I need to find a second address abroad for regulatory reasons - a lot of companies I do business with can’t market to people in my home country.
What I basically need is an address that can pass KYC checks on an ongoing basis (so one with the utility bills in my name essentially). I don’t need residency or tax status or anything of that nature - I just need to be able to say I live there some of the time and be able to ‘prove’ as much.
I’d be willing to buy a modestly priced property, if it came to that.
Where is the best place to look in terms of ease of setting up and ongoing costs? I’m thinking along the lines of finding somewhere that I can buy a basic shack that I can just leave there and won’t have much in the way of ongoing property taxes or other expenses or regulations to worry about.
Well, you can buy a shack in a village in Bulgaria for €5000, and then pay the annual municipal tax which is about €20 per year - not a typo (it’s more like €100 in a city) - except that it has to be paid physically in person, so you have to pay a lawyer €30 to go to to the local council office to hand over the cash, lol.
It is also probably fairly easy to buy a low cost property in a country like Serbia or Georgia… I don’t understand your specific requirements for a second address and how you will be applying that address - so I cannot comment on any issues that might potentially arise down the track by using this approach in your circumstances. A couple of ideas to kick around… Are you sure you need the property management issues that come with ownership? If not, maybe you are better renting a small place in a country where you can have the utilities in your own name? Its also worth noting that some countries start to build a case for tax residency based on property ownership there. Also, if you are using that address as part of your business flow then maybe it starts to become like a centre of interest (another check item on tax residency in various countries.) Maybe to avoid any unforeseen issues down the track it could be better to aim for a country that lets you come and go very easily (Georgia allows 12 months visa with right to work to citizens of ~ 90- countries.) Also, some countries like Georgia generally does not tax foreign sourced income… so if you end up being caught in that country by travel restrictions due to a pandemic for 6 months triggering tax residency then it generally doesn’t matter. Finally, you say you do not need tax residency… and you will know that best for sure… but maybe it is worth thinking about buying or renting with tax residency in a very low tax country like Georgia. Depending on your business you may qualify for zero income tax, or 1% on turnover up to around 150k USD. Paying a little bit of wages tax for yourself in Georgia can get you tax payment receipts in your own name showing local address, and that is a very solid proof of address. Georgia has about 56 good double tax treaties and free trade agreements with EU, China, etc etc. So in these volatile times when we can worry about national tax offices looking for any new reason to extract tax, thinking about some of these wider issues now might save some bother down stream. I am just floating some general ideas in case any might be relevant to your wider situation. Best of luck :).
Yes, the answer is Bulgaria. I was searching for same purpose for a few years. It is a EU country and if that doesnt create an issue than it is Bulgaria. If an EU country creates an issue (for example related to certain typs of securities trading) than maybe Albania. If you message me I can have everything done for you in Bulgaria probably in less than 30 days (maybe 14) and for EUR 5,000 or less… it’s that simple…
There were 8.2 million (2013)or is more vacant houses — or one in seven in Japan. If you find a landlord, you could negociate as you wish. If not you do not need to buy it, you just put your name on its mail box. Japan has winter area with powder snow in the north, and tropical area in the south. You could use any types of transportations from north to south.