USA physical address on website for a Panama based company - tax issues?

[davidil]

Yo!

My company is registered in Panama but I rather put a US address under the contact us, for obvious reasons. So I want to use a mail forwarding service and just sign up some place with a nice address, 5th Av in New York or Beverly Hills etc.

My question is - can this get me into trouble with the tax man? Can the US gov or anyone later come and tell me "you list a US address on your website, therefor you need to pay taxes / operate under the laws on the US, or that STATE" etc?

Do different US states have different rules or there is a federal rule about this?

Thanks

 

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[Mike Kavanagh]

As re-iterated in other threads, no one on this forum in the US is legally able to give you tax advice, unless they are an attorney.

 

[davidil]

OK but do I really have to hire someone to tell me the answer? I'm sure many people here know this stuff.

 

[splok]

People can give you their opinions on tax-related issues, but realize that they're just opinions. My opinion is that companies should be taxed whereever the company is actually based, and that shouldn't have anything to do with their mailing address. Google, Apple, and Yahoo seem to make most of their profit in Ireland, despite having a slightly more significant US presence than a mail forwarding service.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that whatever state your using for your US presence doesn't decide to start harassing businesses with any kind of presence there. As a quick reference, you might want to avoid states that are banned from the Amazon Affiliate program.

if at any time following your enrollment in the Program you become a resident of Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, or Rhode Island, you will become ineligible to participate in the Program, and this Operating Agreement will automatically terminate

 

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[FastLearner]

You will need an actual physical address or office and then register your business in whatever state you choose to be located in.
Unfortunately, I don't think this can be done in Panama and you may need to travel to go to Tax revenue office and ask some questions here in the U.S.
Best of luck to you.

 

[splok]

Ah that's a good point, I was assuming he was in the US but wanted his business based offshore, but that was a pretty silly assumption. You don't need to base your business in a state just to have a mailing address there, but if he isn't a US resident and, then just getting a mailing address could be tricky since you have to fill out a notarized form 1583. However, it's possible (albeit potentially sketchy) to avoid that if you deal with a small enough mail forwarding service.

 

[davidil]

Yes I think it's silly to think that anyone will say anything, just for a mail forwarding service, and especially if it's in a business friendly state like Delaware.

 

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