American living overseas wanting to start drop ship business
Hi,
I’m an American living in Malaysia and looking to start an online retail shop through drop-shipping from China and possibly other southeast asian countries to the U.S. I don’t have any partners, just wanting to do it on my own and I’m a newbie. So, my question is should I register my business in the U.S or overseas? What sales taxes would apply? What legal issues should I be looking into?
Nancy,
If you plan to sell in the U.S. and you are a U.S. citizen then you might as well register your company in the U.S., open U.S. bank account, merchant account etc. That’s what most foreigners looking to sell in the U.S. do.
Question of taxation, both sales tax and income tax, are well addressed in our article “U.S. Taxation for Foreign Entrepreneurs“, I would recommend you to review it to get answers to most typical questions.