How to Take Your Company Global: options and offers
Every entrepreneur who achieved a considerable success in their homeland thinks about taking a company global. In addition, even if you know how to sell your goods abroad, for example, through an online store, opening a branch in another jurisdiction will greatly simplify many of your business processes.
If you want to sell your product or service abroad successfully, you should take into account one important aspect. In today’s fast-changing world, any successful project must combine two opposing qualities:
- Flexibility, which gives you an opportunity to respond quickly to all changes on the sales market.
- Stability and commitment to traditions.
Let’s look how this combination works. The ability to respond to obvious changes or any regional features of the consumer market in time will help you to stay afloat and occupy your niche in a hyper-competitive environment. At the same time, a high quality and commitment to traditions are especially valued in a dynamically changing world, even more so when a product is offered to a customer not only as a set of consumer qualities, but also as a whole history of its creation, market entry and its development.
Therefore, our article is for those entrepreneurs who want to take a company global and increase their commercial achievements. At the same time, it is for those who are not going to close the main office in their own country, withdraw capital abroad and move permanently to another country.
What problems will be solved if you take your company global?
- Increasing profit
The main purpose of any business, apart from its mission and goals, is to increase profit. Therefore, the most common reason for going global is to increase sales. New international markets are usually more comprehensive and promising than domestic markets and conditions for business in another jurisdiction are often better. Although, to be fair, even if new customers are poorer and the sales volume in another country is less than in your home country, you will sell more products than competitors who remain on the domestic market.
- Risk reduction and diversification of the client base
On the one hand, it is more difficult to start a business abroad. You will need a quality legal support to help you realise all the opportunities and at the same time not to break national laws that regulate entrepreneurship in a particular country.
On the other hand, a business, which runs in several countries, is less likely to go bankrupt if you allocate resources among all branches in an effective manner. You can open or close certain branches, lose clients and even close the head office, but your project will still be afloat if its profit is generated from several sources which are in two or more jurisdictions.
- Simplification of payments to foreign counterparties
First of all, opening a foreign branch will make it much easier to work with major financial institutions in Europe. Secondly, an account in one of the most reliable European banks will not only save your funds, but also simplify payment to customers and suppliers.
- Tax benefits and a government support
The authorities of some countries support small- and medium-sized businesses because it is a significant source of tax revenues for a state budget. Support can be provided either through special state programs or through tax incentives. Often the authorities support those companies that offer unique products or services that have no competition on the market. Opening a foreign branch is the best way to benefit from these opportunities.
Moreover, specific features of corporate and taxation laws in different countries, combined with existing international agreements, allow aspiring foreign entrepreneurs to reduce their tax burden.
- Immigration opportunities
Frequently, registering a company in another country, especially if you invest a significant amount in the development of a branch (or if your product is unique), gives an opportunity to obtain a visa which allows you to stay for a long time in another country and even bring your wife and children with you.
Local Business vs International Expansion
| Parameters | A local company | An international company |
| Sales market | Limited to one country | Significantly wider than a domestic market |
| Risk of closure | Closing a company means closing the entire business | Closing one or even several branches does not put the entire business out of operation |
| Tax benefits | Restricted by tax laws of one country | Presence in several countries facilitates beneficial profit distribution and tax optimisation |
| Government support | Limited to single country’s schemes | Opportunities to benefit from different state business support schemes |
| Foreign clients | Export of goods and/or services | Standard operations through a foreign branch |
What country should you choose to open a foreign branch?
The definitive answer depends on the main purpose. If the main activity of your foreign company is outside the incorporation jurisdiction and you need to reduce a corporate tax on profit, the best option is one of the offshore countries. As a rule, offshore companies are charged a fixed annual fee, and a foreign income is not taxed. Convenient tax havens traditionally include the former British colonies and the sovereign Caribbean islands.
Notwithstanding all the obvious advantage, registering an offshore company is not always the best solution. Recently, well-known tax havens have been under pressure from the international community and individual major states that do not want to lose tax revenues.
If you need to register a company in a completely “white” jurisdiction in order to go global, advisors at Imperial & Legal recommend looking at some of the EU countries with a mild tax regime for business and the UK.
The specific features of the UK corporate law and the tax regime allow you to reduce the burden on your business. Another advantage of the UK is that it is the world’s recognised financial center. The UK is one of the five most attractive countries for investment due to its unique location on the map of Europe, a centuries-old tradition of entrepreneurship, a strong economy and huge markets.
Entering a foreign market with Imperial & Legal
As a rule, our businessmen choose countries which are characterised by a strong economy, reliable national currency, loyalty of the authorities to bona fide entrepreneurs, effective laws and independent judicial system.
However, you need to know tax and business laws even in a jurisdiction with the most favorable conditions for business. This is the only way to get all the benefits and not be severely punished for breaking some local laws which you do not know.
If you are not a law expert, qualified advisors from Imperial & Legal will help you take your company global. Our wealth of experience allows solving most of the issues that entrepreneurs have in the process of going global.
Imperial & Legal specialists will help you to manage a huge list of tasks:
- Open a company in one of the Caribbean countries or another offshore jurisdiction.
- Open a company in the European Union or in the UK.
- Open an account in one of the reliable UK or European banks.
- Obtain a permanent residence in Europe and/or the UK.
- Apply for a second citizenship from a Caribbean jurisdiction.
- Prepare financial and tax statements.
- Draft a competent business plan for obtaining a visa, loan, recommendation of authorised bodies or a state support.
- Engage with tax authorities, register with tax programs, use favorable tax regimes.
- Insure business, obtain permits and licenses for certain types of activities.
- Accounting support.
- Get a sponsorship licence to employ foreigners, organise relocation (from applying for a visa to finding a housing and childcare facilities nearby where you work).
- Select and buy commercial and/or residential property.
Imperial & Legal offers three incorporation packages for those entrepreneurs who want to register a company in the UK:
- “Standard”, which will help you to register a company in the UK correctly and provide you with an address to contact the Companies House.
- “Standard Plus”, which includes all Standard package services and English-speaking secretary services, taking calls, messages and emailing recaps to you.
- «Imperial», which includes all Standard package services as well as a business address for UK bank purposes and support for opening a UK bank account, visa support (business visitor visas for 2 people), VAT registration and on-demand business advice from Imperial & Legal.
If you achieve a significant business success in your country and are ready to go global, but don’t know exactly how and where to open your first foreign branch, contact us and book a consultation!
