Navigate tax season using Stripe Atlas

Pretty sure the OP is saying he did, after getting notice.

tip: Jan 1st might not be the optimal start of the fiscal year. For example Christmas and new year season might be very busy. It should not matter if you have your accounting set up correctly though, but that is usually not the case for small businesses.

It depends. If the company hasn't generated revenue yet, then the process is relatively straightforward, and we have an option to work with an attorney to get it done for a fixed $500. https://stripe.com/docs/atlas/next#dissolution

You can probably imagine that closing a company with actual assets / liabilities / pending legal claims / etc can get much, much more complicated. That sort of thing would be solidly "you need to ask a lawyer" level.

We have a rule that we never announce anything before we're ready to ship it.

That said: the general scale of our ambitions is "incorporate a majority of all Internet companies, worldwide" and "materially impact global macroeconomic indicators." Anything needed to accomplish those things is in (eventual) scope for us.

I can give you reasonably firm quotes for tax preparation but I cannot give you quotes inclusive of taxes, because there is wide variance in situations and because "Estimate my taxes for me" is very firmly in the practice of accountancy and/or law.

Getting started with Atlas is $500 flat, in all cases. The ballpark numbersfor yearly running costs, inclusive of the Delaware franchise tax, registered agent fee, the bank fee, and a tax return through the appropriate Atlas partner but not inclusive of corporate income tax or your personal tax situation:

No activity: ~$1,000 $20k of sales, all US activity: ~$2,000 $20k of sales, cross-border activity: still rounds to ~$2,000 but the tax return preparation will cost ~$200 more

Doesn't sound like you need to incorporate in the US given your bare-bones fact pattern (non-US company selling into the US) but you'd need to hire an accountant or tax lawyer to provide advice specific to your circumstances.

Companies which incorporated in calendar year 2017 will owe their first franchise tax in March 2018.

I'm also curious about this. We were accepted into Stripe Atlas but too late – we ended up forming our company while on the waiting list and couldn't partake.

S corps aren't a company type, they're a status you can elect for tax purposes.

We didn't automate the process of making that election because we felt it was not a fit for most Atlas users. A Delaware C corporation can still elect S corp status; that's a "talk to your accountant" question.

The primary reason people seem to want S Corps is to save social security taxes by putting their salary in one small bucket and their distributions in one larger bucket. Should we spend time enabling that, when our primary goal is accelerating the number and success of viable businesses creating wealth in the world? That does not sound like it is how we should spend a month of our lives.

Generally it would not. Under almost every US tax treaty, if you incorporate in the US but run your business from another country, you would be liable to tax in both the US and that other country for income earned by the business. (Concept of permanent establishment.)

It's even worse if you operate in a country that doesn't have a tax treaty with the US.

Do you know of anyone running an Atlas corporation in Sweden and how it works in conjunction with the Swedish tax system? I've been curious on the concept ever since I first read about it on your blog (which over all is a great read).

I believe that is correct. However as he is operating the company from Germany, he would be required to register the company as operating a branch (Zweigniederlassung) in Germany.

The company would then be liable for German taxes on income generated from Germany. German Payroll taxes would also be required if they employ people within Germany. I am unsure if the Branch Office is also required to pay IHK fees but that may also be the case.

Yes, it is separate. However, Ort der tatsächlichen Geschäftsleitung is Germany. That means you should pay taxes in Germany (if you do is another mattter, but if you don't and the Finanzamt finds out, you are in for a rough ride).

I run a SaaS business with almost all of the customers in the US from Germany, using a German stripe account. Credit card support is very limited, as any transaction will look like an international charge to the credit card vendor. This results in two situations that happen quite often: the card gets declined flat out (any kind of debit card, Discover, some AmEx) or the customer has to call their bank to allow for the charge. I had to build a customer support automation to help the customers understand that it’s not their problem. It is a bearable problem, but moving the accounts over to the US would reduce this friction, which happens at one of the most relevant times for retention.

No. It would make more sense to incorporate in SG or HK and then use Stripe since it supports both of these countries. The only reason why you want to incorporate a C Corp in the US is if you want to go big: Get investors, sell ownership (stock), IPO, etc...