Banking in Belize - Cost prohibitive need Advice

[naesm]

I have set up a Belize IBC and a bank account with Choice Bank in Belize. The problem is, every single transaction in and out of the US and International is $65 and $80 respectively for wires. They don't do any electronic ACH transfers. Access to funds is also limited to wires and a prepaid card you can load and use for POS and ATM transactions (and also carries fees).

I have an affiliate marketing company and all business is conducted outside the US. I have multiple incoming wires weekly, and multiple outgoing payments to US traffic sources and joint venture partners.

Any suggestions on a better structure or what I should do here:

My thoughts are to possibly open an LLC or S corp in the US with the Belize IBC. Then get a US EIN and use this to open a biz checking account at a US bank for my operating account to receive payments and for outgoing wires.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

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[Red]

@GlobalWealth could probably chime in on this one...

 

[naesm]

Any ideas?

 

[townhaus]

does a merchant account help?

 

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[naesm]

does a merchant account help?

What do you mean?

 

[townhaus]

Try OKPAY.com, they offer an account that accepts wires and other electronic payment systems, you can have they majority of transactions sent in/out that account and only make large volume/infrequent wires back to the bank.

 

[naesm]

Try OKPAY.com, they offer an account that accepts wires and other electronic payment systems, you can have they majority of transactions sent in/out that account and only make large volume/infrequent wires back to the bank.

Looks very expensive to me. What exactly do you like about OKPAY especially over a traditonal business checking / bank account? They charge for every incoming payment as well as outgoing.

I don't need any merchant account features. I don't take payements from customers, I don't do ecommerce. I simply need an account to receive wires and ACH transfers from affiliate networks. Pay expenses and joint venture partners.

 

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[naesm]

Any more ideas?

 

[TedM]

http://www.currencyfair.com/ ??

 

[naesm]

http://www.currencyfair.com/ ??

Not sure what this has to do with exchanging currencies?

 

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[Silverhawk851]

I believe it is cheaper with scotiabank, http://www.scotiabank.com/intl/bz/pdf/personal/ComparisonChart_bz.pdf

But the question to be asked is that if ScotiaBank US is a separate entity from the ScotiaBank Belize one, just to mitigate any risk esp if your structured for tax purposes

 

[TedM]

Not sure what this has to do with exchanging currencies?

Exchanging currencies is exactly what this service provides. Also cheap transfers. They do not work yet with the US, but I suggest you keep your eye on them and see how they develop, if you don't find a near term solution.

 

[naesm]

Exchanging currencies is exactly what this service provides. Also cheap transfers. They do not work yet with the US, but I suggest you keep your eye on them and see how they develop, if you don't find a near term solution.

I don't need to exchange currencies, I never said anything about that. As far as I can tell this is a solution to exchange currencies only not an account to hold currency. I need a banking solution in USD.

 

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[naesm]

Bump

 

[GlobalWealth]

I have set up a Belize IBC and a bank account with Choice Bank in Belize. The problem is, every single transaction in and out of the US and International is $65 and $80 respectively for wires. They don't do any electronic ACH transfers. Access to funds is also limited to wires and a prepaid card you can load and use for POS and ATM transactions (and also carries fees).

I have an affiliate marketing company and all business is conducted outside the US. I have multiple incoming wires weekly, and multiple outgoing payments to US traffic sources and joint venture partners.

Any suggestions on a better structure or what I should do here:

My thoughts are to possibly open an LLC or S corp in the US with the Belize IBC. Then get a US EIN and use this to open a biz checking account at a US bank for my operating account to receive payments and for outgoing wires.

Thanks for any feedback.

I no longer offer Belize banking to clients for this reason (and many others you will soon find out if you haven't already). We actually have an office in Belize now for corporate services and trusts, but still don't do Belize banking unless absolutely necessary.

To be honest, there isn't much I can offer for you. We can help our corporate service clients find proper banking solutions, but you aren't our client and we cannot provide this assistance (even if I wanted to, we are not registered agent or nominee so we cannot help).

Most offshore banks require you to have a professional intermediary or visit the bank in person. Your corporate service provider should be able to offer you other banking solutions besides Choice Bank or even besides Belize. Have you tried them?

The only options I could recommend would require you to visit the bank in person. Can you do that?

 

[naesm]

I no longer offer Belize banking to clients for this reason (and many others you will soon find out if you haven't already). We actually have an office in Belize now for corporate services and trusts, but still don't do Belize banking unless absolutely necessary.

To be honest, there isn't much I can offer for you. We can help our corporate service clients find proper banking solutions, but you aren't our client and we cannot provide this assistance (even if I wanted to, we are not registered agent or nominee so we cannot help).

Most offshore banks require you to have a professional intermediary or visit the bank in person. Your corporate service provider should be able to offer you other banking solutions besides Choice Bank or even besides Belize. Have you tried them?

The only options I could recommend would require you to visit the bank in person. Can you do that?

Are you talking about visiting a bank in Belize? If so yes I would be able to do that, I live in Playa Del Carmen Mexico and can drive to Belize easily.

 

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[GlobalWealth]

Are you talking about visiting a bank in Belize? If so yes I would be able to do that, I live in Playa Del Carmen Mexico and can drive to Belize easily.

No, I would stay away from Belize banking in general. There are many, many reasons but suffice to say that the level is not that good there.

 

[TedM]

Would this be helpful? http://www.payoneer.com/

 

[pro]

There's probably no way around it without a big downside. You can use a better bank in a better country but it will probably defeat your entity's purpose.

When dealing with foreign entities, you're often not working with direct banks. Foreign banks like this use intermediaries. When you don't work direct, you get worse costs. So, it's always going to be the case with your foreign entity since quality countries typically won't work with your entity. Registering the entity domestically will result in domestic consequences. So, you might as well just get a US corp. Disclaimer: This isn't legal advice and speak to a lawyer

 

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[GlobalWealth]

Another thought to consider. Maybe you are stuck paying $80 wire fees, but by having an offshore company you pay zero tax. Sure your wire costs are higher, but you avoided all corporate taxation.

 

[naesm]

There's probably no way around it without a big downside. You can use a better bank in a better country but it will probably defeat your entity's purpose.

When dealing with foreign entities, you're often not working with direct banks. Foreign banks like this use intermediaries. When you don't work direct, you get worse costs. So, it's always going to be the case with your foreign entity since quality countries typically won't work with your entity. Registering the entity domestically will result in domestic consequences. So, you might as well just get a US corp. Disclaimer: This isn't legal advice and speak to a lawyer

I don't think this is the case at all. A US Colorado LLC and in most states is a pass through entity. The LLC is owned wholly by the Belize IBC and therefore no tax consequences for the CO LLC. Or so far as it has been explained to me. The US bank account is used strictly for the purposes of convenience and for transaction banking.

 

[GlobalWealth]

I don't think this is the case at all. A US Colorado LLC and in most states is a pass through entity. The LLC is owned wholly by the Belize IBC and therefore no tax consequences for the CO LLC. Or so far as it has been explained to me. The US bank account is used strictly for the purposes of convenience and for transaction banking.

As with many tax related questions, the reply to this is, "it depends".

If you are a non-US person, then you can do this. In fact, you can use a US LLC for non-US business tax free. If you just want to use it for banking/merchant services but pass thru the income offshore it is possible.

You need to be cautious about the location of your clients though. If you have US clients and you are using the US LLC to run banking/merchant services through, this would likely be considered a taxable event since the source income is US.

However if the client were in Brazil, then it should be a non-issue.

Now if you are a US person, it gets more complicated. This is why it is better to be completely offshore in order to take advantage of most, if not all, tax benefits.

 

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[naesm]

Another thought to consider. Maybe you are stuck paying $80 wire fees, but by having an offshore company you pay zero tax. Sure your wire costs are higher, but you avoided all corporate taxation.

Thx