An update and a request for some advice from anyone on the list who's dealt with an LLC and Tax Identification Number issues in the US.
Update: We've found there are three ways to charge in $US and have the money come back to Australia without registering any sort of US presence or opening a US bank account. 1. Go with NAB - they're the only Australian bank that can provide you with a multi-currency merchant account. As has been covered here before, this isn't exactly great value for a number of reasons, mostly price and surety related. 2. Set up an EU equivalent of an ABN, and then you'll find a bunch of banks who are more competitive, and will happily provide a merchant account that takes money in $US and has it deposited into your AU bank account. Still getting down to details on fees and affordability vis a vie the NAB option. 3. Go with a "Reseller", someone like Plimus of Fastspring. Their % rates are much higher than you'll pay for a gateway, but because they're "reselling" your product/service, they do all the work and they'll happily wire the money to your Cayman Islands account in time for you to buy another Pina Colada. Reportedly, though, Plimus hold back some money in case people run chargebacks on you. Another option of course is to get a US entity, bank account, and tax identification number. Advice request: >From what I've read at sites like http://www.incnow.com/faq.shtml, the costs of incorporating an LLC in Delaware are pretty minimal. The annual francise tax and filing fees are just a bit over $100. Having a Delaware LLC will allow you to open a bank account in the business name, and then get your own Merchant account. Outfits like Authorize.net charge bugger all (in magnitude and percentage) for this sort of arrangement. Big question/risk: I'm worried about the real/hidden costs associated with this, specifically filing fees and tax stuff with the IRS. While Delaware might be cheap, the IRS scares me. We're planning on using this LLC just to receive payments, and then wire them back to the Australian bank account of the business. The LLC wouldn't actually "trade", but I'm worried that the IRS will hit us up for tax, and then the ATO will hit us up a second time. Has anyone on the list got any experience or IAMYL advice they can provide? On Jun 9, 10:00 pm, Andrew J <ajes...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Alan, > > If the problem is subscription capability you could look at coupling a > subscription billing service on top of PayPal PayFlow Pro (which > allows charging in multiple currencies and has costs about on par with > NAB merchant facilities - and is much quicker to set up). > > I know for a fact that Zuora (www.zuroa.com) have a pretty reasonable > subscription product which can back onto PayFlow Pro (although their > pricing isn't very startup friendly). More recently this market has > gained some competitors (CheddarGetter, Recutly etc.) who may offer > more attractive entry level offerings, and would be worth checking > out. > > Cheers, AJ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://tr.im/ujKF No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself: http://tr.im/ujMm To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
