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Offshore company and 2Checkout

- HK - I can't open bank account here
Why not? it just requires personal visit?
- Cyprus or Latvia - EU countries. I sell digital products worldwide and they will require to add VAT to every sale in EU
Who you think will ask you to do that and what do you think will happen if you don't do or you register the Cyprus company non resident?
 
Why not? it just requires personal visit?

Who you think will ask you to do that and what do you think will happen if you don't do or you register the Cyprus company non resident?

I can visit HK but as far as I know there is no option for residents of my country to open a bank account, unless my company "physically" work in HK and I have proofs.

I'm not offshore specialist, but as I know Latvia requires to provide all accounting reports, website URL and at some point they will see that I sell my stuff in EU. They have yearly non-VAT threshold (around 16k), but we have higher numbers.

Cyprus corporation tax is 12,5% so this is not a option.
 
Just received reply form 2co:

2Checkout is not concerned with where your business is registered. The information required concerns your actual physical address. If your business is registered in Hong Kong but you live in and operate your business from [my country] you will need to provide this address information. If you do not have a physical presence in Hong Kong, you will not be able to utilize a bank in Hong Kong. 2Checkout requires that your physical location and your bank account be located in the same country. We require documentation to verify your physical location in order to prevent fraudulent activity. If you do not have a physical location and a bank account in the same country, 2Checkout will not support your business.

so the only way is to have a bank account in my country? Kinda strange requirement since I mentioned that I'm looking for business account, not individual.
 
Cyprus corporation tax is 12,5% so this is not a option.
You can register non resident / offshore and the tax rate is 0%

If you do not have a physical presence in Hong Kong, you will not be able to utilize a bank in Hong Kong.
I second that. There are ways how this easely can be done. We are a few here testing different payment service providers i.e. PP, 2co, Skrill etc. just to proof the opposite for the many romours out there, that it is impossible to open an account with these processors for your offshore company.
 
You can register non resident / offshore and the tax rate is 0%

Didn't know that, thanks!

I second that. There are ways how this easely can be done. We are a few here testing different payment service providers i.e. PP, 2co, Skrill etc. just to proof the opposite for the many romours out there, that it is impossible to open an account with these processors for your offshore company.

I asked my lawyer and he told me that I will need to open a real office in HK to be able to get HK bank account. I've read lots of stories on local forums about closed HK bank accounts in the past few years. My country is famous for money laundering, probably this is the reason.

Don't know, but for some reason 2co support told me that my physical location is essential. I've sent them several messages today and the only solution is a bank account in my country:

#1

Thanks for the reply! You will be required to provide proof of address for the physical location in which you operate your online business. If you do not have a physical presence in the Seychelles, you will not be able to utilize a Seychelle bank account. If you do not have a verifiable physical presence in Hong Kong you will not be able to utilize a Hong Kong bank account. If you are physically located in [my country], you will need to utilize a [my country] bank account. You may "register" your account in any country you wish, this has no bearing on where your bank account should be located. Again, if you are located in [my country] you will need to utilize a [my country] bank account.

#2

Again, as we have stated, if you are not able to provide proof of address in the form of a utility bill or rental/mortgage agreement for the address you provide on the application and the bank account is not located in the the same country as that address we will not activate your account. If you are located in [my country] and operate your online business from [my country], you must have a [my country] bank account. 2Checkout is not concerned with where your business is registered and will not accept a Virtual Address. We go to great lengths to verify your actual physical location, you will not be able to circumvent this verification.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I asked my lawyer and he told me that I will need to open a real office in HK to be able to get HK bank account. I've read lots of stories on local forums about closed HK bank accounts in the past few years. My country is famous for money laundering, probably this is the reason.
You can't use a lawyer forthis purpose and also not an agent that don't know how to go about it. You may read some of the threads about PayPal here on the forum and 2co.. there you may find how people do it successful.
 
You can't use a lawyer forthis purpose and also not an agent that don't know how to go about it. You may read some of the threads about PayPal here on the forum and 2co.. there you may find how people do it successful.

That lawyer runs his own company that consult and register offshore companies, etc. My main issue is that 2co requires bank account only in my country. I'll check other threads, but it seems that he only way is to change residency to Seychelles :)
 
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That lawyer runs his own company that consult and register offshore companies, etc. My main issue is that 2co requires bank account only in my country. I'll check other threads, but it seems that he only way is to change residency to Seychelles :)
You don't understand what Admin meant with "you can't use a lawyer" - I can only repaet. You can't use a lawyer to sort this out, it will require you to read some of the other PayPal threads to get a picture of how to do it no matter what country you my choose and that is supported by 2co or PP!
 
You don't understand what Admin meant with "you can't use a lawyer" - I can only repaet. You can't use a lawyer to sort this out, it will require you to read some of the other PayPal threads to get a picture of how to do it no matter what country you my choose and that is supported by 2co or PP!

As I understand, 2co works with almost any country and jurisdiction. My issue is that according to their requirements, I will need to provide proofs that I live in that jurisdiction and provide some rental agreement, utility payment bills, etc.
 
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if you choose Cyprus, you will be able to open a SKRILL merchant account. Skrill accepts bank statement with the address of your company. Cyprus company + Cyprus bank
Skrill accepts mastercard /visa
then, for paypal, you need a credit card from Cyprus bank and you can withdraw money from your paypal account to your cyprus account thanks to your Cyprus issued credit card.
 
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Hong Kong is really not worth the effort and money it costs to register a company there if you don't do business in Hong Kong or china generally speaking! There may be other circumstances that makes HK to be a good choice for registering an offshore corp. but for the majority of Internet entrepreneurs it is not.
 
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Thank guys! I also did some research and it seems that Cyprus is the best option.

As for VAT stuff, I'm sure we will pass that threshold really quick. Paypal should collect VAT by default. For credit cards, I'm going to use some merchants that collect VAT on their end - fastspring.com or digitalgoodsstore.com.
 
Cyprus works.. it's awesome never thought it would work.. I read everywhere this and that does not work and now I have a fully verified PayPal and 2co account - awesome thu&¤#thu&¤#thu&¤#
 
Cyprus works.. it's awesome never thought it would work.. I read everywhere this and that does not work and now I have a fully verified PayPal and 2co account - awesome thu&¤#thu&¤#thu&¤#
I just send you a PM - thanks for posting about your findings here ;)
 
Yes I used a local nominee director and his documents for one setup up. I tried several different setups with 2co, PayPal, Skrill and Neteller just to see what the truth is and how complicated the process is to open an account with them using an offshore company!
 
I'm also trying to open 2co account for HK company with bank account in Latvia being a citizen of another country. This is reply from 2co support.

2Checkout requires that your physical location and your bank account be located in the same country. We require documentation to verify your physical location in order to prevent fraudulent activity. If you do not have a physical location and a bank account in the same country, 2Checkout will not support your business.

Do you guys have any solutions?
Why do you registered a Hong Kong company for your business at all?
 
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