Short version:
Do foreign corporations need to pay US taxes if they use a US-based credit card gateway?<p>Long version:
We're about to begin collecting payment at our Canadian-based startup (pagerduty.com), but have run into a bit of a snag. All of the Canadian payment processors we've found that support recurring billing require us to handle the CC numbers during the initial signup process. This creates a PCI compliance requirement that we're keen to avoid.<p>We'd like to use a US gateway that allows recurring billing without requiring PCI compliance (e.x. Braintree), but unfortunately they are all asking us to provide an Employer Identification Number issued by the IRS. Apparently, it isn't difficult for foreign corporations to get an EIN, but we're unsure what sort of tax obligations filing for an EIN will create.<p>Has anyone else gone through this process? Can foreign corporations collect payment using a US gateway without incurring US taxes?
> Do foreign corporations need to pay US taxes if they use a US-based credit card gateway?<p>No.<p>> Has anyone else gone through this process?<p>Yes<p>You can request an EIN here:<p><a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf?portlet=3" rel="nofollow">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf?portlet=3</a><p>or call:<p>Internal Revenue Service
irs.gov
Telephone Assistance for Businesses
Toll-Free 1-800-829-4933<p>You might be able to get an exemption as well, which you can then give to your 'gateway' provider.<p>> Can foreign corporations collect payment using a US gateway without incurring US taxes?<p>Yes, absolutely. Your business is taxed in its home location. Even if you would have a US corporation owned by a Canadian one (you may need this in case of opening a US bank account for instance) you will have to file US taxes, but you will not be paying any, you'll need to consult with a tax specialized lawyer for the precise details on that though, how you set things up is critical.
We just went through this.<p>We decided to charge in USD. We have a lot of international users, and while people generally know where their own currency stands vis a vi the Greenback, we surmised that they wouldn't be nearly as familiar with where they stand against the Loonie.<p>We initially went with the Canadian cc processor Moneris. They support recurrings, although their API support sux. Watch out too for the application approval process which was v slow and v painful.<p>We do not see the cc numbers. They are passed along to Moneris directly.<p>Moneris could only support Visa and MC transactions for USD, which was pretty limiting (credit cards are not used nearly as much in countries like Germany and Brazil) so we also went ahead and hooked up a pay by Paypal.<p>Shortly after we set everything up, Paypal started offering its cc processing service to Canada. They have much better API support then Moneris (although PP’s web UI sux), and since we had already set up the PP payment option, it was a no brainer to move it all over to PP. So PP now processes our cc as well.<p>Similar to Moneris, we do not see the cc numbers at all. They are passed along to PP directly.<p>(We took a look at Amazon, but they were not offering their 'Easy Pay' service in Canada.)<p>If you are a Canadian registered, there is no need to worry about US taxes.