Looking for advice on setting up offshore corporate for privacy

[Krupsair]

Relatively new to this topic and very glad to come across this forum.

UK based and looking to set up a professional education website but want to do it through corporation with the following criteria:
a) Will be posting content containing materials and info from financial services firms that is publically available but hard to obtain - need limited liability incase of lawsuit
b) Employed in the same sector and would need employer not know about this side project

I don't need total anonimity but can't have my name coming up in companies house or be associated with website when googled.

Would also need the company to be able to open a bank account.

Any advice on how this can be achieved at a relatively low cost given site is not, and may never be, profitable would be very much appreciated.

Have been thinking about UK LTD + nominee director, shareholder, address however costs go up quickly

Ideally would have relatively reputable offshore IBC + repulateble bank in which case I can afford less privacy given its all legal and no employer will dig that deep unless provoked.

Any advice on which country would allow me to do this and the minimum asscociated costs?

 

[John Andrews]

New Mexico LLC should fit your requirements. If you're looking for privacy, forget about the UK.

 

[James Turner]

Agree with @mange38 the UK is absolutely not suitable as even if you use a Nominee Director etc which is a little unusual in the UK you will still appear on the PSC Register, so not privacy available. I also agree that if cost is an issue using a US Company would probably work best for you. genuine banking options are limited however for US Companies, but some EMI's would offer a solution.

 

[Krupsair]

Very helpful - thank you for the responses.

Couple of follow ups:
1) In the case of a lawsuit by a well backed large US corp. Would my assets and myself not be better protected by having some kind of outisde US, offshore co.? Can I face any kind of personal liability?
2) Being able to transact and have bank account would be important. Don't think I need complete anonomity, just something that takes time, effort and money to uncover as employer would have no reason to suspect anything or search for this. As the activity is legal I am willing to be transparent with bank in order to open account.

Do you still think US LLC is the best way to go or are there any offshore LLC that banks accept, are relatively private, and costs do not exceed say 1k annual

 

[Tamarind]

What are you trying to do, sell insider information on companies, since your every post is requesting some lawsuit scenario?

 

[Krupsair]

New Mexico LLC should fit your requirements. If you're looking for privacy, forget about the UK.

I have spent some time looking into this and have spoken with some advisors. Seems like this will create a few filing requirements due to it being a foreign owned disregarded entity (Forms 1040-NR, 5472, 1120).

Does anyone have any experience with completing these? Is this somethign that can be done myself given the few transactions the company will have or will i need an accountant to do this?

If anyone knows of any accountants / tax advisors that have experience dealing with this could you pm the name?

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

I don’t have any experience, but it shouldn’t be more than $300 or so if you have a CPA do the returns for you. Any CPA should be able to do it. I’d just compare prices and go with the lowest bidder. You might also be able to use them as your registered agent.

 

[onemansomewhere]

Relatively new to this topic and very glad to come across this forum.

UK based and looking to set up a professional education website but want to do it through corporation with the following criteria:
a) Will be posting content containing materials and info from financial services firms that is publically available but hard to obtain - need limited liability incase of lawsuit
b) Employed in the same sector and would need employer not know about this side project

I don't need total anonimity but can't have my name coming up in companies house or be associated with website when googled.

Would also need the company to be able to open a bank account.

Any advice on how this can be achieved at a relatively low cost given site is not, and may never be, profitable would be very much appreciated.

Have been thinking about UK LTD + nominee director, shareholder, address however costs go up quickly

Ideally would have relatively reputable offshore IBC + repulateble bank in which case I can afford less privacy given its all legal and no employer will dig that deep unless provoked.

Any advice on which country would allow me to do this and the minimum asscociated costs?

Do you need more anonymity or less taxes?

You have to understamd this:

High anonymity + High taxes = Will cost you just a few thousand USD

Low anonymity + Reasonable taxes = Will cost you just a few thousand USD

Low anonymity + No taxes = Will cost you a higher thousand USD

High anonymity + Reasonable taxes = Will cost you just lower tens of thousand USD

High anonymity + No taxes = Will cost you just a higher tens of thousand USD

How much are you willing to pay?

 

[Krupsair]

Don't care much about taxes as this won't be profitable. Just looking for anonymity and limited liability at a minimum costs and minimum filing requirements

 

[Gravity]

If you want 100% anonymity, aren't darks an option?

Otherwise a Seychelles IBC with a nominee structure could be your choice.

 

[Kyriacos Zographos]

You can also consider a Cyprus company. The taxation is quite favorable (12.5%) and also offers the anonymity you wish as the registrar of companies only shows the nominee shareholder

 

[Gravity]

You can also consider a Cyprus company. The taxation is quite favorable (12.5%) and also offers the anonymity you wish as the registrar of companies only shows the nominee shareholder

Cost is an issue though. OP doesn't want to spend more than 1k annually since his business is not profitable.

 

[Spinat]

I wonder why anyone is entering into such setups if you don't wan't to spend more than 1K because your business is not profitable?

 

[Kyriacos Zographos]

Cost is an issue though. OP doesn't want to spend more than 1k annually since his business is not profitable.

that is not going to be feasible considering that you need to have nominees, pay annual levy, do accounting, audit etc

 

[Gravity]

that is not going to be feasible considering that you need to have nominees, pay annual levy, do accounting, audit etc

True. Even with Seychelles being one of the cheapest jurisdictions and no accounting/auditing needed, it is a tight budget.

 

[djaheim]

If you want 100% anonymity, aren't darks an option?

Otherwise a Seychelles IBC with a nominee structure could be your choice.

seychelles ibc will have an issue getting a bank account thats for sure

 

[Gravity]

seychelles ibc will have an issue getting a bank account thats for sure

True. Most likely an EMI will be your best bet.

But OP has to choose. Given his parameters this task is impossible: Low budget (1k a year), high anonymity, reputable bank. He has to scratch at least one of these three.

And since he won't earn a lot of money with it, I would scratch the reputable bank and go for an EMI.

That's the closest he will get to his wishes.

 

[Alex Fr]

You can also consider a Cyprus company. The taxation is quite favorable (12.5%) and also offers the anonymity you wish as the registrar of companies only shows the nominee shareholder

with AML5 rules in force the registry of UBOs is available only to professional and official parties, but AML6 is coming and it's UBO registry is supposed to be available for anyone for some reaonable fee. So what kind of anonimity is this?

 

[Krupsair]

True. Most likely an EMI will be your best bet.

But OP has to choose. Given his parameters this task is impossible: Low budget (1k a year), high anonymity, reputable bank. He has to scratch at least one of these three.

And since he won't earn a lot of money with it, I would scratch the reputable bank and go for an EMI.

That's the closest he will get to his wishes.

I see your point and agree. Would be happy to go with an EMI.

I also don't care much about taxes given no profit expected but would prefer the least onerous filing requirements to keep CPA costs minimal given no profit (US LLC will require me to file forms 1040NR, 5472, 1120)

I wonder why anyone is entering into such setups if you don't wan't to spend more than 1K because your business is not profitable?

The reason is to have limited liability and high anonimity - these parameters are required.

Everything else such as minimal filing requirements, low annual costs, bank account (happy with EMI), are beneficial but I am flexible around in order to find a good solution.

Do you need more anonymity or less taxes?

You have to understamd this:

High anonymity + High taxes = Will cost you just a few thousand USD

Do you have any guidance on what makes up this few thousand USD? I am seeing first year set up cost of c. $500 (registered agent incl.) then annually a) registed agent + virtual mailbox c. $200 and b) tax accountant c. $300. Am I missing anything?