Cheapest business formation outside of the US in a business-friendly country?

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schockergd

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Dec 11, 2008
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My brother informed me a few days ago about companies who are getting financing/funding via online stock exchanges (virtual) and doing amazingly well via what is essentially crowdsourced IPOs.

Unfortunately, the US doesn't allow this (They were supposed to have a ruling done by January 2013 but that never happened). So, my best option is to form a business outside of the US and use that company to get a exchange listing. Then after it's listed, use the funding to buy a company I create here in the US and use it to buy real estate. It's convoluted, but would be quite legal and provide the ability I have wanted to buy rental properties.

So, I am looking for a relatively cheap way to form a business outside of the US. Most of the sites I'm running into want several thousand to do business formation (And have pretty terrible reviews).
 


Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

$1000 all costs included. Remember that you also need a secretary and a business adress.

Plus 0% on offshore income in Hong Kong.
 
rusvik said:
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

$1000 all costs included. Remember that you also need a secretary and a business adress.

Plus 0% on offshore income in Hong Kong.
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What're the extra costs of getting nominee shareholders/directors? Where did you get your corp from?
 
schockergd said:
Who did you use? That's the cheapest i've heard of anywhere, and singapore is pretty attractive.
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I am a Singapore PR, so I actually can register it for like $SGD 150 + some virtual office address fees.

You can actually register for yourself, but you need to appoint a local (Singaoprean or Singaporean PR) to be one of your board of directors.

If you don't want to point a local director, then you should go to Hong Kong to setup your company.
 
TheCheesePolice said:
What're the extra costs of getting nominee shareholders/directors? Where did you get your corp from?
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I got my corp from a douchebag who'se legcaps I may soon have to break unless he gets busy with my HSBC account, but I was also in Hong Kong and visited one of the office hotels for myself. It's going to cost you about $1500-$2000 to begin and maybe $500-1000 a year after that. I went and visited Jumpstart in Hong Kong on the recommendation of Tropical MBA: 5 Reasons Your Internet Business Should be Based in Hong Kong — Even if You Are in the USA

Though I thought they weren't very good at explaining how things where to happen, so I recruited a fellow countryman in Bangkok and that I shouldn't have done cause the moron didn't exactly help after the company formation.

But he is listed as the nominee so I guess he will take the blame once the taxman comes knocking. Works for me, but I advise spending some time to find a lawyer worth his money.
 
Wicked Ice said:
I am a Singapore PR, so I actually can register it for like $SGD 150 + some virtual office address fees.

You can actually register for yourself, but you need to appoint a local (Singaoprean or Singaporean PR) to be one of your board of directors.

If you don't want to point a local director, then you should go to Hong Kong to setup your company.
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Singapore citizen or what? I know a few guys that live there but I am unsure if they're citizens or not.
 
Still looking. Trying to find a good country with a mix of ease of getting a virtual office, bank account, shareholder direction/nominees and the most anonimity possible.

Ideally -

No corp tax
No public record of shareholders/owners/directors
Non-Resident Directors
No annual filings/audits
No share minimum
Offshore banking with a somewhat low minimum
Cheap virtual office w/ phone number

Seychelles meets all of these requirements but I can't find a cheap skype-like phone number or virtual office service (With mail scanning).
 
I'm not from the states, and I'm not an accounting wizard, but here's some food for thought:
1) register offshore company
2) offshore company raises crowd-sourced funds
3) offshore company LENDS money to your real estate company in the USA directly.
4) interest payments to offshore company eat up 100% of USA company's income, so no taxes in the states.

The other option is called a reverse takeover, and would just involve your offshore company buying all the shares to the USA company, making it a subsidiary. Equity distributions are taxable though, so you'd still pay USA taxes.
 
You're not going to get serious / useful answers or good contacts by posting in public.

Get to know the right people.
 
Smidge said:
I'm not from the states, and I'm not an accounting wizard, but here's some food for thought:
1) register offshore company
2) offshore company raises crowd-sourced funds
3) offshore company LENDS money to your real estate company in the USA directly.
4) interest payments to offshore company eat up 100% of USA company's income, so no taxes in the states.

The other option is called a reverse takeover, and would just involve your offshore company buying all the shares to the USA company, making it a subsidiary. Equity distributions are taxable though, so you'd still pay USA taxes.
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You a mind reader ? :)
 
kumansk said:
Bulgaria. Anything eastern europe really. As long as there's no extradition
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I vote for Bulgaria as well. The full cost to start a business is like a total of 300-400$ if I remember correctly. Income tax is 10% an year and Corporate Tax 5%. So total of 15% Tax but if you just pay it as a salary to yourself you will only pay 10% income tax.
 
Smidge said:
I'm not from the states, and I'm not an accounting wizard, but here's some food for thought:
1) register offshore company
2) offshore company raises crowd-sourced funds
3) offshore company LENDS money to your real estate company in the USA directly.
4) interest payments to offshore company eat up 100% of USA company's income, so no taxes in the states.
Click to expand...

That offshore company will probably be considered a Controlled Foreign Corp where he would have to pay US taxes on all money the offshore made.
 
rusvik said:
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

$1000 all costs included. Remember that you also need a secretary and a business adress.

Plus 0% on offshore income in Hong Kong.
Click to expand...

Yep! I second that. Hong Kong is the best option (and safest) I found too. This was after over 50 hours of sitting down and discussing with an intl. tax attorney. The attorney took a lot more money than it took to get the company actually registered.

You're getting this advice for free. Take it!

That said, a tax haven for someone might not be a tax haven for you. (though hong kong will be).
However, you might find a better solution for your particular situation since it also depends on the kind of biz you're in and the laws in your home country.
Since I'm from India, most of your regular tax havens are already ruled out for me because of some shitty Indian tax laws that say that if the controlling interest is from within India, Indian laws apply irrespective of which country your company is registered in.
There are way too many loopholes in the law that can be exploited. Thorough research will certainly do you good!

Spend some money on a good international tax attorney, his advice will pay for itself!
 
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