Is there really a market for this? Why would anyone outside the US want to open a US company when you can just as easily open a company and bank account in a tax-free country with little/no oversight?
Stripe Atlas
31–40 of 402 posts
Re: Stripe Atlas
#32Kudos to the Stripers for continuing to innovate in the payments space! Really enjoying the simplicity and elegance of your btc payment solutions ;) Wondering if Atlas could be used to "port" successful internet business models to "foreign" locales? Setting up a Flipkart in Morocco, or a Youku for Samoans...
This is not designed for cloning businesses :-). But we do definitely want to support other incorporation hubs beyond the US.
Re: Stripe Atlas
#33Does this fulfill the requirement from the YC application? „International founders, please note: if your company is a non-United States entity (corporation, limited liability company, etc.), your participation in YC is conditional on conversion of your foreign company into a United States corporation.“
Could just sell the intellectual property from A to B for a $1.
Re: Stripe Atlas
#34A very nice product it seems. But people should be aware that having a US business, bank account and so on makes you a "US person" in the eyes of the US government which comes with downsides. If you recently tried to open a bank account somewhere you might have seen the form you have to fill out which tries to discover if you are indeed such a "US person". I don't know exactly what the result apart from probably the…
Citation, please? I'm very aware that US citizenship comes with legal hurdles when dealing with foreign banks, especially in Europe - but I'm not aware of any such issues with non-US citizens merely owning a US business entity.
I am not a legal expert but this is from the application form of Citibank:
7) US PERSON CERTIFICATION:
I/We certify under penalties of perjury that (Please tick one box)
(i) I am/We are not a U.S. Person (as defined below)
...
“U.S. Person” as used by the Bank means any of the following:
...
(ii) a United States resident; meaning:
...
d. an individual with a U.S. mailing address or U.S. telephone number.
Re: Stripe Atlas
#35> - Pay federal income tax on income generated in the U.S.
> We strongly recommend that you work with tax and legal experts to handle these ongoing requirements. To help, Atlas users get direct access to resources and guidance from Orrick and PwC. You can also chat over the phone for free with a professional from PwC.
^ from the FAQ, should be in bold characters on the home page.
"tax on income generated in the U.S.", what does income generated in the U.S. means? Good luck finding an easy answer to this which will satisfy both your local jurisdiction and the U.S. PwC and the likes thrive because the tax code is a complicated beast that just get bigger every year.
Apart from raising money in the US, as a Canadian company, I don't see any advantage to this.
The amount of knowledge needed to deal with those issues clearly makes it suited to experienced entrepreneurs with the means to get good counselling.
My guess, it's designed for YC founders. :)
Re: Stripe Atlas
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good question! Every company’s situation will be different (which is one of the reasons we’re working with PwC to provide expert tax guidance and education). But generally speaking, companies that are incorporated in the US will need to pay US taxes, and may also pay taxes in their local jurisdiction. The corporation we help you setup in the US would be a new entity.
While I applaud the idea, if you don't need to be US based: 1. It's ridiculous to incorporate in the US, due to ridiculous tax policies; and 2. It's a great way to upset local tax authorities + there are probably a ton of nasty side effects (e.g. some countries have "see through" taxation that taxes certain profits arriving in foreign entities at the shareholder level, or require board meetings to be held in the juri…
> 1. It's ridiculous to incorporate in the US, due to ridiculous tax policies; and
What are these ridiculous tax policies? I've often heard complaints about US taxes for citizens/residents, but nothing yet for companies... (I realize that many companies choose to incorporate in tax havens to evade taxes; but I'm mainly interested in knowing how is incorporating in the US worse than incorporating in e.g. UK, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Germany, France)
Re: Stripe Atlas
#37well, im not impressed. stripe took it 80% the way there, they left out logistics.
freight, customs and last mile are the most expensive and complicated factors of global physical ecommerce.
where is the stripe solution to simplify that?
Re: Stripe Atlas
#38Great with the payment solution. But why would anyone want to pay US corporate tax, US accountants etc. - often on top of the local tax, local accountant etc?
Don't forget that many other countries would still regard the "Stripe Atlas company" as taxable in their local country if the company is actually run from the local country or has offices in the local country. So from day one you would have to deal with international taxation, double taxation etc.
Re: Stripe Atlas
#39A very nice product it seems. But people should be aware that having a US business, bank account and so on makes you a "US person" in the eyes of the US government which comes with downsides. If you recently tried to open a bank account somewhere you might have seen the form you have to fill out which tries to discover if you are indeed such a "US person". I don't know exactly what the result apart from probably the…
What's a "US person"?
I'd have to copy a whole page of various things that make you fall into that definition. Citizens and residents obviously are such US persons but there are others like having a US phone number. See my comment above.
Re: Stripe Atlas
#40Is there really a market for this? Why would anyone outside the US want to open a US company when you can just as easily open a company and bank account in a tax-free country with little/no oversight?
That's what I was thinking. Why would I want to do this. What would be the benefit. Why would I pay tax to the US government?