Hello,
I am a Canadian freelance business writer planning to set up a corporation in Canada (Ontario) – but I want to do business mainly with companies in Boston, U.S.A. Could you tell me what I need to do – for example, incorporating in the U.S., obtaining a specific visa, getting around the double taxation issue – to make this as simple and cost-effective as possible? I appreciate any advice you can give me.
Nick,
Even though your clients are in Boston (Massachusetts), you could have your company formed in any U.S. state, since most of the time you provide the service from Canada anyway. Unless you plan on visiting the U.S. and staying in Massachusetts for long periods of time (lets say 3 months or more, as an example), there would be no need to register the company in Massachusetts (which, by the way, earned the nickname “Taxachusetts” for a reason…).
As far as visas go, since we do not specialize in immigration laws I would recommend you to seek advise of a professional immigration specialist. From my personal knowledge you might be able to apply for business visa that would allow you to visit the U.S. for a couple of months at a time and conduct some business activity. Also, there might be some additional options open for Canadians, so, again, I would recommend you to ask a professional immigration specialist to give you further advise on that.
As far as taxation goes, again, we are not licensed tax specialists, so no official advise here as well. From my knowledge, of course, there are ways to structure your finances to ensure you only pay taxes in Canada. For example, you might want to have your company bank account opened in Canada, in USD, this way all the income is created in Canada instead of the U.S. Some of your clients might not want to deal with you without U.S. bank account, but others might not mind. Again, I would suggest you to consult an accountant.
Some helpful stuff: we have a free tax webinar for non-U.S. entrepreneurs, run by our partner CPA firm that specializes in helping international clients, so I invite you to check it. They have a half an hour free consultation after the webinar, so its a great opportunity to ask questions.
Also we have written some articles that target non??U.S. entrepreneurs looking to open business in the U.S., I invite you to check them out:
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