain vague and every time I look for a lawyer, he is not really qualified for such international issues, so if you also have some competent law firms to advise (that are not going to take 1000€/hour for a consultation), I am a taker.
Thank you in advance for your help!
I moved to the UAE almost 1 year ago now and I have my company here where I work on my online business (mainly e-commerce).
The problem is that my clients are mainly individuals living abroad but not in the Middle East. The payment services available in the UAE (including Stripe or Checkout.com) are not really suitable for international sales as the payment methods available are very limited. When selling online abroad, it is quite important to be able to offer popular local payment methods (AMEX, JCB, dinner's club,...) but these payment methods are not available for UAE, not to mention the much higher fees. It is also important for me to be able to accept payments (and payouts) in multiple currencies which is not always available here.
Since I currently use Shopify, the best solution would be to be able to use Shopify Payments, which as you probably know is only available in certain countries (not the UAE). I wanted to know if a set-up with an LTD/LLP in the UK (or even an LLC in the US) could be interesting in my situation. I wouldn't mind paying taxes on my local sales (in the UK or US) but since I'm in the UAE (0% tax), I would find it stupid to have to pay taxes on all my profits from my worldwide sales while having a company and living in the UAE.
I was considering setting up an LLP in the UK (UK agency company) that would act as an agent for my UAE company: in exchange for a certain %, it would act as an agent that receives my sales on its Shopify Payment account on behalf of the UAE company. So technically I would only have to pay taxes on the profits of that company rather than on all the sales. Is this a feasible solution? Or are there other similar setups that might be useful in my situation?
It is actually possible that Shopify Payments rejects an LLP (whose shareholders are both non-resident), so is there a similar setup with Ltd? Since I live in a 0% tax country, is it "acceptable" to take out a large part of the profits as a salary to lower the taxes? Or will salaries for non-resident employees/directors also be taxed in the UK?
Finally, my last question is to know if it is ever possible to have access to local IBAN (in EUR, GBP and USD) with my company in the UAE? Since Wise is no longer available in the UAE, are there any other financial companies that can provide this type of service for a UAE company? Because I also work with companies in Europe/USA and I would like to be able to accept payments by automatic bank transfers or direct debit.
I have already done a lot of research but the answers I find remain vague and every time I look for a lawyer, he is not really qualified for such international issues, so if you also have some competent law firms to advise (that are not going to take 1000€/hour for a consultation), I am a taker.
Thank you in advance for your help!
