Ask HN: How do I start/run a company without being resident anywhere? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do I start/run a company without being resident anywhere?

10 pointsspeeq6 comments

I'm pretty much always traveling, so I don't have a fixed residency. My parents own two apartments in two different parts of the world and I also have a large family spread across the world who I frequently visit - usually not staying in a country longer than 2 months. I'm 19 years old, EU-Citizen and developed a SaaS app which scaled rapidly to about 7k/mo revenue in about 6 months. I ran the whole thing illegally, which was pretty stupid I know - hence I took it offline while I decide how to structure the business/accounting side of things and also rewrite the code to be more scalable/automated. My questions are:

In which country should I form the company? Ultimately I want it to be fast and simple (aka electronic), countries like the UK and Singapore have all-online and quick company formation.

What's the best way to automate accounting? I was looking at xero.com as they provide an API which I can use to automate customer invoices and handle payment processor receipts - which brings me to my next problem, how am I supposed to open a business bank account without a real proof of address/residency?

Where am I supposed to pay my personal taxes?

Your main things to consider when choosing a country:

1) Which country do you have nationality in / property in (or in this case do your parents have property in). It's probably easier to get paper-work done, bank accounts sorted, etc. in that one.

2) What are your longer term plans for the business - is it going to be a side-project or do you want to build it into a real business ? - in the later case you should be thinking about where would make sense in terms of hiring employees, raising investment, etc.

As for automating accounts I'd just hire an accountant and book-keeper and not sweat automation.

In terms of legal status you may not have even broken any kind of law yet, many countries will let you run businesses as an individual (without registering a company) as long as you file personal taxes on the revenue. Depending how recently you took that revenue in you may not even have reached the filing deadlines so it may just be a case of putting together the correct accounts.

But to start with I'd recommend finding an accountant you trust (preferably one with other SaaS clients).

Registering a business bank account without residency is going to be a huge pain though. Not sure what the best solution is (unless you're willing to actually settle down and become less nomadic).

Set up the company in your home country, it will make your life much easier. Otherwise, unless your country has a double tax agreement with the country where you registered your company, you will need to legally declare the company drawings as income, and you will end up paying tax twice.

If your company is registered in a different country than where you file your personal tax return, you will also have a very hard time if the tax years don't match up (for example if one country files tax returns in June, and one in December).

Basically, you can't avoid paying tax anywhere, so don't try. Just get a good accountant back home, and it won't matter where you travel.

I've spent the past couple years traveling this way with a company registered back home and had no problems.

Estonia supports online business registration there also, and I can recommend an accountant if you like.

Can't you just choose an EU country to use an official base of operations? Sooner or later you will stop travelling, and non-payment of taxes will catch up with you. If you are receiving income in country (x), you might as well declare that to be your residence for tax purposes, even if in real life you aren't there for the (usually 6 month) period required to be paying taxes.

If you can find a trustworthy accountant, it could be that you can officially form the company with them, and get them to open the bank account in their name and your name.

Anyway, as posted already, you really need to consult with a lawyer or expert accountant. Good luck!

Some thoughts, more knowledgeable people might want to comment:

Set up a company in some "tax heaven" offshore country (source). In some another country (destination), register yourself as an employee of that company.

So basically, you (from the source country) will pay the salary to you (to the destination country).

You should choose the destination country which do not tax salaries/incomes paid by companies in foreign countries (there are countries like this, including in [eastern] Europe).

Consult a local lawyer, reputable firm who knows various countries tax laws and ease of incorporation. Or come to Canada.

I love Canada and actually have family in Toronto and Montreal. I did visit Canada on a 6 month tourist visa which I got when I landed there but immigrating to Canada seems like a nightmare, as they are looking for people with specific skills and education.

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