When I started my agency, I already have big plans for it. However, the pandemic brought by Covid19 shifted my plans almost entirely! But then I have realized that I have to adapt to the current situation and leverage my knowledge of digital marketing. That’s when I started researching business incorporation. In this article, I will show you why and how you should incorporate your business from anywhere.

If you are a business owner, one question you might have in mind is how you can scale your business amidst the Covid19 pandemic. In addition, you might think about where your potential clients would be and what will you do to reach them. Hence, I have listed down some recommendations as I talk about my journey on how I incorporated my business in multiple countries while being away from my home country. Now, I have businesses in:

• South Korea
• United States of America
• United Kingdom
• Indonesia
• Singapore

I will soon open one in Thailand and I am thinking of opening in Estonia, Panama–elsewhere!

Why Incorporate Your Business Overseas?

If you are trying to figure out how to incorporate your business from anywhere, you might first internalize why you need and you want to do it. Therefore, you can ask yourself, why you should incorporate your business overseas.

Well, I am currently living in Thailand. But as I have mentioned, I have multiple businesses in multiple countries. And if you are wondering why you should incorporate overseas as well, here are the reasons:

1. Potential Clients

I first incorporated my agency in South Korea because it was my original target. So obviously I needed a Korean business to do that. Korean culture is really different, hence it was hard even for well-established businesses to enter the market. However, as we’ve grown, we started closing a lot more clients overseas.

So if you’re thinking about where would be the best country to incorporate, think of where your customers would be.

2. Ease Of Incorporation

It’s undeniable that sometimes, it is easier to incorporate businesses overseas than in your home country. When you incorporate it into your home country, you need to follow tedious processes and it is also very expensive.

In my case, since I am overseas and I’m not a Thailand citizen, it is not easy for me to incorporate. That’s when I decided to incorporate it into other countries. But even if incorporating to other countries might be easier, it’s important to take note that banking can be really challenging– especially because of the travel restrictions. By banking, I meant, creating a company bank, signing documents, and more.

3. More Opportunities

When you incorporate in other countries, you will surely have more opportunities. When I started incorporating, especially in Korea, what I was thinking is that I am going to reach an almost untapped market. Though a lot of businesses want to target the Korean market, my edge is that I am Korean and I know Korean’s buyer persona.

4. Tax Systems And Laws

Another thing that is great about incorporating to other countries is that there are some countries that can be considered “tax havens”. These are places where the taxes are a lot lower than your home country. So if you are choosing a country to incorporate with, you must first study that specific country’s laws and tax systems.

5. Incentives And Support Schemes

There’s a lot of countries out there that would want to incentivize and support foreigners building businesses in their country. Most of the time people invest in foreign businesses, especially if they see how feasible the business is in their own country. So that is another thing to look out for when you want to incorporate your business wherever you want.

What Type Of Business Corporation Should You Use?

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

An LLC is legally a separate legal entity, and so it provides liability protection for you, the owner. This type of corporation offers a more formal structure and offers more protection to you if there will be debts that your business incurs. Basically, it means that your personal assets are free from legal claims.

C-Corporation

A C-Corporation is a separate legal entity and a separate taxable entity that must file corporate tax returns and pay taxes at the corporate level – different from S-Corps that are pass-through taxation entities. Here, taxing of profits applies to both corporate and personal levels.

LLC vs C- Corporation: What To Choose?

If you’re starting a SaaS or tech business and plan on looking for investment, you should probably opt for a Delaware C-Corp. C-Corp’s have more convoluted taxes and you may face double taxation. However, there are also benefits of having a C-Corporation like the new Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) where you can potentially have up to $10 million tax-free or tax-deferred if you fit the requirements (Forbes). C-Corps also have lower tax rates on the first $75,000 they make.

If you’re starting a small business or agency, LLCs might be more attractive. First, an LLC is still a separate legal entity and as the name suggests, owners are protected from personal liability just in case the business incurs some debts. You can only lose the money that you have invested in the LLC, hence limited liability.

Another benefit for LLCs, especially if you’re a small business, is that you can move your cash around easily. If you’re a single-member LLC, you are considered a “disregarded entity”, so your company’s profits and your own salary or pay are the same. You simply take cash out of your company and it is considered an “owner’s draw”. You report this with Schedule C of your own personal tax return (Bench).

Where to incorporate your business?

Incorporation can be done remotely in many countries but you need to check on banking laws and whether or not you can open your company bank account remotely.

1. United States of America

For me, one reason why the USA is one of the countries you should choose to incorporate your business with is that it is easy to open a business in the USA. I have two businesses in the United States and the setup process is relatively easy. However, I’ve done it all from where I am here in Thailand, and I decided to use one of the service providers and I’ll go through some of the service providers that I think are great and would recommend later on.

For me, Delaware LLCs are one of the best states to incorporate a business with because of the extensive corporate case law that the state has under its belt.

2. United Kingdom

Next is the UK. One of my partners in my agency is a UK citizen. So what we did was I gave him a share of the business and he helped me work out all the paperwork and whatnot. I was able to open a bank remotely in the UK. It wasn’t an issue, but I’m not sure if it will the same case with you.

What’s great with UK LLP is that it has no tax burden as it is not seen as a separate entity. Hence it is popular among foreigners who do not actually trade in the UK.

3. Singapore

What’s great with Singapore LLCs is that you can open a bank remotely. Another thing is that, depending on the revenue and size of your company, you can be eligible for tax exemption. Well, Singapore is becoming one of the financial centers of South East Asia as it has flush with cash and different industries can find themselves with a captive local audience.

4. Estonia

Estonians support digital nomads. In fact, their digital marketing landscape has been excellent. Another thing is that Estonia is a tax haven. People do not pay taxes on realized profits so if you are planning to incorporate an online business in Estonia, you will not probably pay for a tax.

If you are still unsure where to incorporate your business, I advise you to educate yourself first and do a lot of research so you will be more knowledgeable of what, where, and how you will incorporate your business.

Services That Help You Incorporate Your Business

As promised, I will now discuss the services I have used and am still using nowadays to incorporate my business from anywhere. These services will make your processes easier.

1. Stripe Atlas

Stripe Atlas is a remote service that helps people establish their businesses anywhere. It helps startups launch their businesses without lengthy paperwork, legal complexity, and tons of fees. With Stripe Atlas, you can access flexible tools for internet commerce. Hence, saving you more time and energy on manual tasks. Subscribe to Stripe Atlas!

2. Firstbase

Firstbase is a powerful service software that helps founders incorporate their businesses in the US. Hence, allowing founders to get access to startup infrastructure, venture capital, and other benefits in America. It aims to give startups the opportunity to build global products and make them more accessible. Start using Firstbase!

3. Blook

Blook also offers fast and simple business registration from the US and anywhere in the world. They handle everything right from setting up the company formation registration, availing of tax ID, creating bank accounts, and so on. Try Blook!

4. Clerky

Clerky, on the other hand, is an online legal service that helps startups get legal paperwork done easily. They offer a high-quality online solution for all startup company’s documentation and get everything set up in a way that is ready for financing.

And That’s It!

There are still plenty of reasons and processes out there, that can help and guide you with regards to how to incorporate your business from anywhere. But to learn more about my experience, you can watch my video:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/96Jhr2DAHGo?feature=oembed&t=4s How To Incorporate Your Company From Anywhere|Joon K Lee