Tax Nomad Seeks Jurisdiction to Launch New Venture

[nethostler]

My ideal set-up would allow me to launch the business ASAP with some form of business banking (EMI or offshore account). The goal of going offshore being both limited liability and tax efficiency. Should the business prove successful I'd migrate the company to a more robust set up.

I've looked into US LLC's but they seem overkill for my situation (few remote account opening options, complex tax code, high penalties, EIN wait times, ETOB, ECI etc)

Here are few more details that hopefully help you, help me.

Business Activity
Affiliate marketing of digital services via my own website (various services mostly financial and e-Comm, no gambling, adult content, pharmaceuticals etc)

Payment requirements:
Receive mainly USD and EUR, some GBP, AUD
Receive PayPal via business account (important but not essential).

Customer location (merchants)
%30-$40 US, %30-%40 EU, %20 Canada, Australia and rest of world

Current Revenue
$0 I'm pre-launch and pre-revenue

Personal Tax status
Tax nomad. I spend fewer than 180 days in any given location.

Nationality
EU citizen and passport holder

Ideal jurisdictions
1. 0-%10 corporate tax 2. Low reporting requirements 3. Under $2000 in yearly maintenance 4. Ok reputation 5. Good privacy

Willing to travel to open bank account?
No, not at this time

 

[Konstanz]

I would advise contacting @Gediminas. He can help you

 

[JohnLocke]

Willing to travel to open bank account?
No, not at this time

You may specify if it is a EMI or bank account you are looking for.

 

[LoveMyLife]

I would advise contacting @Gediminas. He can help you

He can not help him. He is looking for annual maintenance under 2K. Gediminas is offshore reseller. There is no reazonable setup where he will pay him less.

My ideal set-up would allow me to launch the business ASAP with some form of business banking (EMI or offshore account). The goal of going offshore being both limited liability and tax efficiency. Should the business prove successful I'd migrate the company to a more robust set up.

I've looked into US LLC's but they seem overkill for my situation (few remote account opening options, complex tax code, high penalties, EIN wait times, ETOB, ECI etc)

Here are few more details that hopefully help you, help me.

Business Activity
Affiliate marketing of digital services via my own website (various services mostly financial and e-Comm, no gambling, adult content, pharmaceuticals etc)

Payment requirements:
Receive mainly USD and EUR, some GBP, AUD
Receive PayPal via business account (important but not essential).

Customer location (merchants)
%30-$40 US, %30-%40 EU, %20 Canada, Australia and rest of world

Current Revenue
$0 I'm pre-launch and pre-revenue

Personal Tax status
Tax nomad. I spend fewer than 180 days in any given location.

Nationality
EU citizen and passport holder

Ideal jurisdictions
1. 0-%10 corporate tax 2. Low reporting requirements 3. Under $2000 in yearly maintenance 4. Ok reputation 5. Good privacy

Willing to travel to open bank account?
No, not at this time

Start with Estonian company. Maintenance costs depends on amount of transactions. But you can be OK with 3K per annual, accounting included. You can have few cheap EMI accounts..
And if business will grow, you can move it to Hong Kong.

Asking for annual maintenance under 2K is something what you will not find anywhere,..

 

[nethostler]

He can not help him. He is looking for annual maintenance under 2K. Gediminas is offshore reseller. There is no reazonable setup where he will pay him less.

Depending on what's on offer, I could be interested. What's a ballpark estimate (setup cost & annual maintenance) for their services.

Thanks for all the useful input. It looks like the $2k annual maintenance is a bottleneck, that number is somewhat arbitrary, thinking in terms of what I can afford rather than what I'd be willing to pay. I would say $5k would be my limit.

You may specify if it is a EMI or bank account you are looking for.

All else being equal, I would prefer a bank account but if there are significant differences in KYC, and remote opening options an EMI would be preferable.

Start with Estonian company. Maintenance costs depends on amount of transactions. But you can be OK with 3K per annual, accounting included. You can have few cheap EMI accounts..
And if business will grow, you can move it to Hong Kong.

Asking for annual maintenance under 2K is something what you will not find anywhere,..

Thanks, $3k is fine and this the type of plan I had in mind. Can you point me to any good resources regarding forming an Estonian company as a non-resident.

 

[LoveMyLife]

Thanks, $3k is fine and this the type of plan I had in mind. Can you point me to any good resources regarding forming an Estonian company as a non-resident.

I think, the best for you as a beginner will be xolo.io. They will care about everything what you need. Pricing is acceptable. They have few programs. To be honest, I have no connection with them. I have never used their services. But I know a few people who are using their services. Or you can google, there is a plenty of company for this. But xolo is one stop shop.

 

[MrYellow]

Xolo is garbage and Estonian also not best tax country. So I think you probably work for Xolo based on your recommendations. So before you listen to all these guys wanna sell you their garbage, if you don’t care and just want cheap buy Seychelles company for some hundred $ and register a EMI and you’re fine. No need to hire a PhD here and most recommendations I not like based on my personal opinion.

 

[LoveMyLife]

Xolo is garbage and Estonian also not best tax country. So I think you probably work for Xolo based on your recommendations. So before you listen to all these guys wanna sell you their garbage, if you don’t care and just want cheap buy Seychelles company for some hundred $ and register a EMI and you’re fine. No need to hire a PhD here and most recommendations I not like based on my personal opinion.

I do not work for Xolo. I have absolutely no connection with them. But socialists like you believe, that if someone suggests any solution, there has to be a hidden profit on it. I will tell you a truth: No, it does not have to be. Many people try to help and do it selflessly.

I agree, here are many offshore resellers, bullshitters and scam artists. Many of them try to sell their garbage. But not all people are the same. I know, socialists believe, all people are the same and there is the same level of mindset of all. Sorry, I am not like you.

Seychelles + EMI is garbage. Have you red what is his business? The most of his customers in EU will not accept invoices from Seychelles company. All digital services invoices from Syechelles undergo 35 % withholding tax. Do you know what is it? If no, I will exaplain.

If your absolutely unusable Seychelles company issued invoice for 1000 Eur to customer in EU for digital services, your customer will not pay 1000 Eur. Your customer will pay 650 Eur only. And customer will have to send 350 Eur to tax authority in its country with a special form declaring witholding tax. It means, invoicing digital services to EU, you loose 35 % on all issued invoices immediately.

And it is not all. Invoicing digital services from Seychelles company to customers in EU means, you have legal obligation to register under One Stop Shop system as VAT payer. Also when your company is outside of EU. Important is where are your customers and not your company incorporated. And you will have to bill VAT and wire it every month on 25th day of a next month. And you have to file VAT returns. Not doing it is a tax fraud. What can mean many years in prison if not doing it.

I understand, you are a newbie, amateru and socialist. But do not try to advice people when you do not understand what they need. If they will listen you, they will sooner or later be investigated..

Forget to Seychelles, Belize, and all other trash of old offshore world..

 

[nethostler]

Estonia does tick most of the boxes but the requirement to fly and collect the e-resident card in person is a deal breaker for me. That said I don't have an interest the Seychelles, BVI, Belize like solutions either.

Anyway, I'm open to other suggestions for jurisdictions that match my needs with similar profiles to Estonia.

 

[MrYellow]

You are funny guy Love. Sit somewhere in east Europe telling his fairy tales to people and then get mad.

I wish you good luck selling your Xolo product but please don’t get mad, it shows just bad charackter attitude.
I recommend you better spend your time to to learn first or not recommend false information.

but I like funny people as you, it was a good entertain for me. I just not like to spread false information because some people maybe will rely to it.

I understand Estonia is small payments but please don’t get mad to others if you are unhappy.

 

[LoveMyLife]

You are funny guy Love. Sit somewhere in east Europe telling his fairy tales to people and then get mad.

I wish you good luck selling your Xolo product but please don’t get mad, it shows just bad charackter attitude.
I recommend you better spend your time to to learn first or not recommend false information.

but I like funny people as you, it was a good entertain for me. I just not like to spread false information because some people maybe will rely to it.

I understand Estonia is small payments but please don’t get mad to others if you are unhappy.

Oh Mr. Yellow,

I am not sitting somewhere in eastern Europe. YOU ARE FALSE.

I am not selling anything for Xolo. YOU ARE FALSE.

I am not unhappy. I am absolutely grateful for the existence of SOCIALISTS LIKE YOU. On opinions of you and your group I can see, how good is it to be capitalist.

I hope, you will open your eyses one day. Marxistic theories does not work. Your SOCIALISTC dream of absolutely transparent world, where everyone shall show to all countries authorities everything, show wealth and success publicly and kindly wait to be taxed and taxed and taxed again, will never become reality.

I do not know how much pay anyone in Estonia. I have not ever been there. I live in a first world country.

Your SOCIALISTC noneducated opinions where you recommend bullshits which leads just to the prison are funny.

Just have your nonsense Seychelles company with Transferwise account and wait for a financial unit to knock on your door one day.

 

[JimBeam]

Estonia does tick most of the boxes but the requirement to fly and collect the e-resident card in person is a deal breaker for me. That said I don't have an interest the Seychelles, BVI, Belize like solutions either.

Anyway, I'm open to other suggestions for jurisdictions that match my needs with similar profiles to Estonia.

You can pick-up this card in any country that has Estonian embassy... (here's the list -> List of diplomatic missions of Estonia - Wikipedia ).
I guess you could use that with TransferWise easily and cheaply... Don't know if you're fine with the other things as 20% tax on distribution (dividends)...

 

[user9823671]

Xolo is garbage and Estonian also not best tax country. So I think you probably work for Xolo based on your recommendations. So before you listen to all these guys wanna sell you their garbage, if you don’t care and just want cheap buy Seychelles company for some hundred $ and register a EMI and you’re fine. No need to hire a PhD here and most recommendations I not like based on my personal opinion.

Depending on payment processors OP wants to use, this may be an issue. Unless they are just an affiliate and can receive wire payments direct to bank account

 

[nethostler]

Depending on payment processors OP wants to use, this may be an issue. Unless they are just an affiliate and can receive wire payments direct to bank account

Correct, I'm only an affiliate, so there's no payment processing requirement (stripe etc), just the need to receive bank wires and PayPal. Would this open up other options. What are your thoughts?

 

[nethostler]

It doesn't work like this automatically afaik. When you open a bank or EMI account or create a company and open a business account and you are owner or director, your data will go to CRS. You can't tell a bank hey I am a tax nomad, you will give them your passport and this data will be used for CRS reporting. If your volumes are low your tax authority may not bother otherwise they can request you to explain your income and where you are paying taxes. If you can't prove that you are tax resident in some other place, you will be taxed in your home country.
I did hear that in UK the 180 day rule is kinda automatic, but I doubt it tbh and for sure this is not the case in other countries. Most countries have a complex system of defining your tax residency like if you have a house or even a car somewhere it will be enough. Basically if you are not resident in another country this will be enough to be considered resident in your own. 180 day rule can be used against you but it doesn't give you immunity automatically.
There are countries like Panama and Costa Rica who have territorial tax system but this is not your case right?
Note: I am not a tax expert but I am in the same situation as you, and I am looking at Cyprus IP box + non domiciled tax residency.

Agreed, bona fide tax residency in a territorial tax, or tax free nation would be a better long term solution.

 

[nethostler]

You can pick-up this card in any country that has Estonian embassy... (here's the list -> List of diplomatic missions of Estonia - Wikipedia ).
I guess you could use that with TransferWise easily and cheaply... Don't know if you're fine with the other things as 20% tax on distribution (dividends)...

The closest embassy is a several hour flight for me. I could be open to traveling were it for account opening but as far I can see there isn't enough on offer wrt to Estonian companies to warrant the trip, no remote opening of Estonian accounts, and as you point out 20% on distributions,

What are your thoughts? Are there any other jurisdictions/set-ups that could be a good fit for my needs?

 

[JimBeam]

About your requirements - you are looking for:

1. low or no tax
2. privacy (?)
3. quick setup (ASAP)
4. cheap (under 2k/year)

I think that's pretty unrealistic for today's world. You can pick 2 or maybe 3 out of these...

I'm doing something kind of similar (getting payments from various affiliate programs) in multiple currencies from all over the world and I can tell you that TransferWise is amazing (low fees, multiple currencies, easy to use, works fine). So I would chose a country that supports it as it's easier and quicker to setup than bank account (that can take months and you could easily be rejected after months of waiting without any reason).

Also, make sure that you understand all the running costs (accounting and auditing costs, annual renewal etc) so there aren't any surprises.

 

[user9823671]

Correct, I'm only an affiliate, so there's no payment processing requirement (stripe etc), just the need to receive bank wires and PayPal. Would this open up other options. What are your thoughts?

that makes it much easier then. Seychelles with transfer wise might work. But your tax residence is awkward. You cannot be tax resident no where, and it "may" default to your home country / passport country. Might you "may" stay under the radar with seychelles + TW. Your privacy is protected due to seychelles and they won't charge you tax, no filings (although you should keep them as they may ask for them, in reality you don't need to) and is cheap to setup.

What is your EU home country, that can make a difference, as some are more aggressive than others.


WARNING: I don't really know much, just what have read on here, and am no where near as knowledgable as some others who post here.

 

[orangekangaroo]

As you have zero revenue and are just starting, I would use a Romanian micro company set up to start with. 3% tax on turnover up to 1 million euros and reduced to 1% if you pay yourself a salary with the social security contributions. 5% dividend tax. As you have affiliate income and not major expenses this is a pretty cheap way to get business growing without much tax burden. Once you have good profits you can plan for the more expensive structures and get bank accounts etc ready.

 

[orangekangaroo]

Another solution might be the Ukraine Private Entrepreneur Scheme, cost around 7% of your turnover in total to run. Gives you tax residency but no need to stay in Ukraine. Perfect for Digital Nomads.