Starting aBusiness in Florida without living there

[movetoflorida]

Hi

Moving on from previous questions is it easy to actually start a business in Florida without living there full time?

I could easily run it from the UK as it is easy to get a US number diverted to the UK, get a US mailing address and of course email and websites.

What would I need to know about trading there, tax, legally working and so on any help is appreciated.

Thanks

[esprit]

I do know of a couple of people who run a business here from the UK but they have to have a manager here, I dont really see how you can run a business with no-one here at all. Any US based corporation would need to have a federal EIN and abide by all the tax anc licensing laws. I do think that unless you can find employees you can trust and rely on which isnt easy, you would be leaving yourself wide open.

[shockey]

The main US tax issue is whether or not your UK business has a "permanent establishment" in the US - which is defined by the tax treaty between the US and the UK. If you have any kind of physical presence in the US - an employee, an office or even someone working on your behalf - then you probably have a permanent establishment, which means you have to pay US tax on profits attributable to that permanent establishment, and that tax is credited against the UK tax on those profits. If you don't have anybody or any physical presence in the US, then you probably don't have a permanent establishment. But you may still have to file a US tax return reporting nil taxable profits and claiming the protection of the treaty.

Even if you do not have a federal tax liability, it is possible that you would have a Florida state tax liability, depending on the precise facts.

If your UK business is a company, you would need a US EIN (employer Identifcation Number) for the company to file its US tax return. If you do business as a sole trader, you use your ITIN (or SSN if you have one).

Needless to say, this can be a tricky area, so you need to get good tax advice in both the UK and the US.