This forum is one of the most interesting forums I have ever come across on the web.
I have been coming here and reading just about everything posted since I am
planning to register our new hosting business. I am not new to business nor to the
web , but I do need some advice from any one here that lives in Europe and is
incorporated in the States.
The problem is that when I looked up on registering here in Belgium ( I did have a
business many many years ago ) I noticed that to start a a limited liability business
your liability / access is now gone up to 16.000 dollars ! Of which at least 4.500
must be deposited in cash in your business account. Needless to say this is a lot of
money.
Luckily I am still an American citizen, so I will be incorporating in the States (
Delaware )
Now my question to any Europeans in the same situation. Do you have to announce
your business here in Europe? I know if you set one up here you do. (newspaper
and so on, btw do you have to do that in the States as well?? ) I will be working in
Europe, set up in Delaware and have a office in Maryland. Where will I be paying
taxes? The States and Belgium do have a treaty on this to prevent double taxes , but
I am not sure where I will be taxed. Since Belgium has very high taxes I think I
would be better off taxed in the States, but since I am not there physically I don't
think I can, can I ? The Maryland office is not in the company name but solely for
contact and mail.
This sound complicated to you? And since my business will be incorporated in the
States do I have to notify any office or government here in Europe? I do hope to
hear from anyone with similar " cross-atlantic " experience.
thanks for any info
rinnando

I think a lot depends on where your customer base will be and what type of services you will be providing. If you register your business in the US but have physical presence in belgium and you contact Belgian customers in person, then it may be considered a branch office and you may be subject to Belgian taxes. I have a similar situation, I am in Greece and the company is set up in the US. We pay taxes in the US but we do all our business over the web, we do not solicit business in person locally and although we have a couple of local customers they are serviced over the web only. However, we found out that we can incorporate in Cyprus very cheaply (about $3K) where the corporate tax for offshore companies is only 4%, do credit card clearance through a cypriot bank in either dollars or euro and have our income deposited there. The bank issues you a Visa credit/debit card that you can use to pay your business bills and also to withdraw funds from any ATM in the world for living money. This way you don't have to pay taxes anywhere except for the 4% Cyprus tax. You can even have your house, car, boat, etc under the name of the corporation.

Could you e mail me more info about Cyprus? I would like to look into this.
thank you .
rinnando

Send them to mee please ! ;)

Or post them here..... ;)

And regarding "This way you don't have to pay taxes anywhere except for the 4% Cyprus tax" is simply not true this way for many countries. Wherever you "solicit business in person" you are generating revenue and you live somewhere - so you have to pay taxes in a way or another.

I think k I will just incorporate in the States. Fot me it is not just for taxes ( or trying to hide from taxes ) but for the
simple reason Belgium is too expensive to start a business. I could do it without any
papers , like I think many do but I want to do it for a long time as a business and not
a fly by night. This is the only way I see I can do it and do it all legally.
I just want to make sure I am legally in order with everything, when I set it up in
Delaware.
I would still like to hear from any Europeans with a business in the States. I can use
all the advice you can give.
thanks again.
rinnando