Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stripe Atlas

stripe.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 402 posts

Re: Stripe Atlas

#121

Post by tvladeck »

This is cool, but they should not offer a C corp as the default choice. An LLC should be the default for the vast majority of entrepreneurs. The only reason VC-funded companies are C corps is becaused VC LPs don't want to be hit with taxable income (which would flow through the VC to them). An LLC is much better for a variety of reasons:

- Flow through taxation = you only get taxed once. With a C corp you pay corporate income tax and then you get taxed on any distribution

- If you sell the business, you better hope you have enough leverage to get a stock sale and not an asset sale, because in an asset sale, you're again getting majorly double taxed. The vast majority of exits are asset sales though because they shield the purchaser from unknown liabilities

- From an LLC, you can easily become a C corp. From a C corp, it's majorly difficult (practically infeasible) to become an LLC; you retain optionality in one case but not the other

Re: Stripe Atlas

#122

Post by wiradikusuma »

I hope someone from Stripe is lurking here. What if I already have a US company but just want the bank account etc? The reason is, apparently since 9/11, it's a requirement to be in person to open an account.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#123

Post by lstamour »

germanier wrote: post #114
lstamour wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, IANAL, and I'm Canadian with a US bank account but yet to "do business" in the US (just having an expense account does not qualify in most/all jurisdictions): Having a US phone number does not make you a US resident -- but having a US bank account means proving to the IRS and your bank that they should not withhold any taxes on your personal account. Having a US phone number does not in any way on its own requ…

Sure, that is correct in theory. In practice most European banks won't touch you with a ten-foot pole if they even just suspect you might need to fulfill US reporting obligations. Therefore they use a much broader definition This is not only about tax but all the cost associated in dealing with all the forms which makes you an expensive customer.

But if you simply own shares in a US company, surely banks will deal with you then? Or if you get paid by a US company as a foreigner? It also is probably on a bank-by-bank basis that things are handled. FATCA was introduced in 2012 but it's been 4 years, long enough that there should be one or two banks at least who will play nice...

To be clear, in Canada, my understanding is that it's very hard to get a bank account as a US person unless actually in Canada. But top banks and some credit unions are prepared to handle FATCA-required forms and reporting.

Big difference too between foreigners with US interests and actual US persons with foreign interests, I would think...

Re: Stripe Atlas

#124

Post by pentae »

eis wrote: post #111
pentae wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hong Kong is a great place to incorporate for tax advantages, but a terrible place for getting merchant processing or a bank account. Remote openings are not possible. You can fly to Hong Kong and open a bank account in person, and they may (or may not) open one for you - but getting payment processing for a Hong Kong corporation with no processing history is basically impossible for the average person. I have a Hong…

I have not found it difficult to get a corporate bank account and merchant account in the past in Hong Kong with HSBC. Yes you have to go there in person but I don't see this as a big deal. We had CC processing and your agents should have contacts to get you set up. Things might have changed in recent years. And no I am not wrong. If you don't have a work permit which you get by working for a Thai company, you are br…

Yeah, things have changed in recent years in HK. HSBC HK has a horrible reputation now and they are very resistant to do corporate account openings and prefer your company is resident or doing business in HK.

Regarding long stay visas in Thailand - as I said, getting a long term visa or work permit is very simple you can do it through a company who will sponsor you for a modest fee. If you are interested I can provide you with links.

My BOI did take some time, you are right, but the process was relatively simple as I used an agency - but totally worth it.

Yes - much easier to incorporate somewhere else. Your experience with HK/HSBC opening a merchant account is simply not a reality anymore for the majority of people, particularly without processing history, nor is it in other countries using HK.

Anyway, this product offering from Stripe is a genuine game changer for people who want to operate from the US, want a business in a box and want to set it up remotely. I know many, many people who will jump on it.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#125

Post by eis »

pentae wrote: post #113
Keats wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unrelated but i'll be in Chiang Mai next month for a couple of days, could you give some names of interesting cafe/coworking space there? I'll be with my gf (a designer) that is also interested in digital nomadism so would be great to meet people doing that

Hate to tell you this but you chose the worst time of year to come. Google “Burning Season Chiang Mai” - I’d recommend sticking to the south of Thailand, particularly the islands, and then come up around April 10 for Songkran. Punspace is the big coworking space, I’d recommend booking a place in Nimman and trying the various cafes there. Kaweh is a good spot if its not too busy.

This is good advice. Mind though that in the south the digital nomad community isn't as strong as it is in Chiang Mai.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#126

Post by smarx007 »

yeahrightfam wrote: post #110

This means nothing for me (and should also mean nothing for the targeted audience of the post). I've been constantly ignored from Stripe since they launched their beta in Mexico (actually way before that, I subscribed years before, when Stripe launched in the US). I can't do business with them because I'm not part of their secret club, while at the same many businesses here somehow get access and start using them. Th…

Nothing personal, just business: when they launch a private beta, they want to select the businesses with most cash flow. I believe this is connected to the fact many things may be manually reviewed at a time. And how did you arrive at a conclusion that de Larrea are involved in Atlas? A quick search didn't show anything relevant.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#127

Post by rpedela »

tvladeck wrote: post #121

This is cool, but they should not offer a C corp as the default choice. An LLC should be the default for the vast majority of entrepreneurs. The only reason VC-funded companies are C corps is becaused VC LPs don't want to be hit with taxable income (which would flow through the VC to them). An LLC is much better for a variety of reasons: - Flow through taxation = you only get taxed once. With a C corp you pay corpora…

You must be a C Corp to accept VC investment.

It is expensive and time consuming to go from LLC to C Corp. Maybe you mean S Corp which has some similarities with LLC but it is easy to switch to C Corp if you need to.

I generally agree they should not offer C Corp though because the paperwork is extremely complicated and cannot be done correctly by an internet form at least in my experience.

EDIT: I should have said very unlikely to raise VC investment even though it is technically possible to raise investment with most types of businesses such as LLC. [1]

1. http://www.dividendsandpreferences.com/2009/02/why-dont-vent...

Re: Stripe Atlas

#128

Post by zrail »

tvladeck wrote: post #121

This is cool, but they should not offer a C corp as the default choice. An LLC should be the default for the vast majority of entrepreneurs. The only reason VC-funded companies are C corps is becaused VC LPs don't want to be hit with taxable income (which would flow through the VC to them). An LLC is much better for a variety of reasons: - Flow through taxation = you only get taxed once. With a C corp you pay corpora…

I 100% agree with you on principal, but the initial purpose of this seems to be specifically to set up companies within accelerators, which are all going to be Delaware C corps so the VCs will invest in them (as you say).

An LLC can elect to be taxed as a C corp, but that's not the same thing from an investor point of view. An LLC taxed as a C corp still has interests instead of shares and still has use an Operating Agreement under the relevant state LLC act.

Changing entity types isn't especially hard, but it's tedious. Usually you do some sort of subsidiary merger maneuver.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#129

Post by tvladeck »

rpedela wrote: post #127
tvladeck wrote: post #121

This is cool, but they should not offer a C corp as the default choice. An LLC should be the default for the vast majority of entrepreneurs. The only reason VC-funded companies are C corps is becaused VC LPs don't want to be hit with taxable income (which would flow through the VC to them). An LLC is much better for a variety of reasons: - Flow through taxation = you only get taxed once. With a C corp you pay corpora…

You must be a C Corp to accept VC investment. It is expensive and time consuming to go from LLC to C Corp. Maybe you mean S Corp which has some similarities with LLC but it is easy to switch to C Corp if you need to. I generally agree they should not offer C Corp though because the paperwork is extremely complicated and cannot be done correctly by an internet form at least in my experience. EDIT: I should have said v…

> You must be a C Corp to accept investment.

This is not true. You can sell membership interest in an LLC the same way you can sell stock in a C corp.

And in my experience it's fairly simple to go LLC to C. I didn't get confused with S corps.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#130

Post by qnk »

We have already incorporated and has been a long and painfull process, but not as painfull as trying to open an account at Silicon Valley Bank. After some back and forth, they rejected our application saying:

    I’ve just received your info from client support and my
    apologies if no one replied to you sooner.
    Unfortunately we won’t be an appropriate banking fit as
    we don’t typically bank service providers. We maintain
    a focus on venture backed companies and typically teams
    that are local to our presence (based in Silicon
    Valley, SF Bay Area, NYC, Boston, London).
Just signed up for the beta, pretty excited about this!
Post reply on HN