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I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

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Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#121

Post by a3camero »

basisword wrote: post #48

First time I've seen Atlas. I'm immediately worried. If someone starts a company using this I presume it's subject to US laws? What does this mean: 1. For taxes? If I live in the UK and start my business with Atlas does the US get the corporation tax revenue or the UK (or a split of the two)? 2. For data security/privacy? Is the data I store now subject to access by the US government through National Security letters…

It can be complicated to start a corporation in a country you're a resident of. Starting a corporation in a country you're not a resident of is usually even more complicated because now you have to worry about two tax regimes and the interactions between them. There's also the distinction between corporate taxes and personal taxes and the interactions between those (e.g. your Delaware corporation issues a dividend to the UK founders).

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#122

Post by smoyer »

secabeen wrote: post #115

>There Is No Future For Scarcity This section worries me a bit, as it's the sort of thing that doesn't consider the possibility of a major world-wide crisis. There are plenty of conceivable futures where these things could happen. A simple one is a small-scale non-nuclear war between China and US, where they disconnect completely from the larger Internet, but we avoid a global thermonuclear war. The continental Europ…

When Mel Gibson is standing in the road shooting at gas thieves I think we'll all be doing something other than typing comments on HN. I live in an area where you could conceivably forage/hunt for all your food but it would be a pretty harsh life.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#123

Post by zrail »

koolba wrote: post #76
idlewords wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vs sole proprietorship.

Can you set up 401k and all the other "corporate only" type things with a sole proprietorship or does it just become a legal shield with everything else as passthrough?

You can set up a solo 401K with a sole proprietorship. All you have to show is that you have self employment income showing up on a Schedule C (for a sole proprietorship) or a K1 (for a partnership/LLC/S-Corp).

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#124

Post by manarth »

nstj wrote: post #74
idlewords wrote: post #58

I don't see any advantage in incorporation if you want to run your own private business, but I'm willing to accept that I'm being the weirdo here.

Incorporated entities enjoy the benefit of "limited liability"[0], ie: if your company does something "bad" you can't be liable beyond your share capital contributions. For example, if you make a self driving car and sell it, and it results in harm, and someone sues the company, you can't lose any of your personal assets; rather your only loss can be the capital which you put into the company. tl;dr: if you do someth…

> ie: if your company does something "bad"

In most jurisdictions, if you have control of a company (e.g. as the majority shareholder and director), and the company does something "bad" to the extent that it's illegal, the liability protection can be waived. Selling a self-driving car, in the knowledge that its behaviour is inadequate and would cause harm, may well result in loss of liability protection.

In short, insolvency is generally protected, but "bad things" often have less protection.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#125

Post by a3camero »

lj3 wrote: post #79
afarrell wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you avoid accidentally committing tax evasion with this?

Unless I misunderstand, that's part of what you're paying for. From the Faq[0]: What is Stripe Atlas? Stripe Atlas is a new product designed to give entrepreneurs access to the basic building blocks for starting a global internet business. We help you: * Incorporate a company in the U.S. * Open a U.S. bank account and get a tax ID number. * Start a Stripe account to accept payments from around the world. * Get guidan…

They say later on in that document that you're not paying for tax advice and won't get any: "That said, we’re not providing tax and legal advice. Stripe Atlas users have access to a legal guide prepared by Orrick, a tax guide prepared by PwC, and a free consultation call with an expert from PwC. PwC and Orrick will not provide tailored tax advice unless you engage them to represent you directly as a client.

If you have your own legal counsel or tax advisors, we also recommend speaking to them as you decide whether and how to set up your business with Atlas." https://stripe.com/atlas/faq#taxamplegal

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#126

Post by zrail »

idlewords wrote: post #113
blackbagboys wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What becomes of that other $30k? I assume there's a reason why you wouldn't just pay yourself $30k and keep the tax-free $70k.

It has to sit within the company. You can use it to buy an ice sculpture for the office lobby, but not for your own palazzo. As you can imagine, there is a ton of bookkeeping and bureaucratic pain associated with having an S-corp (like pretending to have annual meetings, and having to write minutes for them).

You can have an LLC that's just taxed as an S-corp. For IRS purposes you're an LLC but for bureaucratic state level bullshit purposes you're an LLC.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#127

Post by dragonwriter »

owathray123 wrote: post #119

I for one am more than faintly relieved that Starfighter has fallen. It looked to me like an attempt to find the most direct way possible to parlay the prominent position that Thomas and Patrick have in this community into cash - by literally selling its members. There's a line that's crossed here between being a member of HN buoyed up by the good wishes and advice of your fellows, and using the community as a resour…

> Yes, this is a throwaway. Yes, I think it's a problem that I feel I need to use one.

I agree that that feeling is a problem.

I don't agree with your unstated but clear implication that its a problem with the community, though.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#128

Post by angersock »

chatmasta wrote: post #8

What I like most about the long term vision for Atlas is that, if it's truly "as easy as spinning up an EC2 instance" to form a new corporation, then it will be possible for a single entrepreneur to create complex global corporate structures previously limited only to multinational corporations. How nice would it be, as say, a digital nomad, to be able to have a single "holding company" based in HK, and dynamically c…

The more interesting thing is what happens when programs themselves start these companies, but I doubt people here are that far-thinking.

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#129

Post by smoyer »

owathray123 wrote: post #119

I for one am more than faintly relieved that Starfighter has fallen. It looked to me like an attempt to find the most direct way possible to parlay the prominent position that Thomas and Patrick have in this community into cash - by literally selling its members. There's a line that's crossed here between being a member of HN buoyed up by the good wishes and advice of your fellows, and using the community as a resour…

I'm not down-voting you but I never felt the need to sign up for StarFighter ... And that's despite the fact that I was one of those who originally met Patrick in the BoS forums. I'm still wondering what happened to SumoRunner ;)

Re: I’m Joining Stripe to Work on Atlas

#130

Post by Bartweiss »

kbody wrote: post #11
simonswords82 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not wanting to do the concept for Starfighter any injustice but I get the feeling it's as simple as they spent too much time on the tech and not enough on the business. A very easy mistake when the co-founders are technically minded.

That too, but personally I think that it was targeting way to limited subset, required practically non-existant time if you already have a job, so it was mainly targeting capable people between jobs or college students. Even though I loved the subject of algotrading, there was no time for me due to work etc.

I was briefly sad to see that Starfighter was done, but then I realized that despite reading the rules and bookmarking it, I had never actually played the thing.

Very cool idea, but realistically I can only spend so much time on dev stuff and it wasn't going to beat out my other priorities.

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