Answers

Best location and US company type for an overseas company

Asked by: Alistair  — 19 July, 2012

Hello.

My UK based company is planning to open a US company to import and distribute our own clothing brand. We also hope to retail this collection online within the US and later on possibly open a bricks & mortar retail store in NY.
Our preferred base of operations is NY city but I am unsure whether this is actually the best location to initially form the US company from a cost and taxation point of view. Alongside this I am also unclear what the best type of US company would be to form in order to accommodate the various aspects of the business.

Thank you for your advice and help.

Answered by: admin  — 19 July, 2012

Dear Alistar,

As a foreigner it would be a good idea to have your company registered in one of the “incorporation-friendly” states such as Wyoming or Delaware, and as you ready to establish physical presence in New York you could then register that company in New York as a “Foreign Entity“. Wyoming companies are especially easy and cheap to form and maintain, but Delaware is not bad as well.

As far as entity type goes I would recommend you to start with LLC, as, again, it is easier to maintain. If along the way you would ever need to change your entity type to C-Corporation you would be able to either elect your LLC to be taxed as C-Corp, or have it converted to Corporation (Wyoming and Delaware laws permit such conversions).

In general its a good idea to consult a business attorney prior to making decisions of that kind, as each business is different from the other, but from your description I believe WY LLC or DE LLC would work best for you, to start.

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