Travelling around the world and running a business

If you decide to set up a business online that you run whilst travelling from country to country on a gap year say, who should you register the company with and where would you stand tax wise?

 

bvi.

depends on your nationality.

 

British. I've already got a company that is registered in the UK but I am thinking of starting another one and just wondering what the rules would be on taxes and where would be the best place to register it. If I chose to register it in say the Philippines could I change this later and where would I be paying tax to?

 

If you're British, and don't stay in any other country long enough to become tax resident, you are a tax nomad, and won't pay tax anywhere.

 

I am not an expert. But as a student of UK tax also. I can tell you what i know about it. If you incorporate a subsidiary in any other country. You don't have to pay tax on that overseas company's profits in the UK. Infact you will pay tax in that country (phillipines) according to their tax rates because you will be operating the business in their territory.

 

Q. Do I pay UK tax if I go abroad?

A. Yes, if you remain UK resident. If you are not UK resident, you pay UK tax only on UK income. The position depends also on the terms of any double taxation agreement in force. See HMRC booklet IR20, 'Residents and non-residents - liability to tax in the United Kingdom', chapters 2 and 9.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/faqs.htm

If you have another "out of country company", how are you personally going to gain access to those earnings?

 

Awesome wow that sounds like a plan then!

....just read the other posts, maybe I need to look into this a bit more. Seems a bit of a nightmare to have to pay tax just because I am from the UK even if I am not living there. I wouldn't want to set a business up in another country though if I plan to move from place to place - work to travel as it were. Any countries you could register in Europe and get away with paying tax - Switzerland for example? or how about one of the Channel Islands in the UK?

 

I don't know much about UK's taxation laws, but I think if you have registered a company, your location (as an individual) doesn't matter.

As far as taxation is concerned, a company and its owner are two different entities and both have to pay taxes separately.

If your company is registered in some other country, the tax laws of that country will apply to your company.

If you withdraw funds from the company in the form of dividends, then it will be considered your income. You may or may not have to pay taxes on this income depending on the laws of your country.

 

Hi

Thanks for your detailed reply, it was realy informative! My current business is UK registered but that's because I currently split my time between the UK and Thailand - I just wondered if there were any other options if I started a new company and travelled a bit more. Looks like the only way to be completely legit is to register in the UK and pay taxes there.

The rules in Thailand are getting worse - work permit or not, they have changed the rules in the last three months and unless you marry a Thai or jump through hoops to get what you want, it's almost impossible to stay here now. Hence why I'm thinking of moving... will definitely add NZ on to my list of travels if I manage to earn enough Thanks again for your help!

Yes that seems to be the case. As I am travelling around a lot (or planning to), I was just wondering what my options were. It looks like the UK is the way to go still unless I can register in a tax free country, will have to look into it a bit more.

 

Ireland has a low corporate tax rate (12.50%) and is next to UK.

Other countries in EU with low corporate rates are Bulgaria (10%), Hungary (10%) etc.

Tax rates of Europe.

You may also want to look at other tax havens.

 

isle of man. no corp tax as a base case.

 

Friends of mine relocated their startup company to Singapore, but they used singapore-visa.net service to do this without a lot of paperwork, it's great place for startups, you can consider this.

 

It really depends on you, like which nationality you belong too and you will also be familiar with the taxation rules of your own country, so set up company in your country and travel the world.

 

Guys please take a look at the date of the original thread. This was all sorted out four years ago. (And it looks like it was only restarted to spam a link).

 

Well, I'm not a spamer, but now searching for opportunities to start my own startup (wearables) Didn't see topic date

 

Would defiantly get a offshore company somwhere you don't have to pay corporate tax, can be bvi, belize or anywhere else. Some insurance companies can gover you worldwide even if you are not a resident of any country, which may be the key to avoid to pay income tax. What you want to do is possible and I know a few guys who lived like that for 3 years, they don't have a family so it's easier for them I believe.