Setting up Offshore Company + Banking

[pokerprop]

I'm in the early stages of planning a new project. If we go forward with it, this will be a large project that has four owners potentially each from a different country. For example something like this:

40% Me (USA Citizen living in Thailand)
20% Partner One - Canadian
20% Partner Two - UK
20% Partner Three - Singapore

I've never registered a corporation before. I owned a few but had partners handle all that stuff and I just managed project and collected checks etc.

I'm curious where do I start in learning the best way to set up this company. With each partner being from a different country I think it would make sense to register it somewhere with low taxes or no taxes and then let each partner handle there individual taxes to their own discretion based on whatever tax jurisdictions apply to them. But I need to be sure there is no problems with banking and that we can have a moneybookers account and bank account both for receiving affiliate payments and that we'll be able to wire money money out to each owner regularly (perhaps once per month).

On a second note: I'm fairly sure if I spend 330 days outside of the US each year I can be tax exempt on a good chunk of income but will still need to report it. I don't believe that income needs to come from the country I reside in order to qualify though I'm not sure and will need to research that as well.

So anyways to research this all where do I start? If you say lawyer / accountant.. well I'm clueless on where to start there as well and do know from past lawyers and accountants don't always give good advise.

Fwiw the income of the company will be minimal during the first year of operation, but this will be a real corporation so some sort of legal entity is required.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[simoneaton]

Worth taking a look at W.I.L. :: Offshore Trusts, Offshore Companies, Asset Protection, The W.I.L. Way

[Zujo]

Easiest and cheapest way is to have one owner and have contracts with the others that dictate that they receive a set portion of the profits. If the owner does not pay them, they can sue. Exactly the same as if they were an owner but much easier from a logistical standpoint and typically much cheaper to setup.

I would recommend the British Virgin Islands or Gibraltar. Both have no tax on businesses with foreign sourced income and both are friendly to our line of work, especially Gibraltar.

The optimal strategy is to have your citizenship in one country, live in another, have your business based in another and keep your money (bank account) in yet another. Merging a couple of these is obviously ok but spreading them around is definitely a good thing, for a number of reasons.

Five Flags Theory Brief Guide

[MooreFish]

Talk to a lawyer! Seriously.

Would you let your pizza delivery guy handle your investment portfolio?

[Zujo]

Talk to a lawyer! Seriously.

Would you let your pizza delivery guy handle your investment portfolio?

Ya, no doubt.

Forgot to qualify my post with 'this is not legal advice, you would be a retard to take any of it without first consulting a professional' etc.

[pokerprop]

Thanks Zujo. I'm looking into Latvia company based on a few recommendations but it's hard to know if lawyers are just trying to sell me the option they can make the most profit on or what.

I was quoted $4500 for setting up the company. Opening a bank account in Belize (I don't like that idea really, would much rather Cyprus because I'm not trying to hiding the banking - Belize seems more shady to me), and one year legal consulting on US tax strategy which would include filing my returns and paperwork next year to properly disclose interest in foreign company and bank accounts etc.

I do like the strategy: Citizenship one place, live another place, company another and banking a forth. Though i feel banking does not matter as much and a better strategy is probably to bank in all 3 other placed plus a few more.

Anyways thanks for response.

Talk to a lawyer! Seriously.

Would you let your pizza delivery guy handle your investment portfolio?

I disagree here. Lawyers are a dime a dozen. Networking first and then researching on own in much better strategy for most imo. Now getting feedback from many and having a lawyer sign off on final plan cool. But i don't think starting here and other affiliate forums, plus expat and tax sites are all that bad of and idea.

[rakebackengine]

Happy to put you in touch with my Estonian lawyer who can help you incorporate in Estonia or Latvia. Internet banking in these places are the best in the world hands down, and company setup strucutues (re tax) is excellent too

[Zujo]

There is no reason to bank in Belize or Cyprus unless you are trying to evade taxes. It is perfectly legal to have an offshore corporation and have a bank account with it in a jurisdiction where your money is safe: USA, England, Hong Kong and Singapore are four respected and perfectly safe financial centers that quickly come to mind.

And not speaking with a tax attorney about your plan would be dumb imo. Because some lawyers (even most lawyers) are shiesters does not mean the legal profession as a whole is worthless. If you want to be compliant with US tax law you will need a US tax attorney (or at least a CPA/accountant) to review your corporate structure and verify that you are and point out any possible problem areas. If you don't care about US tax law and just want to evade taxes then having a lawyer review your strategy is even more important so you can be sure what you are doing is well hidden.

This is not legal advice, I have no idea what I am talking about, I read this off of a Cracker Jack box and am currently on mushrooms. Attempts to evade taxes or break laws of any kinds will most certainly involve the worst forms of torture imaginable by the government.

[Zujo]

And $4,500 is a scam. As is any fee to setup a bank account for you - set it up yourself once you have the corporate documents. Max you should be paying is $1-1.5k. All they are doing is filing some documents on your behalf.

Check the Alexa rank of the sites you find. 4,534,094 means you will be their first customer since 2004 etc. You will see WSR or WRS or something corporation pop up a bunch in Google. I did research on them and they are terrible to deal with and basically a scam by all accounts - Google them yourself to see.

[pokerprop]

Agree about the lawyer. My comment is i don't feel that's the best place to start.

Cyprus is not a tax haven and banking is not private, that's why I mentioned I'd much rather have an account in Cyprus. That would be because of their online banking capabilities and accessibility.

Anyways at this point I'm overwhelmed with all this and need to come back to it in a few days.