Sticking to Transferwise as EMI, what about the incorporation country?

[Vanity]

Hi guys,

Not sure at all if this thread is in the right section, and I'm sorry if it's not the case.
So, I'm looking to open a company.

Currently living in Malta, but don't really want to open a company here as I'm not sure I plan to stay here for long.
I would like to open a company in a EU country, and not a shady one.

I'm doing business online, affiliate marketing kind of stuff.
From what I read these days, fighting with opening an offshore bank account might be some useless step as some EMIs seem to be good solutions (which is why I might stick to TransferWise which I already like for personal use).

I've been reading about UK that doesn't seem to be too expensive for company formation, but no idea if it's easy or not to open a company there while I'm not resident.

Thanks in advance for your answers!

 

[TurnedToRobot]

It's easy to open a company in the UK, takes less than 5 minutes and‌ you can find endless providers online for instant Rapid Formations | Company Formation and Registration‍ £4.49 you can also Google search the forum and find a lot of threads containing⁠ UK company formation providers with comments from user experience.

 

[Vanity]

Thanks a lot for‍ your answer.
How does such a scheme sounds (UK company + TransferWise as bank solution)?⁠

 

[hungryit]

to me it sounds like a viable solution to avoid all the trouble to find‌ a bank that want to open an account for your business purpose.

 

[Vanity]

What other solutions (as in incorporation countries) exist?
Just a reminder that I mainly want‌ the process to be easy and taxes not to be too high. Also better if‍ the country is a "trusted" one.

 

[JohnLocke]

You could setup a company in Cyprus for that sake. However, it's much more expensive‌ than the UK.

 

[Vanity]

That's what‌ is blocking me a bit with Cyprus. Aswell as the fact that UK seems just‍ more trustworthy than Cyprus.
UK seems all around like the cheapest and easiest solution to⁠ just get incorporated for a non-resident case from what I can see.

 

[JohnLocke]

Yes it's cheap and easy with a UK company. Otherwise consider Georgia as suggested in‌ some threads here, I saw pricing starting at only 1400 euro for a company setup.‍

Romania and finally the Netherlands are also into play for many.

 

[OffCap]

UK is one of the easiest and cheapest places to form a company it's just‌ you're saddled with a bunch of tax, which why would you want that if you're‍ resident in Malta?

Usually, you'd look at options like:

- US LLC
- Georgia
- Bulgaria
- Gibraltar
- Cyprus non-resident company
- HK
- UAE
- etc.

As alternatives.⁠ If you're making even a small amount of money the taxes will add up to⁤ way more than the cost of the company. But each of those have pros and⁣ cons depending on the nature of your business, where your customers are based (super hassle⁢ if for example you've got to collect and remit VAT), etc. etc.

There's no one︀ size fits all, it's all case by case.

 

[Vanity]

Coming from France, the taxes in United Kingdom don't really surprise me.
When I see‌ that the corporate tax is at 19% in UK, and that the price for opening‍ a company is so low and easy for a non-resident, it still seems really interesting.⁠

Malta corporate tax is at 35%, but I now you could lower that to 5%⁤ by opening another company in the BVI for example (which is one of the most⁣ commonly advertisted setup on the island).

 

[OffCap]

Even better, if you're a non-dom resident you should be able to get remittance based‌ tax so you should be able to get the money into your personal name tax‍ free or close to it so that's very appealing.

Not sure your preferences but if⁠ I was in your position I'd think 19% was too high. You could do lots⁤ of other alternatives and be way lower so it's like what's the advantage? What do⁣ you gain by going with UK vs one of these other alternatives, which are perfectly⁢ decent but with way lower tax?

 

[Vanity]

Well, it's just that on paper, a UK company seems more trustworthy than a company‌ from your list (US excluded).

 

[OffCap]

What kind of customers do‍ you have that they care? In my experience it rarely makes a difference unless you're⁠ dealing with governments. As an affiliate I've never seen it matter every big affiliate is⁤ using one crazy set up or another.

 

[Vanity]

It's not about the customers, it's more about the governments to be honest.

 

[OffCap]

What exactly do you think governments are going to look at in there?

 

[Vanity]

When I say gouvernments, I also talk about banks. Because even if my current wanted‌ setup is with TransferWise, maybe I'll be later tempted to open a bank account.

I also don't want to spend thousands for incorporation, which is why opening a company in‍ UK or even in France might be a better solution.

 

[OffCap]

France sounds horrible, I'd choose UK 10 times out of 10 over France unless you're‌ actually physically doing business in France.

As for the rest, Bulgaria, US, and HK can‍ all have local banking pretty consistently.

 

[Vanity]

Not doing business physically in France, but I'm born in France.

The most important part‌ in that incorporation process is to be able to get some banking solutions in the‍ future (other than TransferWise), that might help me grow my business (working a lot with⁠ AdWords).

HK and Bulgaria are pretty much a no because it's not suited for Adwords.⁤
US and UK are good solution for that matter.

 

[JimmyWho]

Cyprus is no good for USD details with TransferWise

 

[OffshoreBVI]

For legitimate businesses where you're not looking for complete privacy the UK is an excellent‌ choice. It's cheap to incorporate and cheap to manage. Many banks will open an account‍ for a UK company. Transferwise works well with a UK company and they're a pleasure⁠ to do business with. As far as taxes go if all your business is outside⁤ the UK you shouldn't have to pay UK taxes.