I plan to start a Video streaming service like www.thevideo.me. After searching a lot now I understand that things are not easy because AEOI/CRS will show up.
Income
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The service will be ad revenue based. So I don't need any CC processor. To receive payments I want to use Payoneer, Paypal, Paxum, Wire transfer etc.
Expense
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The service will need to make payments to server hosting companies, pay affiliate payments. From server hosting companies I will get invoice. But, for affiliate payment there is no invoice, All I will know is just email address and ewallet id( Z-Purse no. of webmoney, Payza email, Paysera email, Paypal email etc). To show expense towards affiliate payments all I have will be statement from Paypal, Payza etc. This will be a problem in majority of onshore jurisdictions.
Taxation and profit
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I don't want to keep money in bank account or show any profit in book keeping. I want to transfer all profits ( at least 98% profits) to my company based in Labuan and I am personally tax resident in Malaysia. I will make sure that all the advertising income I receive to foreign company is not coming from a Malaysian client/company.
I don't want to have accounts audited. If audit is required there should be some way to reduce the no. of transactions for that entity ( affiliate payment no. will be damn high, expecting 500+ small payments like 10-20$ every month).
Cost of setup
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unlike file hosting services those sell premium account, my business won't have big profit. The service want to relay on advertising income only and after affiliate payments, profit will be significantly low. So I don't want to setup a company/structure which cost high.
Please give me some advice.
Welcome aboard :)
First of all, before we go into any details, is a PayPal account requires (as you mention above) or would you be able to use service like 2checkout for PayPal payments?
Paypal account is required.
Well, it will limit you in regards to where you can incorporate.. the only thing I know (Maybe Admin will chime in) is Cyprus or the UK in both cases you will need to work with a nominee director that can provide a utility bill or you need to fake it.
Paypal will accept you to not have a foreign passport but they will require you to have the company be incorporated same country as you live.
I mentioning Cyprus and UK because of the other points. It may be possible to setup something with a Liechtenstein or Swiss corporation but that would again be very costly.
What paypal actually care is country incorporation and bank account in same country. I have a Dutch B.V running with Paypal this way.
I wanted to try Seychlles + HK combo. But I know that the agents in HK are crooks after incorporation. They will promise something and after incorporation theirs rates are different.
What is your view on Monese? Do they provide real UK account number that can be used with Paypal ?
Nomad said:What paypal actually care is country incorporation and bank account in same country. I have a Dutch B.V running with Paypal this way.
Yes correct, typo above..
No but if you have your focus on UK I would find a good laywer in London and travel there and together go to a bank and open an account for you, that's what I did in the past. I travelled all around the globe to speak with professionals and find solutions that you don't even find online today.
If you find a good laywer or CPA in the UK he may even be able to help you with other things that you don't may think about now. Just my thoughts.
UK is not my favorite as you know that UK getting out of EU, tougher copy right laws coming up. I don't expect any good DMCA or safe harbor option in UK.
Is there any EU country which cares more about user privacy. I am more concerned about accounting affiliate payments as such payment only have limited supporting documents ( i.e, paypal statements and email id of the recipient). I don't get any invoice from the affiliates that's the main problem I see in-order to declare business expenses.
Welcome @Nomad :)
I can help you with the setup of a Cyprus company and very easy accounting, all you need is to deliver a MS Excel sheet to the CPA and he will take care of the rest, not difficult at all. If you appoint a nominee director and shareholder you will also have total privacy towards customers and business partners. Finally banking can be done in Cyprus too, there are several banks to work with here.
The company can be registered non resident so you won't have to pay corporate tax nor charge VAT - I know the public laws available say something different, but I know at least four people which are into some huge online business for years, they have never charged a single euro VAT nor have they paid tax or got any attention from anyone.
That would be my best suggestion for what you ask for.
This is of course not the only setup that may help you achieve your goals, there are even more but I have no clue about it. Some lead may be Bulgaria, Romanian and some other Baltic countries.
What is cost for setting up Cyprus company. What will be accounting costs if
There is 4 Income invoice, 500 paypal transactions related to affiliate payments ( This is every month).
If you collect the paypal transactions and put them into a Excel sheet each month, they can be put into the books as one transaction. However, I can't give you the costs, it is not my service.. The Cyprus company can be setup for €2190 for the company + €550 for the bank account opening
Nominee director is EUR 950 and EUR 550 for the shareholder all fees you can find here Cyprus Company Formation we register your company in Cyprus today that's the service provider I use and which I know we can control in regards to accounting ;)
So if I register company with you, in future all my dealing with agent needs to be done through you ?
No you can go directly through the agent, as soon as you are setup and the CPA knows you there is no need for me any longer!
Is it possible to talk to CPA before the company is setup ? So that I can make sure he understand everything before we start and he can give me a rough estimate on account and audit fees.
He don't work for free unfortunately. But else it is possible, sure.
I don't want him to work for free. But I need to know if he understand my structure. Tell me how can I contact the CPA?
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