How to Relocate Your Business

I'm going to keep this brief, because the answer from a technical perspective is very simple. it is the nuances of where and what adjustments need to be made, that will need to be made by you and only you, based on your knowledge of your business, your businesses skillset portability and your personal objectives with the business and the relocation.

Why relocate your business?

1. To access foreign markets

2. For tax advantage - you are tired of paying high taxes, and could operate equally well from a different jurisdiction.

3. You personally want to relocate and you are a "one person shop" or a small business, and you want to continue it as your source of income when you relocate.

4. You want to adopt a Global structure - Headquarter where favorable for banking, tax advantage, liability, and corporate image, but live somewhere else and run the business remotely

5. You work remotely, and want to perform the same job but from a different location, perhaps the Dubai waterfront, a Caribbean resort or Italian costal village, or on a farm, but realize that requires consideration of immigration/visa and tax considerations.

6. You want to move your business to a location where inputs like labor and cost of living are lower to maximize profits.

So lets summarize the potential benefits:

a. Lower the rate of tax you pay therefore raising your disposable income.

b. Pleasant work and living environment

c. Lower cost of living

d. Lower labor or other input costs for your business

e. Fewer regulations and business licenses and layers of federal, state, city, property, sales and other taxes - its not just about money it is about time and cost of administration. You can go where there is just one. Or none.

f. Move away from busy environments with social issues and division, to family oriented environments which are not divided.

g. Creating a global structure that allows you to maximize utility of each aspect of your business while minimizing liability and tax and creating global mobility

How do you do it?

It depends on the specific location, but generally it goes something like this.

Planning:

1. Research the location you desire. Based on worldview, tax, strategic advantage or whatever the objectives of your relocation may be. Or combination if going for a global structure.

2. Research the specific programs available for foreigners. usually there will be one for remote workers, one for retirees and one for investors. But it will differ country to country. many companies will grant residency if you set up a company. With some the two are separate.

3. Visit the country for a brief vacation to ensure you like it. Try to connect with a few people while you are there. Realtors, Attorneys, others. Just a quick meeting will cost nothing or very little and will allow you to ask questions and get a feel for how things operate. Visit a business center, a mall, a restaurant area. Try a hotel and a AirBnb.

4. Write out a business plan for what you think would be required to operationally relocate your business. Put costs to it. If you are creating a global structure map out your customer to cash flows and determine which jurisdiction any work permits will need to be in. Understand your tax jurisdiction. Where you want your banks to be. Any trust or corporate structures to hold productive assets separate from operations for liability protection.

   
   

   Execution:

   
   

5. Once you are ready, find a attorney or consultant you have vetted, to process your company set up and work visa (which will give you temporary residency) application. Shop around to ensure the price quoted is reasonable. In most countries visa and company can be obtained from $2,500 to $5,000 combined. Renewal costs every 2 (usually) years are often similar or slightly less.

   
   

   Banking:

   
   

6. Once you have residency banks will normally grant you a small personal bank account (some require a permanent address), but often with small limits sometimes USD$2000/month in transaction activity, which will not be enough for the types of purchases you will want to make during your setup and transition. However the advantage of having a company, is the banks will allow you a bank account with much larger limits. The key here is gaining credibility with the bank to do so, and that requires poise, process and while not technically necessary, connections such a lawyers or others, sometimes can be helpful. Additionally your home bank accounts will also work, and international credit cards will work for maybe 70% of transactions required, with the rest by bank wire. Large bank wire transactions sometimes require source of funds documentation, and there are various ways to satisfy that. Giving them copies of several months of bank statements is not recommended and will result in an endless loop of questions. The more payment options you have the more you will feel comfortable when a credit card or bank transaction declines due to a random fraud check every once in a while due to your transaction being international.

   
   

   Other:

   
   

7. Once the above items are complete you find a good Lawyer and accountant that speak English and preferably a lawyer with real estate and contract experience to help you through a few initial matters as you establish things like Tax IDs and sales contracts. Understand the annual corporate filing and tax process for your business if any.

8. If you are creating a global structure you may have to do this once for your business, and once for where you will personally spend most of your time if they are not the same place. Understand how many days you need to be present in each country to comply with your visas and corporate approvals.

9. If one of your locations is Puerto Rico, look into applying for Act 60 tax exemptions for yourself and your business. Note there will be administrative costs and a annual donation and processing fees which is a form of tax so you have to figure those costs into your decision model. I would say allow USD$25,000 per year including accounting fees, tax and regulatory filings, business licenses, required donations processing fees etc.

10. Shipping: Think of anything you need for your business or personal that you cant take on the plane. And whether you want to ship a motor vehicle. Think approx $4,000 starting price, $8,000 for half a container and $12,000 for a full. Some services will ship a car from Florida to Puerto Rico for $3,500 (I shipped 3). Any import duties will depend on the cargo and the country. For shipping, having connections will speed things up.

That's it - In some places, the service providers are super attentive and hold your hand through the process, in others you need to be more proactive.

There is work involved, but the reward is in achieving your objective. The key is in structuring your time wile things are in processing, and managing your trips so you don't burn through more savings or lose more work income than you need to during the transition.

Let us know if you need help thinking it through or finding connections in specific locations.