Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have an online business that I can locate anywhere in the world. Help me decide in which country I should locate it and even which state/province within a country.

First, I`m an American so unless the country in which I locate the country is America, I will be a foreigner and having to deal with the country as a foreigner.

Things I think are important in this decision process are:

LEGAL
Which countries allow foreigners to set up corporations in their countries with the fewest problems, restrictions, red tape, etc.? This is, by and large, where USA does well. The opposite would be Thailand which, from my understanding, requires a native to be given a substantial portion of one`s business to operate in their country.

TAXES
Which countries have the lowest corporate tax rate and taxation on foreigners and foreign-owned companies? This is where USA doesn`t shine as it has the second highest corporate tax rate and, with Obama now becoming President, it will be raised even higher.

COST OF LIVING
Which countries are the cheapest places to live and operate a business? Another area that USA ranks poorly.

INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
Which country has good cheap large-bandwidth Internet connections? An area in which that the USA ranks really well ... though I`m not sure how it does as far as expense.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS?
What else do you think should be taken into consideration?

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http://www.slowcookermate.com
http://www.twitter.com/yslowcook

SlowerCookerMate,

Thanks for the reply.

Am I correct that as long as I have my company reinvest back into itself, it doesn`t pay taxes on that reinvestment?

And by "small corps", do you mean employee-wise, revenue-wise, both, or something else?

I am not anxious to leave America or locate my business outside of America.  It depends on how much the Obama presidency penalizes business.  By his comments about penalizing American corporations that move jobs overseas, if he actually does that, it will be an all one or another decision for me.  Either completely move the company overseas or not.  If the business environment is worse under Obama than now, the decision to completely move overseas would be seriously considered.

As for activity in the US, the business is a games website that sends winners prizes.  If the winner is an American and a prize is sent to them, would that be activity that would subject me to US tax?  How about receiving advertising revenue from American advertisers into an overseas bank account?  I can keep the rest of the operation overseas.

Lastly, any thoughts on China as a candidate?