As a non-US citizen, opening a company in the US is not the hard part. The hard part is figuring out taxes and legal "configuration" in your own country, where you live. I'm not an expert, but I hear from accountants that you have to figure the thing out properly and you end up having an accountant for your company abroad and one for yourself. It might end up being too much expensive if it's for a bootstrapped startup with little revenue.<p>Happy to hear from people in EU that made this work and what are the total costs (especially tax-wise in your own country).
My biggest hesitation with Atlas is the C corp part. I don't want funding, I want to start small and bootstrap. For this, LLCs seem best so you don't get taxed twice.<p>My most optimistic first year in revenue would be $30-60k, still well in side business territory. Am I missing something, or is Atlas not for me?
What would be really cool is if Stripe Atlas allowed its customers to form an LLC first and then provided a seamless framework to get LLC converted to C-Corp. I’m looking to bootstrap a single founder business and I can’t find good reasons to go with a corporation. I could be wrong though.
How much does it cost (everything included) per year approximately to run a company with zero or very close to zero revenues in US ?.
I am talking about cost including Lawyer charges, Accountant charges, Tax, agent charges etc.
The biggest complaint I would have is using Silicon Valley Bank. I was a customer for over two years and their web interface is complete garbage and they charged an account service fee each and every month.<p>I switched over to Capital One Spark Business Checking and highly recommend them instead.
Anyone have experience with Stripe Atlas <i>after</i> starting a foreign entity? I have a Canadian Corporation which I'd like to make a wholly-owned subsidiary of that Delaware C corp (or perhaps the other way around).
I've noticed a lot of people setting up UK limited companies for similar reasons - you can do it online for a few pounds and there seem to be very few checks done on your identity or business plan when you do so.
Wondering if Atlas gets a lot of money launderers. Incorporating has always been super easy, but most agents wouldn't open a bank account for you. Especially at this price point.
"You also realize that you don’t really need public financial help if you don’t get robbed to begin with. To create a SPRL/BVBA in Belgium, the capital must be fully subscribed at the time the company is incorporated, to the amount of €18,550 (of which €6,200 must actually be paid up in the account of the SPRL/BVBA). Also, the articles of association must be written before a notary. You need to be physically present in the office of a random guy you never met and will never meet again to make sure that your company can be incorporated."<p>Indeed. This is one of those things that is a massive, nonobvious competitive advantage for Anglosphere countries - most have an incorporation system that works for really tiny businesses, and there are very few requirements for notaries or similar. There really isn't a good reason for company registration to have non trivial costs.<p>Companies House will do it for £12. There are third parties who will do the registration through their API for even less, somehow. And the UK is also quite good at legal recognition for unincorporated members' associations (useful if you want a local nonprofit org).
Setting up a business entity is actually not that difficult. You can do it yourself.<p>In California for instance, you can set up an LLC in about 5 minutes for $70. It requires filing out one form with the name of your business and the owners and mailing it in (takes a few weeks to process). In many other states you can do this online.<p>Once you have your Articles of Organization, you can take them to any bank and open a bank account with a credit card in about 30 minutes.
I wonder how these people are getting access to Atlas?<p>Every time I follow links to Atlas, the experience always ends with the "Request to join" signup form.
My particular pain point is how to have a Stripe account living in an unsupported country (Brazil).<p>Is Stripe Atlas the best solution?<p>I am starting two very modest side business intending to sell to international customers (mostly US+Canada initially). One SaaS and one content membership.<p>Any ideas?
Anybody know of any other ways to get aws credits? I'm not willing to give up the benefits of an LLC, and I can deal with setting up my own bank account. But the aws credits and initial accounting help would be really nice.
A short question for Atlas users: If I live abroad, and I want to contract someone abroad too, not USA Citizen, is his/her salary deductible from company income taxes (as if I contracted someone in USA)?