Best country to start an online business in?

[stolpioni]

If you'd want to avoid as much as taxes as possible, don't want to pay anything to the customs when importing from Asia
and still live in a place where there is a lot of domestic buyers, where would you go?

In my situation, as soon as I earn more than $6,000/month I'll have to pay 50% income tax plus 30% customs fee for everything I import.
This will eat my money away..I currently am in startup mode of my new fastlane business. I've created and come up with a unique product which I manufacture in China.

How are the rules in the US? Canada? Australia?
Do you have any other suggestions (like registering myself in a tax haven like Panama, but still run the business from home).

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[andviv]

Where do you live right now? Sweden?

How are you doing it today with your new product?

 

[The-J]

GlobalWealth can help you. You may want to drop him a PM.

 

[stolpioni]

Where do you live right now? Sweden?

How are you doing it today with your new product?

Yeah I live in Sweden. Right now I don't really have an income from the business as my product hasn't been released yet.
I have not registered a company which means I basicly got three options:

1. Register a company, tax and loose half (or more) of my future income.

2. Run the business "in the dark" and avoid paying taxes but risk getting caught, loose everything and go to prison. This option won't be any good if
the business starts to do really well either. This is the least attractive option (even if option number one isn't too good either)

3. Move the business offshore, pay a lot less taxes and have a larger domestic market.
(And with nicer weather, win-win-win )

This is an idea I just got:

I'll go to Panama and register as a resident. I will then get a Panama bank account with a debit card connected to it. Best thing about these cards is there won't be my name on it (there will be no name at all), so every time I dispose money out of it, it can't be tracked back to me.
I'll buy an apartment in Panama and rent it out for like 11 months a year (and make a small profit) and the other month I'll use it as a chalet. The other part of the year I'll be in Sweden, the US, Australia or somewhere else doing my business, all hidden from the government and I won't pay a dime in taxes.

Does this sound like a good idea? Please critique me if you can because otherwise I might just do it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GlobalWealth]

Do you have any other suggestions

In your case, it is very simple as long as you are able to move.

Move to Panama. There is a new immigration law as of May this year making it very easy to get residency.

Register your company in Seychelles (no tax, no compliance issues).

Panama does not tax foreign sourced income, ie. Seychelles company income.

Open a company (Seychelles bank) bank account offshore - many options depending on your needs (not in Panama though since you would be a legal resident).

Open a local, personal Panama bank account for normal daily expenses and receive income from your offshore company account.

As a Swedish citizen (I assume) you pay no Swedish tax when living abroad. No tax in Panama on foreign source income. No tax in Seychelles.

Let me know if you have questions or help with this.

 

[Kak]

Sweet setup Bobby. What happens if your online business makes money in the US? Do you have to pay US taxes?

 

[GlobalWealth]

Sweet setup Bobby. What happens if your online business makes money in the US? Do you have to pay US taxes?

In theory yes.

If you are targeting the US market and 100% (or nearly so) of your client base is in the US, by law you would need to report and pay tax.

From a practical perspective, if you are not a US citizen, and your client base buys online it would be very, very difficult to enforce.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[CashFlowDepot]

To get the new residency visa in Panama, you either have to set up a corporation here or have a work permit. So, you'll need to set up a Panama Corporation also. It could be used to funnel money from your other company to you.

BTW Panama is GREAT. I live in Panama and love it.

 

[theag]

Thanks for the outline Bobby! What if I start a company in Germany (or any other country), start to make good profits and decide to move both me and the company offshore for tax reasons, is it possible to achieve the same outcome as with starting out offshore from the start? Complicated or even impossible? Thanks!

 

[Kak]

In theory yes.

If you are targeting the US market and 100% (or nearly so) of your client base is in the US, by law you would need to report and pay tax.

From a practical perspective, if you are not a US citizen, and your client base buys online it would be very, very difficult to enforce.

What about an american that started the business as an Italian. I am working diligently on my second passport/citizenship.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kak]

I am pretty set on Panama as well. 1 of 2 things will happen for me. I will run my busimess from Panama and delegate 90% of my work or I will sell my company. I can not wait to take a trip!

 

[GlobalWealth]

and decide to move both me and the company offshore for tax reasons, is it possible to achieve the same outcome as with starting out offshore from the start?

Sure, it can be done. Depending on your citizenship it may be easier just to start offshore from the beginning.

If you are German and live in Germany, you would be taxed on worldwide income even on income from an offshore company. But if you move outside Germany, you would no longer have a tax obligation there.

 

[GlobalWealth]

What about an american that started the business as an Italian. I am working diligently on my second passport/citizenship.

As long as you remain an American citizen you still have the tax obligation.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JamesSJ]

If you'd want to avoid as much as taxes as possible, don't want to pay anything to the customs when importing from Asia
and still live in a place where there is a lot of domestic buyers, where would you go?

In my situation, as soon as I earn more than $6,000/month I'll have to pay 50% income tax plus 30% customs fee for everything I import.
This will eat my money away..I currently am in startup mode of my new fastlane business. I've created and come up with a unique product which I manufacture in China.

How are the rules in the US? Canada? Australia?
Do you have any other suggestions (like registering myself in a tax haven like Panama, but still run the business from home).

Seeing as you mention Asia, take a look at Hong Kong.

15% tax rate , setting up company with bank account etc takes a couple days.

If ou were to move here and set up you can self sponsor your visa - the china connection will be in your favour as will exporting out of Hong Kong.

Pm me if you want any more info - I live in HK and recently set up here with my own Internet business.

 

[Kak]

As long as you remain an American citizen you still have the tax obligation.

Hmm, I am beginning to wonder what is so great about being an American. Being able to live here part time can be done as an Italian. Really I am coming up with more negatives than positives. One day I would not be suprised if I did give up my citizenship.

 

[GlobalWealth]

Being able to live here part time can be done as an Italian.

You can spend 120 days per year in the US as a foreigner and a maximum of 90 days per visit.

One day I would not be suprised if I did give up my citizenship.

It is happening in record numbers of the past 4 years.

Not to mention as Jackie stated before, the renunciations don't even consider those that just leave and go off the radar.
That is a much greater number.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[OnePerCent]

Why not Ireland to begin?
Then you could go offshore.

 

[Lucas Reis]

Awesome topic...

I'll have to pay 50% income tax plus 30%

Man.. and I was thinking that taxes and interest here in Brazil were outrageous. So I'm not alone...

But is it worth changing all your living set to get more income?
Well if the city is beautiful and nice...

 

[GlobalWealth]

But is it worth changing all your living set to get more income?

That depends on your desired lifestyle.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Eskil]

I vote for GlobalWealth to volunteer for a future conference call on offshore business. Are you up for it?

 

[OnePerCent]

But is it worth changing all your living set to get more income?

It's not only a matter of more income. It's what you can do with that money for your business, for your wealth, for your family.
My answer is absolutely YES. The world is full of nice places, and you can connect with your family phisically and digitally.
That money is holy in the hands of wise entrepreneurs, why feed lazy gov employees?

 

[crlerk]

Tjenare stolpioni.

A quick tip is to get hold of an accounting firm or similar that has experience with this.
Your idea is good, but you actually have to live in Panama for 180 days per year, so bump that month up to 3-4, in order to please Skatteverket.

I have had similar plans on how to operate worldwide from Sweden. As it looks right now I am going to try to set myself up with a company in the U.K. that owns the rights to my business idea, then I can license the intellectual property to a company in Sweden, or anywhere I guess.

This is not 110% researched and ready to roll, but from what I know thus far it might work. For now I pay taxes, and all, like a proper Swede.

- Carl-Erik

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GlobalWealth]

I vote for GlobalWealth to volunteer for a future conference call on offshore business. Are you up for it?

LOL, I have a weekly newsletter with topics like asset protection, offshore business, economics, politics, investing and more. At this point I don't do conference calls, although with our new product coming out later this year, conference calls will probably be part of the service.

I also host an offshore conference with these topics.

 

[GlobalWealth]

That money is holy in the hands of wise entrepreneurs, why feed lazy gov employees?

:iagree:

Amen brother. Preach on.

 

[stolpioni]

Thanks for all the replies! Especially GlobalWealth for the value you brought to the thread.

To compare, how much would the income tax be in the US? Australia?
Since I'm not looking to retire at this moment, it wouldn't be optimal for me to move to a third world country full-time.

OnePerCent, why Ireland? How low are the taxes there?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GlobalWealth]

To compare, how much would the income tax be in the US? Australia?
Since I'm not looking to retire at this moment, it wouldn't be optimal for me to move to a third world country full-time.

LOL, funny how many people consider some smaller countries to be 3trd world (not saying you, but this is a common theme amongst those that don't or haven't traveled a lot).

For me I prefer smaller countries with small populations. A small population means, small govt, which mean very little power.

Panama only has about 4m people. Its tough for a govt to create critical mass of power with such a small tax base.

Estonia is a tiny country with only about 1.3m people. But cost of living is quite good, technology far surpasses that in the US making internet related businesses easy to run plus the local population is quite tech savvy giving you a great worker base without having to pay exorbitant wage rates.

Tax rates in the US and Australia are quite high. Most larger countries have higher tax rates. If you run a brick and mortar business then you would want to be in a high population market, but if you can manage you business virtually why live in such a high tax / high cost of living place?

 

[OnePerCent]

OnePerCent, why Ireland? How low are the taxes there?

If you incorporate, taxation in Ireland is only 12.5% (among the lowest rates in the world) and you are in EU.
This is the reason why Google, Dell, Oracle ...... have chosen Ireland as their Europe headquarters.

 

[Lucas Reis]

It's not only a matter of more income. It's what you can do with that money for your business, for your wealth, for your family.
My answer is absolutely YES. The world is full of nice places, and you can connect with your family phisically and digitally.
That money is holy in the hands of wise entrepreneurs, why feed lazy gov employees?

Interesting point of view. As a tropical dude, I think I would fit in. But its hard to imagine any other person that lived in crowded cities or in extreme cold weather to live there.

Then again, it looks like a wonderful city.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.