Setting up a company but where ?

[Margeb]

Hello everyone,

I am French and have been living for 10 years in Thailand and Laos (permanently).

I am the happy owner of several websites properties which now bring me a "half-passive" income. These are clean websites. I offer tutorials for DIY and home improvement.
So far I was invoicing through a friend's company as I was testing the business but the revenues are good enough for me to start my own company.

My revenues are from advertising mostly a little bit from affiliate marketing. I was thinking a HK company could be good ? Any other recommendations ? I'm looking for something quite easy to handle.

what do you guys think ? 🙂

Thank you !

 

[Spinat]

It depends, what are your goals? is privacy something that concerns you?

 

[Margeb]

Hi,

Thanks for your answer 🙂

I've got nothing to hide, so no I'm not concerned‌ at all with Privacy 🙂

 

[JohnLocke]

You need to download some APP to get verified with Rapidcompany but other than that‌ it's a straight forward process very easy and not very expensive. £150 and you have‍ it all including a postal address to receive mail and get it forwarded.

 

[Margeb]

Hi,

Thanks for your answer.
What is rapid company ? Are you⁤ talking about a HK company ?

Thanks 🙂

 

[JohnLocke]

Sorry, yes rapidcompanyformation.co.uk is a UK LTD formation service which has been my favorit if‌ privacy doesn't matter I'm not a big fan of HK company formation because there is‍ so much you need to know before you engage in such setups. Furthermore it is⁠ very costly to maintain a HK company.

Alternatives could be Georgia for a simple and⁤ tax free company setup, but I don't know what EMI's will support that country except⁣ TW.

 

[Margeb]

Ah ok now I understand.

I thought it was the other way round, HK company‌ very easy to maintain (+ 0 tax since it's made offshore) and UK company is‍ still western bureaucracy with taxes and all.

A few friends of mine have setup a⁠ HK company a while back and had told me it was so easy. The expensive⁤ accounting compensates for the 0 tax in profits.

Georgia ? Ok, I'll look into it.⁣ Ireland sounds quite ok as well, but again, nothing sounds as easy as HK from⁢ what I heard ?

 

[AMD]

What agent did they use to setup the HK company? I refrain from setting anything‌ up in HK because of what I read around this forum a while back.

 

[Sols]

Since you're in the region, look at Hong Kong and Singapore. They are easy to‌ handle in that you will have to hire an accountant anyway to do all the‍ paperwork for you. The cost of that depends on the type and size of your⁠ business.

Hong Kong is usually a bit cheaper but given the unrest in Hong Kong⁤ right now, Singapore might be preferred.

 

[JohnLocke]

What are the costs to setup a HK company and Singapore company? Just standard setups‌ i.e. company registration, company address and all incorporation documents in one package?

 

[Sols]

It varies of course, but in Hong Kong you're looking around 10,000 - 20,000 HKD‌ (1,200 - 2,400 EUR) for formation and for Singapore, it's usually 4 - 6,000 SGD‍ (2,500 - 4,000 EUR) if you can't provide your own Singapore-resident director and need to⁠ hire a nominee (very common).

 

[Margeb]

Hi,

Thanks all for your input and by the congrats on this super nice forum.‌ I've been learning lots since this morning 🙂

A friend of mine has done it with‍ getstarted.hk and he's happy. Straightforward process 5 days to incorporate. It's about 600 USD for⁠ everything, but this doesn't include the bank account.

Even if the accounting / auditing /⁤ licence , amounts to 3000 euros a year, that's still just less than 300 euros⁣ a month to keep the company running. I'm currently making around 4000 to 5000 euros⁢ / month in advertising and affiliate.

I would hope Neat or currenxie accept me.

 

[AMD]

Insane cheap 😵 Where would you bank if that is true? Does Transferwise accept HK corps on any other‍ EMI you know of?

HK has a public register of companies as far as I⁠ remember so your name will somehow be public there right?

 

[Margeb]

Yes, it's cheap but not rare, many others offer about the same price I have‌ seen.

Not sure about Transferwise.

I guess the name will be public, but I don't‍ mind about that really.

Singapore could be another option, I guess. Not sure if the⁠ foreign sourced income is also not taxable.

 

[TacitusKilgore]

From my research, I think Singaporean companies‍ can be taxed on foreign-source income if that foreign-sourced income is not already subject to⁠ tax. Check out this link: Tax Exemption of Foreign-Sourced Income - IRAS

Hope this helps⁤ 🙂

 

[Margeb]

Thanks, 🙂 that's definitely‍ something to be read indeed.
So, all in all, a HK company still seems to⁠ be a quite flexible alternative, as It's quite clear from the beginning.

I have seen⁤ that even neat.hk offered now incorporation incl.the "bank account" neat.hk/business/incorporation

 

[TacitusKilgore]

Definitely agree! It’s just a pain to worry about preparing financial statements and getting them‌ audited, etc... seems that unfortunately in this day and age there is no easy place‍ for low maintenance AND cheapness AND privacy 🙁

 

[Remy]

The reviews for Neat.hk are not good at all, but I haven't tested their service.‌

 

[TacitusKilgore]

I haven’t actually used neat.hk to incorporate in Hong Kong‍ because of the auditing and other requirements I have previously mentioned, however I will say⁠ that I spoke to two different customer service reps online who were super knowledgeable and⁤ helpful. Not sure whether this reflects the actual service they provide though...

 

[JohnLocke]

I have done some Google reasearch and found this thread Where can I get HK‌ company for cheap? which you should read.

Still we would like to read about NEAT.HK‍ if someone is going to use their service.