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Stripe Atlas

stripe.com

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Re: Stripe Atlas

#261
post #32

Kudos 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.

Ireland is waiting :)

Re: Stripe Atlas

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the livestream they said they are working with another region for Atlas they'll announce soon. My guess is Ireland which has better taxation than the US and the best in EU (12.5%).

6.25% now...

Where are you getting that number? Northern Ireland will likely be dropping it's rate to 12.5% in the near future, giving businesses access to the UK at the same rate as Ireland.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/ct/

Edit: Strings attached

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/11929790/Ireland-s...

>However to qualify for the lower rate, companies must show they are genuine innovators and employ highly skilled people in the country. Under the policy, dubbed the 'knowledge development box' (KDB), firms will need to demonstrate their earnings are tied to patents and copyrighted software that were created by research and development carried out in Ireland.

>The aim is to encourage local and international businesses to hire skilled workers and boost innovation, rather than simply basing tangential parts of their operations in the country to pay the low headline tax rate.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can open a US bank account (I use Harris Bank, since they're owned by BMO) and withdraw USD from paypal to there. I then write a cheque to move USD across the border, and use VBCE to convert USD to CAD at market - 35 basis points (aka. about 2% better than what Paypal offers).

I would think using Norbert's gambit with a discount broker would be the cheapest way to convert large amounts of currency (e.g. buy DLR-U.TO, sell DLR.TO.)

Norbert's gambit is good, but not free - you still lose about 20 bp to market spreads using DLR.TO. If I was moving more money I would use that (possibly with a more heavily traded stock) but the marginal advantage wouldn't be worthwhile for my volume.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#264

Not only that, but Larry Summers wants to abolish cash so that banks and governments get to loot us whenever they want to, and monitor all of our transactions: http://www.campaignforliberty.org/war-cash Remember the Cyprus "bail-in"? Greece's bank holiday?

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11167178 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#265
Just wondering, could I use Stripe Atlas to incorporate a U.S. company, when I live in Norway?

For example, could I use this to create a U.S. holding company to own and trade US stocks?

Re: Stripe Atlas

#267
This is the kind of breakthrough product that makes a real difference in the world. This is what real innovation looks like.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#268
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of these are from Stripe's partner banks, and/or they've proven to be exceptionally prone to fraud and chargebacks.

Which in turn is inherited from top-down pressure from the federal gov't[1], who are discriminating against certain categories of business purely ideologically.[2] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Choke_Point [2]: http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Staff-...

Sure, but you have to play the hand you're dealt, especially when the dealer is the Federal government.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> BTW, if you're not a US citizen + the business is providing services + you're the only owner (single member LLC), then there are NO TAX-paying requirements. Does this mean no state-level tax-paying requirements, or no tax paying requirements at all? In other words, for an overseas non-citizen sole-owner of a service-providing LLC formed in Colorado, are there no US taxes due at all?

That's right, you owe no US taxes. You don't have what is called "Effectively Connected Income", that is - you provide services from outside the US, not within the US. Since 'single-member LLC' is pass-through entity, that means the person is taxed (Not corporation) and you(person) are outside of the US and owe no US taxes at all. However, you might owe taxes in your home country. If you sell goods or there are co-fo…

> However, you might owe taxes in your home country.

This line is key. You can't escape taxes, you can only change where you pay them (and therefore potentially how much you pay...)

The complication with setting up a business in the US is figuring out both what the IRS expects and what your country's tax agency expects. This varies both based on treaties with the US and based on local interpretation of US company structures. You have to be careful, or a few years later you could owe back taxes either to the IRS or your local tax authority, even if your only mistake was not filing the correct paperwork to say you didn't actually owe taxes.

A better way of saying you don't owe taxes is to say ... understand what taxes you owe, it could be $0. You still have to file, however, and you'll have to file both locally and abroad. :)

It varies state-to-state what constitutes "doing business," but just having a bank account usually doesn't qualify. Coming from harmonized tax laws, the US is an unexpectedly different place. But this is a step in the right direction!

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