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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

#41

Post by miscloud »

strls1 wrote: post #27
PaulHoule wrote: post #22

Why not the Cayman Islands? I was involved years ago in a 'distributed company' (US, Colombia, Brazil) that was offering a service to the Portuguese-speaking world (Brazil, Portugal) and we were registered in the Caymans. Things worked out pretty well and the only trouble I had relative to the administration was that my name was on some paperwork that went to vendors and I'd sometimes get calls from vendors who would…

I find there's too little open information on how for a software company to do things properly in classic off-shore jurisdictions. Everything on the web related to this seems shady so I don't know what to believe. Things like: are there online payment processors that work with Cayman Islands? Where will I be able to open a bank account? and more - are not clear. I'm sure there are use cases for tax havens, but for me…

PayPal and Stripe wont work with most offshore jurisdictions. PayPal allows Hong Kong companies, though.

If you're selling digital products, it's easier to use an online reseller (eg; PaymentWall, Gate2Shop, etc) but if you want to use your own processor, you will have to set up a merchant account which is a long and tiresome process.

I think 2checkout and Payza still allow offshore companies.

As for bank accounts, you're usually given a list of bank accounts from the same people who you purchased the company formation from. Loyalbank.com is a popular one, they give you a UK bank account.

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

#42

Post by restalis »

ecesena wrote: post #17

From my point of view, you should consider first where are your customers, and then -assuming you'd like to- where you'd like to look for fundings. If you plan to market US companies and potentially raise money in the US, then you should incorporate in the US. You don't need to live there, although I'd recommend for alignment with your customers' time and build connections to raise. After initial expenses (i.e. the c…

"If you're serious about your biz, you should take any decision to maximize its success, not to save a few bucks at the beginning."

Being serious and looking for ways to maximize (i.e. capitalize on) the existing success appears to make more sense when you already have a working business model. When you're in the phase of experimenting ideas and there is a high chance of failing it sounds better to fail as cheap as you can.

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

#43

Post by MistahKoala »

dogma1138 wrote: post #21
MistahKoala wrote: post #9

You're perhaps better asking an accountant in the UK, rather than a lawyer. It costs ~£15 to start a limited company in England and Wales (a separate jurisdiction to Scotland and Northern Ireland). So long as you keep accurate records and file your annual accounts correctly, that's all there is. An accountant would normally do the filing for you. For a small business this can often be done for £500-£1000. If you do y…

The law is different for non residents. So a lawyer which specialized in this is defiantly recomended.

Obviously IANAL etc, but I'm really not convinced about that. I'm genuinely interested to know why you say the law is different for non-residents. Even if that was the case, I'd be very surprised if an accountant could not advise on that aspect, given that dealing with company records and accounts is what they do. It's OP's time and money, though - if he wants to see a legal advisor of some kind, that's entirely his prerogative.

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

#44

Post by jcr »

mary_goldspink wrote: post #31

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…

I have to give credit where due. It's unfortunately rare for someone with a brand new HN account to immediately contribute so much relevant and substantive information. Very Nicely Done!

Your articles are well written, easy to read, and seemingly accurate (n.b. without me doing any due diligence to check facts), but the meme images are too distracting, even a bit annoying (this is most likely due to me being a curmudgeon ;). Of course, opinions will vary, and I'm sure others might say the memes break up the reading and help hold attention.

For notes, it's generally a poor idea to submit a bunch of good stories at (roughly) the same time, particularly if they're from the same site. Your submissions will be competing for attention with all other stories, including your own. Though your "101" article is currently sitting on the front page of HN, your second article "Dev Guide" suffers from the others' success. Spacing out your submissions, like one a day, will give you better results. Also, the HN Guidelines (link at bottom of most pages) ask for users to avoid submitting so many links that the new page is dominated by your posts.

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

#45

Post by mary_goldspink »

jcr wrote: post #44
mary_goldspink wrote: post #31

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…

I have to give credit where due. It's unfortunately rare for someone with a brand new HN account to immediately contribute so much relevant and substantive information. Very Nicely Done! Your articles are well written, easy to read, and seemingly accurate (n.b. without me doing any due diligence to check facts), but the meme images are too distracting, even a bit annoying (this is most likely due to me being a curmud…

Thanks for your feedback- I will space them out in the future!

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

#46

Post by dogma1138 »

MistahKoala wrote: post #43
dogma1138 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The law is different for non residents. So a lawyer which specialized in this is defiantly recomended.

Obviously IANAL etc, but I'm really not convinced about that. I'm genuinely interested to know why you say the law is different for non-residents. Even if that was the case, I'd be very surprised if an accountant could not advise on that aspect, given that dealing with company records and accounts is what they do. It's OP's time and money, though - if he wants to see a legal advisor of some kind, that's entirely his…

You can go to firms that specialize in incorporating shelf companies which are commonly known as formation agents. To register a company in the UK you need a local director address and a local company address (which are usually setup with an international mail forwarding service) as well as some other requirements most importantly a business bank account which under UK/EU money laundering regulations isn't trivial to open (And with a thin credit file almost impossible to open in the UK without a large deposit and a good formation agent).

Depending on the type of company you are registering for the prices can range from a few 100's pounds (plus fees/deposits) for a regular limited company to considerably larger sums if you are buying/forming a shell corporation.

Another good reason to get a lawyer (in both jurisdictions) is that some countries also have regulations regarding owning foreign companies. If your business is in a regulated field, health care, finance etc. this usually tends to complicate things even further.

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

#47

Post by kyriakos »

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…

Braintree is also available in Cyprus (corporate tax 12.5 %)

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

#48

Post by 55555 »

falsestprophet wrote: post #37
55555 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

When I started my HK company I had been living in Asia for several years already and it just made more sense due to the lower effective taxation.

Card processing: Braintree, 2Checkout, and then some lower tier options like PaymentWall. I'm not including old-school/direct merchant accounts here. Keep in mind that 4%*$0.45+1.5% is totally standard, with that final 1.5% added for non-HK billings. So you will pay 2% more to charge a card in HK compared to US. But your tax rate can be literally zero percent.

A better option may be a US subsidiary or a US company wholly owned by a foreign entity. This is something I am considering, because...

> banking

Absolutely everything is a pain. After four years I still don't have a business charge/debit card. Applications for card processing and debit cards each take dozens of forms and generally longer than a month.

Having said that, I have saved lots and lots of money.

Lastly, a HK company costs about $1,000 to setup and $2,300 yearly to maintain.

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