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Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

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Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#31

Post by mary_goldspink »

Hey - I just recently wrote a series of blog posts of creating a startup in the US and UK for developers. It's based on my experiences. If you're based in Europe being a UK based limited company is a great option. As others have said you'll need a good accountant and lawyer, the posts cover my experiences with various companies. Personally I'd recommend Crunch.co.uk for helping with the company formation and accounts. Then Lawbite for the legal side of things. They've answered a bunch of my questions.

One big thing to beware of is VAT and VAT MOSS scheme - it's a bit of a nightmare to figure out your way around that. After discussing with accounts and lawyers your best option is to not be VAT registered until you know you're going to exceed the £82k threshold. Again - speak with your own lawyer and accountants on this as everyone's situation is different.

Hope that helps!

TL;DR - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11360598 - Covers company formation (and recommends a couple of accountancy options for the UK)

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11360651 - Covers Legal advice for US and UK startups.

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#32

Post by strls1 »

jasiek wrote: post #29

Running a company in the UK is super easy compared to some eastern european countries - far less bureaucracy, regulations (maybe apart from VAT-MOSS, but that's an EU thing) are easy to follow and most things can be done online. An accountant can do a lot of this for you and they cost between £60-120 a month. You will have to show up in person for an appointment to open a bank account though, and UK banks, generally…

I've read that it's next to impossible to open a UK bank account as a non-resident (even for a company) unless you can deposit a large amount of cash. The are afraid of fraud or something.

Is this true?

Would be nice to have a bank account in the same country.

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#33

Post by 55555 »

falsestprophet wrote: post #24

If I was setting up a SaaS company outside of the US, I'd be concerned with tax rates, acquiring a bank account and processing credit cards. It is worth noting that you don't necessarily have to have your bank account in the same jurisdiction that the company is incorporated. There are many zero tax offshore jurisdictions (like BVI and Cayman Islands) and at a large scale you can get bank accounts and process credit…

I would think that to be approved for Stripe or Braintree in anything close to a haven, Singapore included, the underwriting bank will require a utility bill with your name on it, which could be a deal-breaker. Source: I am an American who owns a Hong Kong company which was denied by Braintree (at that time we were doing 30k MRR).

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#34

Post by ValentineC »

If you're looking to do business outside the EU as well (and not have to handle VAT-MOSS), you might want to read the Ghost blog on why they decided to move their foundation from UK to Singapore: https://blog.ghost.org/moving-to-singapore/

(The HN discussion of the above link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11103274)

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#35

Post by vonklaus »

Are you familiar with Stripe Atlas?

It was built for this usecase, and allows non-US companies to:

- Get US Bank Account at SVB

- Incorporate as Delaware C corp

- Accept Payments immeadiately using stripe

- have access to PWC consultants about tax and accounting info

- AWS credit

It is in beta, but they are accepting applications. You should give it a go if it makes sense

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#36

Post by cardinalorder »

One thing to bear in mind is that the UK is having a referendum on continuing its EU membership on Thursday 23 June. While I sincerely hope we stay in the EU, it's not 100 % clear that we will (although it seems likely). I know hardly anything about doing business outside the UK but within the EU, but it might be worth looking into what the change in situation would be if the UK did leave (such as changes in the need to charge the client's country's tax rate, rather than the company's country's tax rate).

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#37

Post by falsestprophet »

55555 wrote: post #33
falsestprophet wrote: post #24

If I was setting up a SaaS company outside of the US, I'd be concerned with tax rates, acquiring a bank account and processing credit cards. It is worth noting that you don't necessarily have to have your bank account in the same jurisdiction that the company is incorporated. There are many zero tax offshore jurisdictions (like BVI and Cayman Islands) and at a large scale you can get bank accounts and process credit…

I would think that to be approved for Stripe or Braintree in anything close to a haven, Singapore included, the underwriting bank will require a utility bill with your name on it, which could be a deal-breaker. Source: I am an American who owns a Hong Kong company which was denied by Braintree (at that time we were doing 30k MRR).

Thanks, good to know. What are the options for banking and card processing for a HK company? Why did you choose HK?

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#38

Post by tim333 »

I've got a Delaware LLC and the tax is pretty simple - you just fill in a form (w8-ben) to say you are non US resident and that's it for US tax. Whatever income and gains are regarded as being yours personally and you are supposed to declare them where you live.

For the UK there's some info here on getting bank accounts (2013) https://www.rapidformations.co.uk/blog/business-bank-account... I'd recommend phoning them / the banks for the current situation.

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#39

Post by logfromblammo »

jcr wrote: post #16
strls wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offence, but this is contradicting everything I've learned about US incorporation so far :) Do you have any sources I can look into? From what I know you can easily form and operate a company in the US without ever being present there. You would have to come in person to get a bank account though. I know there are always companies who will take money for assisting with any kind of crazy stuff. Here I just wonder i…

The post from "therealmarv" is wrong on just about everything. Incorporation laws vary from state to state in the US, but they tend to be fairly similar. Many states do not have state income taxes for companies, and have business-friendly laws, hence the reason why so many humongous companies are registered in the tiny state of Delaware. A lot of publicly traded companies (and I think most YC-funded startups) are reg…

Delaware is somewhat of a specialist in corporation organization, and a huge portion of the state's legislative and judicial resources are invested in being the venue of choice for incorporating a business. That's why the taxes on individuals living in the state are so low, they get a lot of income from corporate taxes and filing fees.

If you are incorporating somewhere solely for the purpose of doing business elsewhere, a Delaware C corporation will definitely do the job, in the same way that a rocket propelled grenade can technically fulfill the same role as a flyswatter.

If you have a functional business, and don't need investor money, an LLC will work just fine. Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming are the most popular states to register an LLC, but by now, all states offer their own flavor of a limited liability partnership-based company.

A New Mexico LLC does not require annual reports or fees, does not require naming your principals or filing much more than just the articles of organization. The filing does not have to be done by a member of the LLC. You just need to maintain a registered agent somewhere in the state, and that is pretty much the only requirement for staying in good standing as far as the state is concerned. You literally just need to hire a registered agent, fill in a very simple form, and pay $50. No lawyers are required (unless you hire one as your registered agent). If you are not doing any business in the US, and none of your LLC members are US persons, I don't think you need to concern yourself with US taxes. You register your foreign corporation wherever you are doing business, and if they call up the New Mexico Secretary of State, they will say, "yep, we do have an LLC registered in that name".

If you want a US bank account, you will need an EIN from the U.S. federal government, which can also be done by a nominee having no other association with your company.

Re: Ask HN: Is forming a company in UK a good option for a non-US resident

#40

Post by miscloud »

strls1 wrote: post #32
jasiek wrote: post #29

Running a company in the UK is super easy compared to some eastern european countries - far less bureaucracy, regulations (maybe apart from VAT-MOSS, but that's an EU thing) are easy to follow and most things can be done online. An accountant can do a lot of this for you and they cost between £60-120 a month. You will have to show up in person for an appointment to open a bank account though, and UK banks, generally…

I've read that it's next to impossible to open a UK bank account as a non-resident (even for a company) unless you can deposit a large amount of cash. The are afraid of fraud or something. Is this true? Would be nice to have a bank account in the same country.

It's possible to open a UK bank account without having to make a large deposit and without having to physically travel there if you use an international bank, loyalbank.com provides people with RBS bank account information. The downside to this is that you have to fill out a form before receiving a transfer over 5000 EUR.
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