New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
In what country should I register my business?
Due to complication with your own countries law sometimes you can't do business in your country peacefully. In such cases what country will you go for as a foreigner? Just saw a old thread about US business registration, but didn't got enough country choice there.
So asking LET providers to share their experience on business formation, tax, IP law, etc in their country/foreign country. And lastly can anyone share their experience in Canada(I might move there).
Comments
Where are you from, originally?
As an EU Citizen you could become a "digital citizen" of Finnland (or was it Estonia?) and found a business there.
Seychelles
It's Estonia
https://e-resident.gov.ee/
At least the view is nice there. But are you serious?
What about from APAC? Can I still move to EU?
I have been part of that program since 2016. When I was looking to register a limited company in late 2018, the options that program offered were... underwhelming to say the least. You have to travel to Estonia in order to get an account with any bank there. It's also impossible to hand in some of your administration digitally through the platform. It's a great idea, but in practice its severely lacking. I had honestly expected more.
It's a half assed program to say the least. Even us, the locals, can't understand the point in it due to lack of options you could do with it.
One of my Egyptian friends has an LLC founded in the USA.
While business formation isn't that complicated here (nor expensive), but some business models have weird-ass roles.
such as if your company heavily relies on a website, you then have to pay ~$4k more non-refunded fees.
I was thinking to do the same but didn't yet do my full homework.
If you like Biden or Trump, then USA
https://stripe.com/atlas
I believe the UK is popular for remote companies, as is Singapore and the US. It's a free for all after that.
The Netherlands might also be interesting for you. We have some... interesting tax laws.
Especially for internet businesses.
UK is a pretty good place to register your business. Relatively low corporation tax and limited amounts it paperwork.
I think stripe atlas program is costly. Lawyer charges less maybe?
Found Namecheap is also doing this formation thing https://www.namecheap.com/apps/application/namecheap-legal-services-incorporation-llc-formation-trademark-registration/
Interesting to hear! Thanks for sharing
nothing for free, my friend.
there still ongoing annual fees.
I checked out Estonian e-residency program and found some other countries in EU offering e-residency program. Looked promising to me. But as few stated their experience I think I should leave the idea of e-residency and think about business formation alone.
US:
Pros:
High privacy (depending on state)
Cheap to maintain (depending on state)
Easy to get bank accounts, payment gateway stuff etc.
Most simple country to get a company up and running (after EIN of course)
Many states to choose from so you can find the best to incorporate for your business (I prefer a combination of privacy, cheap, low taxes and proper management by the SOS)
Cons:
Need to get EIN, most cases you need to send your passport to the US
Can be expensive
UK:
Pros:
Fully online setup for non residents
Easy to update company info
Proper register of all companies
Cons:
Publicly viewable accounts, regular statements
Director information is publicly available such as DOB, which can lead to Identity theft
Other information is also very public, such as Director service address, secretaries, UBOs etc.
There is no sense to create a company in a country where you don't live.
If you feel free to move to another country, go for UK (so easy to create, and keep a company alive), or Estonia (cost of life is so cheap...).
Free for all is a phrase, it doesn't refer to the actual costs.
as far as i know, I think you can register a company in Singapore, there's a lot of service on the internet to help you register your company there
And why would you think that? There are many top business that are doing business as foreign entity. Likewise in some country business formation is so lengthy you will eventually get rid of the business idea. Also in some country there are politicians that don't understand how washing machine works so they ban washing machines. Let alone leave the idea of corruption, hassles to forming a business, etc.
I've registered one in RAK, UAE (Ras al Khaimah) which is tax-free. You pay one time registration fee, and no taxes further. No direct corporate income taxes, no sales taxes and no wealth taxes.
The best example is domain registry giant RADIX. Radix FZC (Free Zone Company). FZE is for sole-owner, and FZC is multi-shared-holder company.
Else try for U.S : Delaware or Oregon which is cheapest! Below $100 or something for Oregon!
AFAIK most middle east countries are tax free. But are they business friendly? What is your experience so far?
Travel to open Bank Account there only to have it closed at the end of one year to due lack of Estonian connection
Travel again open another one. LHV seems stable so far but year hasn't ended yet. Know someone who has already done it thrice in 2 years lol.
with the new digital nomad visa and e-residency visitors, the rental prices in Tallinn have sure gone up in the past 2-3 years
Read somewhere it contributed €14m to Economy. Can't verify source not in postimees or delfi or i lack googling skills.
for online/ecommerce businesses, yes, they are business friendly. except Dubai.
Also they don't need local ownership (or local partner) to register and operate that is 100% foreign ownership. Also there's single window clearance for commercial/media/ecommerce license.
the only drawback: The businesses in a particular free zone are not entitled to expand beyond their free zone limit to other areas of UAE. If you wish to do so, the business owners have to re-register their company as a private business.
How much did it cost?
But not in UAE, in other countries(online business/e-commerce) can I use the same registration?
What to watch out for ?
LHV is a lot leaner than the rest of the banks here, thats why its probably still opened for you lol (LHV is the only one untouched by the money laundering scandal here)
As for Tallinn...well, yeah. I wouldn't stay there even if they paid me to do it. Worthless shithole.
Singapore, Malta and USA
But if you think Stripe's $500 is costly and you can't pay that then I would recommend you to not start any business.. at least for now..
Sorry but If you can't pay $500 for business registration in a foreign country then I don't think you will survive or ready for work.
I would recommend you to open the business in your own country where you familiar with many laws and peoples
To be fair, opening a UK business costs around $20 so yeah...
There are cheaper solutions out there. I can afford but I don't need any extra freebies for now. Just figuring things out. Also I currently have registrations in my own country for few years. I just don't want to continue my business here.