Hot answers tagged international
7
There are a number of questions implied by your your single question above.
First, while Fastspring is a great company (we use them), why would you use them to process a PO? POs are something you can easily do yourself and in the process save yourself 8% of that $15,000! See my answer here for how to process a PO. People sending you a PO do not expect an ...
7
The legal way would be called "a contract". Your problem would be with enforcing it. If either of you breaches the contract the other one will have to sue, and then the question is - where?
You should consult an attorney, but generally, you would be suing your partner in the UK (as he's a UK subject) and he would be suing you in Israel (as you're an ...
6
I think you should see a qualified tax adviser (fx a chartered accountant who is specialized in international tax).
The US system by default taxes US citizens of their global income. But there are double taxation agreements with many nations, which may dramatically change the taxation in your situation (depending on where you're living now).
Normally, I ...
6
When I speak with people that are interested in starting a new business, I always ask them the following questions:
Where is your first sale/client going to come from?
Where are your next 25 sales/clients going to come from?
Can you replicate question number 2?
In my experience business is really only two things (especially in small business)
Getting ...
4
The answer is "yes", you can start a business in the USA and work from your country. Citizenship is not necessarily a requirement. The business is considered a "foreign corporation" and in all of the states I have looked at, it is the same as starting a corporation outside of the state you live in. That is, if I live in Nebraska and start a corporation in ...
4
Checks won't work and PayPal may be a problem because of their location in Nigeria. I use wire transfers for all of my international payments. Just send them your banking details (name, routing number and account number) and they can arrange it through their bank. Be sure to specify that they are responsible for any charges.
This is a toss-up but given the ...
4
There are multiple visas that you can apply for. There is the L Visa, E5 or EB-5 Visa, and also E-2 (Treaty Investor) Visa for which being a UK citizen you may qualify. So I would suggest reviewing the requirements and possibly consulting with an Immigration Lawyer in the US to actually see what you will realistically need to do.
3
Some things you should be considering:
Where will your customers be, and what are the implications for them of any given location (sales tax, for instance, and their perception of your business)?
Do you anticipate working with other people as employees, partners and associates? If so, where do you expect them to be located?
Where are you happiest to deal ...
3
Neat idea, but if you are serious about this ask a tax accountant with cross-border taxation experience.
I think 3,5,6 are possible.
You'll unfortunately miss the capital gains advantages of being a Canadian Controlled Private Corporation (CCPC) (<50 shareholders, Canadian controlled) if you sell the company.
There's also a slot on the Revenue Canada ...
3
Here are a couple of links that may prove useful:
http://mashable.com/2010/10/29/protecting-business-name/
http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/17702/17-Mutable-Suggestions-For-Naming-A-Startup.aspx
You may be able to narrow the list of countries you need to consider by asking yourself:
Where will your biggest market be?
What languages will the website ...
3
The United States is actually considered a Tax Heaven, (not as much as panama), but still as compared to many other countries.
Nothing is required for you to attract US customers. The united states does not restrict foreign corporations for doing business in the states expect for rare cases such as pharma and other highly regulated industries.
If you are ...
3
and welcome to this site! :-)
If I understand this correctly, you have "The Social Alarm Clock" registered and approved as a trademark in the US, but not elsewhere.
You could start off by getting the contact info for the competitor, call their CEO, and in a friendly way say that you have this phrase protected as a trademark, would they kindly abstain from ...
3
Peter,
My advice, after all legal fees and USCIS hell you are better off either outsourcing or hiring a non-visa candidate. H1b in post 9/11 era is a big boys game. It requires so much documentation and so much compliance work. And considering you are legally required to pay prevailing wage, why would you pay extra costs of H1B?
3
James,
Unless you are going to expand to English-speaking countries only, the internationalization and localization of your software and customer support would be much bigger issues. (Okay, French may be less of a problem given your origin. :) )
To some extent it depends on your product. I do not think you can successfully sell a B2C product to German ...
3
Unless you're expecting an instant huge success I'd worry less about the tax issues, and figure out which country is
The cheapest starting out.
The lowest costs for bookkeeping.
The simplest rules for reporting.
The time and cost spent on those three will be way larger than your tax (in most western countries).
You can always reincorporate into ...
3
Where the money is. Who is going to pay you, how much, why, and how are you going to find them?
You should also be able to keep control of your cash. I assume you know double entry book-keeping. Learn how to live on ramen. If you're in a relationship or have kids, persuade the family to move somewhere really cheap, and to enjoy vegetables and ramen. I am ...
3
First: IANAL
Typically the aggrieved party has to file a lawsuit in the jurisdiction where the contract is governed, win the case and then collect the damages.
To collect the damages you have to locate any assets, then get a judge in that jurisdiction to award you the assets.
3
There are money transfer companies that can send funds to Iran. Western Union doesn't seem to, but Sarrafi says it does (easily found on Google).
Of course, it may be difficult to convince people to use a service like that, but that is another story.
Alternatively, there are lots of Iranian people in the UK, for example, with banking facilities, so maybe ...
3
I don't think there is too much that you need change. Some things that come to mind:
Taxes -- I'm pretty sure you won't have to pay any US taxes for your sales of services in the US from the EU. I have no idea how VAT/European taxes work so you'll have to figure that out. If you have an accountant already, then hopefully he or she can help.
Terms of ...
3
Am I eligible to start a Kickstarter project?
To be eligible to start a Kickstarter project, you need to satisfy the requirements of Amazon Payments:
Be a permanent US resident and at least 18 years of age with a Social Security Number (or EIN), a US bank account, US address, US state-issued ID (driver's license), and major US credit or debit ...
2
You should take a look at http://www.internetworldstats.com/ (warning: 90s design ahead) for some better numbers on internet penetration within different countries. You'd then want to take a look at this list of languages by native speakers, click through on each language to see which countries speak it, and compare that to the penetration of internet usage.
...
2
Market, Market, Market. It's all about where your market is, not where computers are.
Maybe you are really asking "How do I know where my market is?"
Don't fall into the trap of "China has 2 billion people, if only 0.1% of them buy from me, I'll be rich!". Research and target your market.
2
If you localize and translate your product for a specific country, you can (and should) certainly ask a premium for that offering. However you don't mention anything like that.
If you are simply going to charge different $ in different countries for the same product or service, customers will hate it. I've been on both sides of this (vendor and customer) ...
2
Of course, single domain on .com is the best solution if you're providing services to the world. But you are starting your business and will only target Norway for now. So why bother so much on the price of the .com they're offering? Just got a .no TLD and start your business. Focus (focus!) on your Norway business for now. If you ever succeed in that, ...
2
I think its best to go with the .com.
I remember when del.icio.us fist came out.
It was a clever use of a non .com name but now if you visit you are redirect to delcious.com
The reason being is that so many people are accustomed to typing in a dot com.
If my friend asks me to visit a website, its likely that i wont remember its TLD, and would try .com ...
2
It depends with what sector you are venturing into. You can even use initials of your name. The issue is knowing what you want to drive and your target audience and not necessarily your business name though it plays a key role.
For instance, these websites are visited globally
mashable
facebook
name.com
qq.com
inc.com
2
No, it "doesn't matter" insofar as restrictions go for most cases***. Yes, you can pick any state (like Wyoming) without restriction aside from registered agent requirements. However, as you suggested, the state you choose can influence the amount you pay in annual fees and state taxes. Be aware that low/no-corporate tax states try to make up for it by ...
2
Things I would think about are:
Which location is the most tax effective?
Which location has better legal protection?
I expect UK and Canada would be quite similar in these respects so I would also look at who will be doing the financials. It might be most convenient to locate in their locality.
You might also like to consider where you expect your ...
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