Our valued sponsor

Offshore incorporation

jakebliss

Offshore Agent
Sep 14, 2011
2
1
3
64
Register now
You must login or register to view hidden content on this page.
Hi,


We're a small company based in Ireland, all our profits are generated online and outside of Ireland. The current situation is that we're earning a lot of money, and we're taking it all to pay for our house. So basically, we're currently paying 0% corporation tax (the company makes no benefits since we take all the money), but 55% in personal income tax. The house is now paid for, and so instead of paying ourselves like crazy, we want to keep the money in the company and start giving ourselves "normal" salaries so that we can pay a "normal" income tax of 20%. We've got three problems:


1. The corporation tax in Ireland is 12%.


2. The accounting is tedious, complicated and it's wasting our time.


3. A small part of our income comes from donations. According to Irish taxation this is covered by gift tax (which in our case means we don't pay tax on it). According to our accountant, if a taxman sees the amount we're getting, he/she will interpret it as income, claim income tax on it and penalties going back 5 years.... There's no way we're paying income tax on donations and there's no way we're taking a risk with the tax man...


We're looking for a place to incorporate our new company where:


1. There's 0% corporation tax. We're happy to pay personal income tax on what we're paying ourselves, but we don't want to pay any corporation tax.


2. Accounting isn't going to be complicated. If there's no accounting then even better.


3. we can can have a merchant account to accept credit card payments


4. we can have an address, copies of utility bills or whatever is needed for us to interact with Adsense and Paypal


5. It's legal for a director to use the company's money for his personal use (via debit card for instance).


This way, we're hoping to do the following:


1. Make money online via the merchant account, paypal and adsense and gather the money in the new company


2. Pay ourselves via bank transfer to Ireland and declare it as personal income tax (20% Irish tax)


3. Debit money from the company's debit card so we can retrieve donations in cash (it's important for us that this can be done LEGALLY, i.e. that the jurisdiction of the company allows directors to use its money for their personal use)


In terms of privacy, we don't have any special requirements. We want everything to be fully legal, we're happy to pay taxes as Irish citizens but as far as our company goes, we want to do business elsewhere. So all legal, no real need for privacy, unless you think it's better (I'm not too sure about this and I'm new to all this).


Please let me know what you think and what your suggestion is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JohnLocke
There are many solutions to your issue, one of them is a Cyprus company that may reduce your corporate tax to 0% and you can take all the money out from the company and no one cares other that your local tax auth. Alternative is to incorporate a Seychelles (or other offshore company in another offshore jurisdiction that may have similar benefits) company and open an offshore account somewhere. Upside, you won't need any accounting, not is anyone asking questions in regards how you manage your company, downside, it seems to be very difficult to obtain a merchant account or to use PayPal, only options are 2co.com and moneybookers or similar billing companies.
 
I see one problem and that is PayPal, you won't be able to solve this issue unless you find a VPN/VPS provider for instant in Cyprus to login and create your PayPal account.


Cyprus seems to be the best option in Europe doing business here as well and if you are looking at the tax benefits Cyprus offers for Europeans and business operations wordlwide.
 
OK, so Cyprus seems to be the best solution. I definitely need a merchant account so Seychelles isn't an option then. Can I go through a series of questions before I make the jump?


VPN/VPS


This isn't a problem. I can just get a dedicated server in Cyprus, graphically log into it and perform my Internet activities from there.


Utility bills


At some stage Paypal will want to confirm the account and change its status to "verified". To do this they'll want some utility bills from me. Will CCLogic be able to provide utility bills for my company in Cyprus so that I can get verified by Paypal?


Merchant Account


Which gateway is it using?


What's the monthly limit?


What are the fees monthly and per transaction?


What's the policy in regards to high volumes, increasing the limit, reserves etc..?


When somebody pays money to us on the website using our merchant account API, can they "see" it's from Cyprus?


Accounting


Would CCLogic take care of the accounting for me? Would they file my returns? How much accounting is necessary in Cyprus


Other problems


Are these problematic?


- The fact that Cyprus isn't an English-speaking country (in regards to understanding the law etc..)


- The political troubles in Cyprus with Turkey and their occupation of a part of the Island


- The fact that Cyprus wants to join the EU


Out of curiosity


If you compare Cyprus to the Isle of Man, why Cyprus? What do you get with Cyprus that you can't get with the Isle of Man? The main reason I'm asking this is because the Isle of Man is English-speaking.


Cost


How much does it cost? How do I pay CCLogic? Do they accept Paypal?
 
Utility bills
At some stage Paypal will want to confirm the account and change its status to "verified". To do this they'll want some utility bills from me. Will CCLogic be able to provide utility bills for my company in Cyprus so that I can get verified by Paypal?
Not sure about the VPN/VPS thing, but the above will require a phone number to be installed in the companies name, we can't provide such, actually no one will be able to do that other than the company (your company).


But I guess one of the blueweb or megamath may have some idea about how to solve this as well.

Merchant Account
Which gateway is it using?


What's the monthly limit?


What are the fees monthly and per transaction?


What's the policy in regards to high volumes, increasing the limit, reserves etc..?


When somebody pays money to us on the website using our merchant account API, can they "see" it's from Cyprus?
Well you will need to find a Payment service provider to get answers to these questions, WorldPay, Wire card are such companies and there are many more...

Accounting
Would CCLogic take care of the accounting for me? Would they file my returns? How much accounting is necessary in Cyprus
We can arrange for this as well, actually none of our clients take care of this them self.

- The fact that Cyprus wants to join the EU
Cyprus is already a member of the EU.

Cost
How much does it cost? How do I pay CCLogic? Do they accept Paypal?
It depends on which services you require, as I read you so far I would say you need the following:


- Incorporation of the company in Cyprus


- Registered office address


- Company Secretary (mandatory) can't be used for anything


- All incorporation documents, memorandum & articles, shareholder certificate etc.


- Bank account to receive and send payments and other day to day banking activities the company may have.


- Phone line installed somewhere in the name of the company.


- Accounting and filing of the tax report once a year.



I will assume you look at costs in the range of EUR 3,000 - 5,000 first year and annual EUR 1,400 - 3,500 depending on how many invoices (in/out) you may have...


You will need to be more specific in your ticket in regards to what your aim is and what services you may require, for instant do you want to appoint a nominee director / shareholder for privacy reasons?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: adjust
From what I read it should not be difficult to find a merchant account provider for a Cyprus company, I approached a few of them like 2000charge they will take may business so it is a Cyprus company.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JohnLocke
Did you actually applied with charge2000 or are you still looking for alternatives?
 
There are plenty of payment processors, thats true, the problem is if they accept the business a merchant is into.
 
Register now
You must login or register to view hidden content on this page.