Also interested in how to structure this correctly.
As far as I remember OP we are from the same country
Well, if you're from the R and the S then Yes
I am not in SMM business but I was thinking the same when I was reading the other thread. Why bother with offshore stuff when you can just “rename” your business and it will be a legal. Banks treat your business illegal bc you break “big boys” rules and ruin their business. You must look like Legit Company with legit business even if you go offshore. Sooner or later areas like Belize will complete Us & EU rules and become more visible and then what? So my vision is to learn to do greyhat business and be legit with smallest amount of taxes.
It's not about illegal... it's not even about the offshore company so much. It's more about banks and payment processors and them considering SMM as high risk. They're the ones that need to be sold a story in order to get accepted and in good standing.
Yes, I know, chargebacks and disputes will still destroy you and reveal what you do, but that doesn't worry me very much really.
The problem is not in the legitimacy as it is legal but in how to structure it as it would be suspicious if you are registered as a marketing agency and have 1000 0.3$ transactions for instagram likes. Plus it would be a nightmare to do books for that.
Right. That's true. Hate books
Yeah basically, something like that.
So anyway, I talked about offshore stuff yesterday. Setting up an offshore company is not a problem at all. Getting a bank account for your company is the issue. And there's no getting around that, you need a bank account, can't do it strictly with Paypals and Payoneers and stuff.
Like if you get set up in Delaware or Washington, no bank wants to work with you because the US reaches into banks and demands too much from them if US companies/citizens have accounts there, as far as I was told anyway. Then some banks I could use, I'd have to actually go there to apply and everything. And then comes in the fact that I do SMM, so what are the chances I go and actually get accepted.
And then we have Dubai and some other places where it's all good, but you still need to go there, and a substantial initial investment, and it's just expensive and a hassle.
So I think I'm gonna put the offshore idea to rest for now. Probably gonna register locally, pay the 15% or whatever, and then just concentrate on scaling my business. Then later if I'm making Real money I can consider offshore options again.
That said, it doesn't change the fact that I need to structure my business in a way where it's not "selling likes," but something else. Could be something as close as managing account (social media management instead of social media marketing haha). I think that would work.
