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I would like to know which country's laws I must abide by when conducting online business.

Let's say I want to sell VPNs and here in the UK, this was illegal. In Holland this is legal however (as an example). Now let's say I want to go into business selling VPNs.

For me to legally take an income, would I have to register the business to my address here in the UK, and declare the income (on my tax return) so the goverment could take their portion of taxes from it? Or would they not allow this? If the servers are in Holland, and I run them remotely, which country's laws should I follow regarding declaring income and taxes etc?

If I registered to an address in Holland and I take a revenue from it back in the UK, is this allowed? Because I live in the UK, does UK law force me to register the business over here if I want to take my income from it?

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If I registered to an address in Holland and I take a revenue from it back in the UK, is this allowed?

Yes.

Because I live in the UK, does UK law force me to register the business over here if I want to take my income from it?

No, but UK laws demand you register your business in the UK IF YOU RUN THE BUSINESS IN THE UK. Where is the office, the management, where the legal address for suing the business? If all decisions are made in Holland and you have an address in Holland, it is a Holland business. Unless you run a file share website, the government will not come after you. Many people run businesses in other / multiple countries. You register the business where it is running. And no, no business runs "online only".

Lets say I want to sell VPNs and here in the UK, this was illegal. In Holland this is legal however (lets pretend). Now lets say I want to go into business selling VPNs.

Sell it to a UK resident and the UK may open procedures against you, serving you the legal papers via cross country services.

I must abide by when conducting on line business;

There is no such thing as an online business. See, the provider sends you invoices to an address, the bank does so. The business has to have a registration address, and sorry, URL's are not allowed. There is a business conducting it's activities (even exclusive) online, but it is not a "pure online business".

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Thanks for this clear answer, really appreciate it :) This make complete sense and has given me some good research material. Thanks! – javano Feb 17 '12 at 22:19
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Be careful with who you sell to. In the US last year they closed down many online poker sites due to the fact they were selling and marketing to US citizens, and the funds were moving through the US.

This is also how they pierced the veil of the Swiss bank accounts. Some were caught marketing in the US.

The UK government could see you as a UK business because of how you do the managing of the company.

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