Offshore company in Seychelles and 2checkout setup

[Todd]

Hi guys,

I have read many threads in this forum and I found very useful information so far. I will be glad to help the community with what I have learned so far. I will also need your help, because I couldn't find all the information I am loooking for.

I am planning to start a ecommerce website selling tangible products on the European market. The products will be stored and shipped in European countries through a fulfillment centers. For a number of reasons I would like to incorporate offshore. As far as I have read, the most popular working setup would be a Seychelles company with 2Checkout. I have read possibly all the threads who have information for this setup, but I couldn't find an answer of the questions below. I will be really thankful if any of you can help with this valuable information. So the questions are:

1. Proof of address with 2checkout and Seychelles company - 2checkout requires a proof that your company has a physical presence in the country your are appying from (in this case Seychelles). They will require copy of lease, Rental, Mortgage agreement or Utility bill (gas, electric, water) showing service to the listed address. Obviously 99% percent of the companies does not have a real office in Seychelles, neither the real business owner lives there. The only option is that the agent there provides the documents neeed to prove the address. Do they offer this service? Can you expect such a service from the agent? Is this a standart service you would require or this is something you have to agree in advance with the company who is registering the company in Seychelles for you? Does anyone have experience with this step? Does it work? Please share some details, this would be very useful.

2. Business owner - in the application process 2checkout would like to have information for the business owner. As far as I know they require scaned passport / id card or driving's licence. So in this case do you send your own details as a real business owner or the ones from the nominee director you have assigned? I am afraid that if you provide your own passport which is not issued in Seychelles, your application will be rejected.

3. Bank account - as far as I understand in the past it was possible to apply to 2checkout with a Seychelles company and Cyprus bank account, but this is not possible anymore. Now the company and the bank account has to be in the same country in order to be approved by 2checkout. Is this correct? If yes, do you have any idea since when this change came into effect with 2checkout?

4. Bank account in Cyprus - If for example you have a company in Seychelles, why would you need a bank account in Cyprus? I've read somewhere that Seychelles bank accounts need to have a minimum amount of money deposited and the amount is quite high like 50 000 USD. I have checked on this information and it is not fully true. At one bank I've read that the minimum is 25 000 USD and if you are below this minimum you are charged a monthly fee of 50 USD which is totally acceptable to me. What is the real advantage of having Cyprus bank account with you Seychelles company, instead of using local one?

5. Why Seychelles as a country is so often recommended as a solution with 2checkout. As far as I have checked 2checkout is accepting a lot of offshore jurisdictions like Belize, Anguilla, BVI, Nevis and etc. Why Seychelles is a preferred option? You can have a Belize company with Belize bank account or Nevis company with Nevis bank account.


These are the questions. I think answers will be not useful only to me, but the whole community here who are interested in this service.

Thanks in advance

 

[fshore]

If you store the goods and ship from Europe then you are liable for VAT and need to register the Seychelles company for VAT in the country where you have the fulfillment center. That might not be so easy.

 

[Todd]

@fshore I was thinking about this also. Think of it more like drop shipping business. I will fulfil the shipments from Europe since I am based here. If I decide to not charge VAT from the Seychelles company, who will force me to do so?

 

[JohnLocke]

Seychelles company, who will force me to do so?

Typically there is no one that is able to force you to do so. If you read the tax & VAT laws around you are obligated to do so but if you look around there is no one actually that care about it. It's what I noticed you may think different and you may decide different.

3. Bank account - as far as I understand in the past it was possible to apply to 2checkout with a Seychelles company and Cyprus bank account, but this is not possible anymore. Now the company and the bank account has to be in the same country in order to be approved by 2checkout. Is this correct? If yes, do you have any idea since when this change came into effect with 2checkout?

at least 2 years. You will have to speak with someone there higher up in the rank maybe you can get something thru with them. Otherwise you will need to have bank and company in the same country so you are left with Cyprus or any other country you may find where you can accomplish that.

 

[Todd]

Typically there is no one that is able to force you to do so. If you read the tax & VAT laws around you are obligated to do so but if you look around there is no one actually that care about it. It's what I noticed you may think different and you may decide different.

Could it be possible that the credit card processing company (2checkout for example) force me to add VAT once i it figures out the website is selling tangible products to European customers.
Look into this page for a reference - Tax regulations

at least 2 years. You will have to speak with someone there higher up in the rank maybe you can get something thru with them. Otherwise you will need to have bank and company in the same country so you are left with Cyprus or any other country you may find where you can accomplish that.

So the bank account has to be with Seychelles bank. Do you see any problem with that? What is the reason to look for a bank in another country as it is much for them to be in the same country?

I will be really grateful if you comment something regarding question 1 and 2. These are really important question before even start the procedure with starting a company and bank account in Seychelles. I have contacted a company which provides a service of registering companies in Seychelles and they said they cannot provide me with proof of address. The reason is that if the company has an office in Seychelles, it is considered of having operations in Seychelles, which is prohibited for an IBC company.

 

[JohnLocke]

Could it be possible that the credit card processing company (2checkout for example) force me to add VAT once i it figures out the website is selling tangible products to European customers.
Look into this page for a reference - Tax regulations

No one can predict what a merchant account provider or a payment service provider will require. Visa and MasterCard are changing the game continuesly so the governments do. It's a question about to play by the rules and add VAT or play games, typically seek and hide!

So the bank account has to be with Seychelles bank. Do you see any problem with that? What is the reason to look for a bank in another country as it is much for them to be in the same country?

You won't get a bank account in the Seychelles unless you are going there and have a very good business partner with you! So far I have not heard about anyone that had success to open a foreign bank account in the Seychelles lately.

 

[Todd]

Thanks for the answers

You won't get a bank account in the Seychelles unless you are going there and have a very good business partner with you! So far I have not heard about anyone that had success to open a foreign bank account in the Seychelles lately.

So basically what I understood until now:
Seychelles company with Seychelles bank account is difficult, because it is almost impossible to open a Seychelles bank account.
Seychelles company with Cyprus bank account is possible, but it does not get accepted with 2checkout, because company and bank account are in different countries. Is there another credit card processing company that would accept this setup? (similar to 2checkout)