Opening a Belize jurisdiction or somewhere else?

[mikilala]

Hi folks,

I am wondering if Belize would be a good choice to open an offshore company for my business. I am basically a freelancer and I have my own Sole Trader company registered in Serbia. However, by current business status I will fall into heavier taxing next year, because of the increase of incoming transactions my Sole Trader has. What I want to do is to find some jurisdiction where I can leverage my incomes and transfer just up to the limit of my country Sole Trader.

What was my plan:
1. Open company in Belize,
2. Set nominee director and Sign agreement with my Sole Trader in my country.
3. Open Transferwise account under Belize corporation
4. Transfer all possible incomes from Transferwise to my Sole Trader in my country on a monthly basis (up to the limit, defined by country)
5. Rest sits on Belize Company name, until bad days comes and business slow down.

As I understood right, Belize would suffice in this case, and I am having around 1k of expenses per year to keep it running. If I am wrong, please let someone correct me.

Edit: Also to mention that my clients are from US (no ties with Belize).

 

[GiGoGo]

I would suggest to create a US LLC as IRS doesn't have an agreement with Serbia and for your customers paying you to a local bank/company is much easier

Country-by-Country Reporting Jurisdiction Status Table | Internal Revenue Service

Country-by-Country Reporting Jurisdiction Status Table

www.irs.gov

 

[mikilala]

That's all fine with US LLC, but:
a) my clients don't have a problem paying abroad
b) as clients are situated in the US, I will have to pay/deal with tax in the US. (More about dealing, than paying)
c) Audit+accounting is not something that I'd like to do.
d) I don't mind reporting of offshore country to my country about the assets, as I want to be legal.
e) The income that I have, compared to some other threads that I found here is insignificantly small. (up to 100k per year)

 

[JohnSeed]

I would be very careful with opening corps in the US because you think they don't report. We are many on this forum that don't believe this to last for long sooner or later they will start reporting one way or another.

Setup a company in Belize or the Seychelles and open a TW account so you may be good for now.

 

[Milky Moon]

What was my plan:
1. Open company in Belize,
2. Set nominee director and Sign agreement with my Sole Trader in my country.
3. Open Transferwise account under Belize corporation
4. Transfer all possible incomes from Transferwise to my Sole Trader in my country on a monthly basis (up to the limit, defined by country)
5. Rest sits on Belize Company name, until bad days comes and business slow down.

2. What agreement will you sign?
3. Does TransferWise accept 'nominee Belize companies'?
4. Based on what do you transfer the monies?
5. TransferWise is not a bank, Serbia is not a 'trusted' country. Your money is at risk.

So please think again.

 

[mikilala]

Thanks for the interesting viewpoints.
I am sorry if I was not clear. But Let me clarify a few things.
2 and 3. I need Nominee if I want to sign an agreement for Services between Sole Trader in Serbia (myself) and an offshore company in Belize (for crediting reasons in Serbia). I don't need a nominee to open Transferwise, as I don't have a problem in being transparent to the government. (also I am not sure if one representative can represent legally two parties on agreement)
4. Basically my Belize company would be an agency that hires me to do work for clients, while Sole Trader in my country will (as anywhere else) represent me. That will be an agreement between the Sole Trader and Belize Company
5. I am living in Serbia, as long as I have legal taxed money in Serbia, I can invest in assets (which is my plan to do so), and spread more incomes. Transferwise is used as tax leverage, not as a final destination (or savings account). Basically I would be having the about as same amount of money stored on TW as much as I would be paying additional tax to the govt of Serbia, if I don't do this. (around 20%)

 

[GiGoGo]

I think that a canadian LLP could be a great option if you don't have any canadian customer

How about privacy / asset protection there?

 

[JohnSeed]

3. Does TransferWise accept 'nominee Belize companies'?

point is that you won't tell them that you are using nominees but simply provide the passport and utility bill required and get the account opened. No problem at all, just do it.

 

[zeytin]

I think that a canadian LLP could be a great option if you don't have any canadian customer

Wow, I never ever considered Canada for this but it looks great. Do Canadian banks open accounts for non-resident Canadian LLP or LP companies (with or without personal visit)?

 

[JohnSeed]

I think that a canadian LLP could be a great option if you don't have any canadian customer

Can a foreigner open a company in Canada and bank account without to visit the country?

 

[GiGoGo]

Can a foreigner open a company in Canada and bank account without to visit the country?

Yes, but requires physical visit

I did it myself, passport, proof of address, and a deposit if you want a credit card

 

[JohnLocke]

privacy is bad because they have a public registry and assets protection not bad but there are better solutions

That would have been my question about a Canada company setup. I can see a lot of benefits setting up a company there for business as usual but most around here are looking for something different.

Anyway, thank you for clarification.

 

[JohnSpain]

Stay away from Belize. These days there are so much hassle, and close to impossible to open a decent bank account. Belize is trying to become 'white' (stay off all the black lists) but in their effort they made Belize companies close to useless. Might be OK if this meant banking was easy, but its not.

 

[mikilala]

Okay, eventually I found out that Estonian company is my best exit for this. They are not 0 tax country, BUT they don't have a corporate tax, which is actually the reason why I am opening it. And it's easy/cheap to open a bank account/anything. Expenses for my specific issue is 1k per year, including bookkeeping, Transferwise and everything else. High transparency and high compliance, however, has positive and negative sides.

 

[speedster]

Okay, eventually I found out that Estonian company is my best exit for this. They are not 0 tax country, BUT they don't have a corporate tax, which is actually the reason why I am opening it. And it's easy/cheap to open a bank account/anything. Expenses for my specific issue is 1k per year, including bookkeeping, Transferwise and everything else. High transparency and high compliance, however, has positive and negative sides.

Fantastic, glad you are moving in a direction. Just a small note, while undistributed profits remain untaxed there is corporate tax on distributed profits.