Canadians running a successful online business looking for a reputable offshore

[leavingcanada]

We are Canadian residents who currently own a Canadian corporation that runs a very successful online business (in the legal services field). Current income is more than $500K a year.

Our Canadian taxes have been astronomical so we made the decision to relocate to Eastern Europe (Bulgaria) for tax reasons.

We are looking for an offshore company with 0 or low corporate rate. We’ll only need to pay 5% dividend tax in Bulgaria.

I’ve been struggling to find a good option. We have to be able to take payments online (through credit card payment) and we don’t want to scare our clients or potential clients. We also want to be able to deposit cash into a bank and later transfer money to our local bank in Bulgaria or Europe.

Legal services are offered to US customers, Canadians, Europeans and Asians. About 70% of clients are based in the US.

We also want some anonymity to be protected from potential lawsuits and long hands of “CRA” (Canada Revenue Agency). Even though we are going to leave Canada, CRA can still make determination that we are still considered residents for tax purposes.

Any help is appreciated. I was recommended Nevis offshore with a Cyprus bank and Offshore Pro credit card processing. We need to be able to move money from an offshore bank to a normal bank in Europe.

 

[leavingcanada]

Anyone?

 

[fshore]

Almost all threads on this forum is similar to yours so that might be why you're not getting a lot of replies.
A couple things to consider:
If company reputation is important to you, then do you think a Nevis with bank in Cyprus will work?

Bulgaria might consider your foreign company to have a local establishment in Bulgaria if you live and run the company from Bulgaria, and would want to tax this part of the company's income. So it might be worth consider to just form a Bulgarian company and do everything through that company.

When you become non tax resident in Canada you might be able to take a tax free salary from the Canadian corporation. As you are 2 (or more?) people this could significantly reduce the CA company profit and could be a good and easy solution.

Another option could be a US LLC. As a Canadian it could be easier to get a US bank account.

 

[leavingcanada]

I am thinking about BVI company with a Cyprus bank and Instabill or Quadpay payment processor. Anyone used this setup?

I decided against Nevis company as it's too shady

 

[TurnedToRobot]

Setup the entire thing either in Cyprus or the UK means company + bank account same country so you avoid any troubles later on with other services.

 

[bastard]

Have you setup company in UK if, how have you setup the company?

 

[L0rdCROISSANT]

We are Canadian residents who currently own a Canadian corporation that runs a very successful online business (in the legal services field). Current income is more than $500K a year.

Our Canadian taxes have been astronomical so we made the decision to relocate to Eastern Europe (Bulgaria) for tax reasons.

We are looking for an offshore company with 0 or low corporate rate. We’ll only need to pay 5% dividend tax in Bulgaria.

I’ve been struggling to find a good option. We have to be able to take payments online (through credit card payment) and we don’t want to scare our clients or potential clients. We also want to be able to deposit cash into a bank and later transfer money to our local bank in Bulgaria or Europe.

Legal services are offered to US customers, Canadians, Europeans and Asians. About 70% of clients are based in the US.

We also want some anonymity to be protected from potential lawsuits and long hands of “CRA” (Canada Revenue Agency). Even though we are going to leave Canada, CRA can still make determination that we are still considered residents for tax purposes.

Any help is appreciated. I was recommended Nevis offshore with a Cyprus bank and Offshore Pro credit card processing. We need to be able to move money from an offshore bank to a normal bank in Europe.

what I know is you don't need to declare taxes if you are out of the country for more than six months and if you do leave and don't have a permanent address then you can't keep your money there either. although if you paid towards a pension than things might get ugly in the future.

 

[justlearning123]

what I know is you don't need to declare taxes if you are out of the country for more than six months and if you do leave and don't have a permanent address then you can't keep your money there either. although if you paid towards a pension than things might get ugly in the future.

I know this is an old post but I am also a Canadian who left Canada and I am looking for a reliable payment processor. Any ideas?

 

[justlearning123]

Hi,
You can use Offshore company ( like Seychelles/Marshall Islands/Belize) with merchant account at payment platform Orunda. Orunda specialises at merchant accounts, and do not mind opening account for Offshore companies.
Or you can set up EU company ( like Cyprus/UK/Ireland/Hungary/Bulgaria) with payment platform Epayments- they also offer merchant accounts.
In case of payment platforms you will have UK banking details, so it should not be a problem to move money to European Bank. But you have to keep in mind if you want to have EU bank account, you will definitely need EU company.

What is this payment platform Orunda , I cant find any such name online?

 

[CaptK]

UK LLP would be perfect as you can pay yourself 100% of the profit and not pay any tax as non resident. Then its just paying a dividend tax on in Bulgaria.

In my opinion I would look at the UAE as they are very accomodating to tech companies. Running cost are about 10K per annum and 0% tax.

Most important thing is that to take advantage of this you will need to relocate. You can not run the business from Canada unless you are employed by the company and are paid a salary. Where the business actually takes place is the most important factor in this structure.