Looking for a accountant

[Warren Holland]

I will give you an outline of our business set up and goals.

There are two of us that come together and decided to create a business, my
business partners name is Aaron, he resides in Thailand. So that in its self
is creating a different structure .

Our business name is : Decision Point Trading

We are going to be offering basic information on Trading the financial
markets, with the option for visitors to take out online courses hosted on
our business website. There will be an Amazon store attached so
visitors/clients can purchase books or other learning material. We are
affiliates for amazon, so some funds will be generated there.

We will be operating a number of our own financial trading accounts through
the business aswell.

As you can see this is not a local business , but quite an international

We have not registered a company yet. I am thinking LTD company. All our
business will be conducted online, we are looking for some address privacy
and to conduct business in a tax efficient manner Barclays tell me that we
would need to apply for an "International offshore Business Account"

I can see us using Paypal and other digital payment systems to appeal to
potential clients in many different countries across the globe.

We are really looking for some advice on what are the best decisions to make
with our situation and of course i would say a friendly down to earth
accountant to help us keep things in order.

Regards

Warren Holland

 

[jamjam11]

Getting an offshore business account could be tricky and costly. If you were to go after one i wouldn't stop there, I'd go the other 9 yards and put the company into a trust. Depending on the level of the trust will depend on how well its set up and once again this is not cheap. You'd want a company in say Luxemburg with your trust set up in a tax haven and they set you up with offshore account. What you've done is create 3 different jurisdictions which makes it harder to track.

Of course the current Prime Minister in the UK would love to put my head on a platter right now for telling you this. Their wanting to go after tax dodgers. Strange tax dodgers talking about going after tax dodgers.. Anyway...

You will have to pay some sort of tax to someone to keep your head above water. You could then open a subsidiary company in Ireland where corporation tax is only around 14.5% but remember if you're dealing with downloaded papers Amazon does it out of Luxemburg for the already cheap tax in place.

I feel personally that your going to BIG to soon. Payment systems and cards are different around the world although many do have a visa of sorts or mastercard that can be used to pay for goods online whats really going to do your nut in is the merchant account to hold currencies from around the world..

If i was you I'd be more thinking along the lines of Amazon and start of in one country or launch into the whole of the EU first to generate funds to go larger. .com websites don't offer a lot interest to me, I would rather .co.uk and ..de etc.. More personal for the country your advertising in. Which strikes another note, What about language barrier? Of course you can put a language switch onto a .com site, Once again not very professional having people land on a site and have to change language.

Privacy of your address is easy, Although once again your not looking professional, In fact your looking more like a con by the minute. Registering an incorporation would give you a London mailing address if you go with the right company which is what I'd do.

Here's your current set up:
.com website with no address and an international number that's looking payment for some information that might be in my language.

Here's mine:
.co.uk domain name with registered business address with local London number which head office address matches the domain name. who has other websites within the EU /Spain/France/Italy/Germany.

Take your pick. Hope this has helped you in some way bud, And good luck!!

 

[Warren Holland]

jamjam11,

Thank you for your response, i was beginning to think i had done something wrong.

I think i really need to be clear on a couple of points, so that future thread readers will see where i am coming from.

1. We, as a company are not looking at some kind of illegal tax avoidance setup. What we would like to achieve is to be as tax efficient as possible (same as any other company)

2. I have been financial trading for 6 years, i have met many people along the way that helped me and i enjoyed that interaction. It is time to give something back , in my eyes. Yes we can create another income stream from the business, but isnt that what its about? Filling a need and giving value for money.

3. One thing that disgusts me is the amount of outright scammers and "know all.......know nothing" idiots. either misleading or duping people out of money. Dont get me wrong there are a number of good companies out there, but these are dwarfed by sharks at every corner.

We really feel we can break the mould and are looking to create a professional business to portray this.

Company Type

We were considering a UK limited company. One reason was to utilize a company structure with various different business interests eg: financial trading, products and trading courses. But also i have an interest in letting property and other financial interests. To bring all these business activities under one umbrella made sense. My business partner in Thailand can also be a director of the UK limited company.

I am all ears if a qualified person would wish to interject at any point.

Banking

My natural thoughts were to approach Barclays Bank for a business account, as i do my personal banking there. After a long telephone call they advised me that because my business partner was based overseas we needed to apply for "international offshore business account". This was not my choice, Barclays stressed it would be the only way.

Address

This is always based on how you are going to provide services. We do not have a shop front or factory. So in a word no physical premises. But like you say with the formation of a company we would have a registered company address, which would be displayed. Our business is primarily internet based and that makes it international by default. What i really do not want is my home address on plain view to the world, i have a large number of personal assets and have done quite well for myself. I do not wish to open my front door to a hooded gang!!

Many companies have a registered business address, does not mean they are hiding, more protecting i would say.

Payment Gateways

In conventional business cash, cheque , direct deposit and more active in recent years Debit/credit card. Clients may visit store or pay a company representative from their home. Because of the nature of our business we are not likely to come into contact with our clients, so how would they pay for services. Anywhere in the world payments can be made via Paypal or credit/debit card.

Paypal do a business account that is registered in your company name and you can send and receive payments to and from your business account...... This looked like and ideal solution.
Of course there are merchant payment gateways like Worldpay or even Barclays have a system in place.

Example; How do you pay google or amazon ?

Language barrier

We are mindful of this, but with all business are looking how to get started and structure first , so we can run a compliant , ethical business. I discuss business with many different people around the world and it is quite surprising how many people can speak or write with good English. The market is massive as it is.

We have looked far into the future and have an idea if we ever get to that point. On what level our business grows to we could give our business model to a business leader in a non English speaking country in the form of a franchise maybe. The Business leader would need to translate our products into his native language. The payments would run through our gateway and a discussed and agreed percentage split of business turnover would be in place.

So they have ;

A free business model
A exact copy of all company content
A franchise structure
An agreed percentage split on turnover.

What they need to do;

Translate into their language
promote their franchised arm of the business

We are mindful that even if we learned another language, the boundaries of culture, political and economical would be beyond our comprehension.

This concept may never come to fruition and is far fetched from where we are now...... But you did ask the question.

As a side note............. We have business leaders in Philippines, Trinidad and Tabago, Ghana, India, that are quite excited by the idea.

Like all ideas, we have been looking at how or where to start. If we set the right structure from the beginning it will avoid issues later on.
Where some of our ideas may seem BIG, they are being considered loosely for future.

Thank you and i hope the picture is becoming clearer.

Warren

 

[jamjam11]

Where do i start, LOL

Payment..
You could always just charge people the USD global trading currency. And its not like you're sending a product. Online download only which is cool. I've looked at a merchant account for USD only and i can't find an American company to provide with with an account without having an American company. However i did find a few accounts you can get in the UK which will open currency slots for you.

Corporation:
I would really take my time with this one and get it in the right country. And you don't have to worry about your already gained assets. With an incorporation you put yourself down as a director and your partner as a shareholder and that way all assets are protected from the business. As for "Hoods" Really DON'T think twice about these idiots in social organizations. I was born in Belfast N.Ireland moved to Carrick {7 mile from city} The paramilitaries within the North took a huge split down the middle due to drugs/money/control/power and to many chiefs not enough indians.

Since i grow up there you might be thinking I'd be a hood, Not soo bro in fact i listened to politicians from the 80s and stayed true to capitalism while they smoked drank and snorted their lives away in their social groups thinking their "Hard" i kept learning and climbing up the social ladder till i fell over the other side. I protect my assets with insurance cover, Any of these pricks touch my assets i get a payout. ; } I would advice you to do the same.

The way you live your life will reflect on rather your a socialist or not, I'm not and believe strongly in individualism and some of the philosophy by Ayn Rand that she warned about regarding socialism with capitalism leading to fascism/corporatism and war. Only thing we're missing to day is the war. Of course many people that don't follow the "Main steam" are very quickly put into a turd bag and punched. I was there. LOL

I know i went there a little about socialism and Hoods.. But it is a huge part of living today in a socialist world filled with scum bags and sharks. People say "Safety in numbers" Someone should've told that to 2 million Jews. I still laugh today at some of the crazy things I've heard from these people. Like one guy telling his other socialist friend, ' I know him" So because I've shared a joint and had a beer with you that means that they know my whole live story and my full ideology thats been maturing over the years by reading numberless pages coming from countless philosopher's... Ok. LOL

I think they need to back to school.
Good luck with your business, And don't be a socialist and keep everything insured. !!!