line decor
MAWW International Logo
line decor
   Need more information NOW?   Call Tony Baker at +1.416.500.7287.
line decor
 
 
 



SETTING UP FOR BUSINESS IN THE EU

Most businesses start exporting to Europe without establishing a formal presence there.

As business activities expand, the time may come when it becomes desirable to establish one or more business entities in Europe to deal with operations and administrative matters in a more convenient and tax-efficient manner.

Before deciding to set up business in a particular country, it is advisable to think through the alternatives.

The first step is to lay out clearly what the purposes of establishing your European business is.

As far as the European Economic Area (EU and EFTA countries) are concerned, it is important to remember that establishment in any country will also allow you to market into all of them. So the decision will not depend entirely on where your main target market is located.

COUNTRY CHOICE FACTORS

Operational Considerations: These include the location of your customers, availability of workforce, transportation routes, distribution centres.

Geographical Location: Convenience of access (airports, flying time), languages spoken, office availability, etc.

Set-up and Admin Costs: Start-up costs, paid-up capital requirements, ongoing administrative costs, annual administrative costs and fees, costs for attending meetings, office and staffing costs.

Ease of Start-up and Operation: Amount of form-filling, ease of establishing banking arrangements, annual reporting and audit requirements.

Restrictions: Foreign ownership rules, requirements for residency of directors, control of subsidiaries, ease of removal of managers, or agents, laying off of workers.

Business Structure: Type of entity: branch office, subsidiary, holding company, etc. Is the type of corporation you need available in this country?

Customs, VAT, etc: Customs treatment, revenue flows, value added tax treatment - these may vary significantly between EU member countries.

Profits and Taxation: Treatment of profits, corporate taxes, repatriation of profits and proceeds eventual of sale of business.

Personal Considerations: Residence preference, personal taxation, general preferences.

TAX EFFICIENT INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS

In addition to you new company in Europe, you may need an offshore corporation to improve the tax efficiency of your overall international operation.

With our partners, we can provide formation and management services for several low tax jurisdictions: British Virgin Islands (BVI), British Anguilla, Panama, Seychelles, Samoa & Bahamas. We can also offer registrations in the following jurisdictions: Mauritius, Cyprus, Jersey, Gibraltar, Delaware, Belize & Liberia.

We can also provide ready made "shelf companies" as well as "name of your choice" incorporations.

We offer international trusts & foundations for wealth management solutions.

Other international services include: management services, mail, fax, telephone & email forwarding, nominee service, apostille & legalization, bank accounts, registered agent & office service, ship registration & certificates.

We can quarterback all of this for North American companies entering the European, foreign and offshore markets.

For immediate assistance with these complex topics, please call Tony Baker at 416-500-7287
or click here to contact us by email.

 

100 Euros
Turnkey Corporations: EU and Offshore


OUR PREFERRED EU COUNTRIES FOR INCORPORATION

While there may be reasons for establishing in any particular country, some countries generally provide more advantages and fewer disadvantages. We refer to them as our 'favourite' countries.

For a quick and easy start up, low cost, few and simple annual requirements, no residence or nationality requirements for owners or directors, easy transfer of funds into and out of the country, we suggest one of the following countries: Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden or Belgium.

Of course, you may have other requirements that would benefit from incorporating in a different jurisdiction.

Your corporate or personal situation may be such that it would be an advantage to incorporate different parts of your overall “value chain” in different countries.

Call us to discuss the best place for your business’s particular needs and to discuss the overall structure and interaction between parts of the enterprise.

For a free telephone consultation please call Tony Baker at 416-500-7287 or CLICK HERE to reach us by email .

COUNTRY COMPARISON LINKS

Information at the following web sites may help you to select the best country to meet your particular business needs:

Index of Economic Freedom (Heritage Foundation, 2014)
http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking

Global Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum, 2011-2012)
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GCR_Report_2011-12.pdf

Corruption Perceptions Index (Transparency International, 2013)
http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/pub/cpi_2013

World Competitiveness Yearbook (IMD)
http://www.imd.org/wcc/wcy-world-competitiveness-yearbook/

Human Development Index (HDR)
http://hdr.undp.org/en/data

Doing Business Survey (World Bank, 2013)
http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings/

Quality of Life Index (Numbeo, 2014)
http://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_by_country.jsp

Quality of Living Survey (Forum for Expatriate Management, 2010)
http://totallyexpat.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/QoL-2010-Rankings.pdf

Global Innovation Index (Cornell, INSEAD, WIPO)
http://www.globalinnovationindex.org/content.aspx?page=GII-Home

For a free telephone consultation, please call Tony Baker at 416-500-7287 or click here to reach us by email.


For an outline of the following topics, please click below:

Background on the EU
EU Product Regulations
European Customs Clearance
Do we need an EU-based Economic Operator?
European Distribution
European Research
Setting up for Business in the EU
IP Protection in Europe
Do our Products Require CE Marking?
"REACH" Regulations for Chemicals

 

;