Offshore company/bank account and payment gateways for e-commerce

[Alf]

Dear All,

I plan to sell goods from Asia to the USA only (not in Europe) from my Shopify/BigCommerce/Amazon store.
I also plan to use a local storage/fulfillment service in the next future.
I'm not an US-person (no residency, no green card, no citizenship). I live in Europe.

I try to find the best juridiction to avoid :
- taxes
- accountancy
- local secretary
- VAT
- work with Amazon (some offshore juridictions are not allowed by Amazon as Belize for example)

The only juridiction which provides all these specifications is Mauritius.

I also want to work with some US payment gateways as : Paypal, 2Checkout, Skrill, Stripe, ...

But my main issue is that I cannot open a Mauritius bank account (they do not accept merchant payments from online stores and it's very complicated) so I cannot work with the payment gateways as they want the bank account in the same country of the company.
I found Leupay and Mypos as online bank accounts, but their IBAN are in a different country.
Someone told me about incorporate in Gibraltar (no taxes and very simple and cheap accountancy), but the local banks do not accept to open a account for a virtual company (only physical ones).
So every juridiction has his hassle.

I wonder if someone here was able to open US Paypal, 2Checkout, Skrill or Stripe account from an offshore company with a bank account in a different country ?
I read here that it was possible to provide a virtual company address (a fake one) in the same country of the bank to open a Paypal account.
Do they need official documents to prove the company and bank account are in the same country ?
What about other payment gateways ?
Is there a solution in that case ?

I would really appreciate your help.
Regards

 

[negon]

I wonder if someone here was able to open US Paypal, 2Checkout, Skrill or Stripe account from an offshore company with a bank account in a different country ?

You can do that with a Cyprus company, Cyprus bank account, full nominees and Cyprus VPS!

 

[Alf]

You can do that with a Cyprus company, Cyprus bank account, full nominees and Cyprus VPS!

Dear Auric, I know that I can do that in Cyprus, but the cost is higher and you need an accountancy which also costs a lot.

What do you mean by VPS ?

I wonder if it exists a service like "virtual address" in the country where the bank account is located, which could be perfect for a Belize company with a virtual address in Malta and a Leupay bank account with IBAN in Malta.

 

[negon]

bank account and company will need to be in the same country.

See reply from 2co:
I'm sorry but your bank account will need to be located where you're physically located, not where the business is registered.

 

[Alf]

bank account and company will need to be in the same country.

See reply from 2co:
I'm sorry but your bank account will need to be located where you're physically located, not where the business is registered.

Thank you auric. I just wonder if a virtual address could work with Paypal for example. So I won't work with 2co.

 

[Alf]

Sorry to insist, but some people here opened a US Paypal account from offshore company and bank account with success !!
I also found that it was possible to incorporate in Belize which could be the owner of a Wyoming LLC. Your benefits : a US based company, EIN, bank account and no taxes as the LLC is owned by a foreign entity. You just have to pay a US accountant to make sure all the files are ok.
Do users here want to keep some "secret" ?

 

[Alf]

In the option I avoid to use Paypal, is there another payment gateway compatible with Shopify/BigCommerce allowing offshore companies ?

 

[Spinat]

You may check 2co they also handle paypal!

Virtual office works if you get some from a real provider.

 

[Alf]

You may check 2co they also handle paypal!

Virtual office works if you get some from a real provider.

Yes, but 2co dos not work if you do not live in the same country as your company !!

Do you know some "real" virtual office providers ?

 

[Alf]

FYI :
https://www.quora.com/Where-should-...tup-if-I-am-not-American-and-live-in-Colombia

 

[Alf]

In the case I choose Cyprus (company + USD bank account) to sell to the US, do I need a USD Payoneer account to transfer money from PayPal or whatever payment gateway or the Cyprus USD account is enough ?
Do I have to open a US PayPal account or just use my Cyprus one in my US shopify store ?
Does someone know a cheap accountant for a Cyprus company as this is the main issue with the cost of this service ?

 

[Alf]

Sorry to post again, but I read a lot of threads here and there are contradictory details regarding Offshore Company + Offshore Bank account + PayPal (or other payment gateway).

Someone posted the following information :
If you need use paypal you have these options,
- European Company with bank in Europe
- Non-European Company but need use US Bank account. (You can use Credit card for withdrawals but take care about the fees)

What about Non-European company with a European bank account (Belize company + Cyprus/Malta bank account for example) ?

Then, someone else posted that you do not need the bank account in the same country of the company to open a PayPal account.

So, finally, this is true or wrong ??

 

[JohnLocke]

What about Non-European company with a European bank account (Belize company + Cyprus/Malta bank account for example) ?

it's not going to work any longer! PayPal require the company and bank account to be in the same country!

 

[Alf]

it's not going to work any longer! PayPal require the company and bank account to be in the same country!

Thank you Admin. So I understand that it was working before and policy changed since then.

Regarding the Belize IBC + bank account, is it still possible to have a Paypal account even if I live in Europe ?

Do we have to use a VPS to connect locally ?

 

[diablo]

VPS is required.

I'm testing something right now. I managed to add a Cyprus debit card to my PP account and try to withdraw to the card, not sure if it is going through but will have an answer in a few days.

Otherwise, you want to setup a company for instant in Cyprus with Cyprus bank account and open a Cyprus PP account with your Cyprus debit card. There is a Cyprus VPS provider on this forum, they used to advertise here last month I think.

Otherwise you may travel to the UK, for company, bank account and PP account and use a UK VPS provider to connect to the account.

If you can use 2checkout which also support PayPal payments you can use a simple Cyprus, Malta, UK setup, they also require bank account and company to be in the same country but they are easy to apply with.

 

[JohnLocke]

Regarding the Belize IBC + bank account, is it still possible to have a Paypal account even if I live in Europe ?

yes it is, you may see @diablo 's reply that was posted faster than mine

 

[Alf]

Thank you both
I know about Cyprus, but the accounting sems to be a hell in term of process (a lot of paperwork but also a fu.... AUDIT!!!) and cost !!!
Also, the incorporation price and annual renewal are higher than the most other juridictions.
So if you add incorporation price + renewal + accounting + audit, it costs an arm !!
In the other hand, you do not pay any tax!!
This is why I was thinking about Belize which I can use to create my Shopify/BigCommerce store (not Amazon in the other hand.....doesn't matter).

 

[negon]

This is why I was thinking about Belize which I can use to create my Shopify/BigCommerce store (not Amazon in the other hand.....doesn't matter).

Belize is much cheaper compared to Cyprus but it has it's limits depending on what you want to use it for!

 

[Alf]

Belize is much cheaper compared to Cyprus but it has it's limits depending on what you want to use it for!

Yes, I know. So do you think to sell on the US from Shopify/BigCommerce store (with PayPal or 2co) is a good solution for you ?
Does someone have experienced the same ?

 

[ssldn]

Dear Auric, I know that I can do that in Cyprus, but the cost is higher and you need an accountancy which also costs a lot.

What do you mean by VPS ?

I wonder if it exists a service like "virtual address" in the country where the bank account is located, which could be perfect for a Belize company with a virtual address in Malta and a Leupay bank account with IBAN in Malta.

I don't know how to Google VPS