Question Best setup for YouTube channel management company?

[FreedomSearcher]

Hi,

I'm currently living in Belgium and I run multiple Youtube channels in the Tech and science niche.
Monthly I'm making 10K-30K€ in profits. (highly dependant on the algorithm and the CPM)

Taxes in Belgium are pretty high and I'm not planning on staying here anyway.
I'm looking for a company structure where I pay little or no taxes, that also allows me to live and work from anywhere in the world (or almost anywhere).

Thanks in advance for your advice

- jdcjdc7

 

[Mr Gus]

I was in the same situation as you but different niche, I am from the Netherlands however. I actually setup in the UAE in February a few weeks before they switched paying from trading income to royalty income, so had to pack my bags again and look for another country.

Depending on if you have a lot of US source revenue (meaning revenue coming from US viewers) your options become more limited. I don't how you are structured in right now in Belgium because you could be facing exit taxes if are structured as a B.V. which you might also want to take in consideration when moving (but I am not sure on that since I don't know anything about the tax system in Belgium).

If you don't have any US source revenue and don't face exit taxes you have a lot of options just check other threads on this forum, but I assume since you are in the tech and science niche you will have US revenue (if not you can completely ignore the following), meaning you will face withholding taxes depending on where you are tax resident.

So your options basically become limited to Georgia, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Malta, if you only have a small percentage of revenue from the US, you can decide to just pay the 30% withholding tax and you could look at 0% countries like UAE. Best thing is to run a few calculations.

Georgia
- No withholding tax
- I believe 5% tax
- 183 stay requirement

Cyprus
- No withholding tax
- 12.5% tax
- 60 day stay requirement

Malta
- 10% withholding taxes (which can be partially offset against the corporate tax)
- 5% tax
- 183 day stay requirement

Bulgaria
- 5% withholding taxes (which maybe can also be offset against the corporate tax)
- 5-10% tax
- 183 day stay requirement

I personally picked Malta because I'm not planning to be out of Malta for 183 days, but if that is the case for you Cyprus might be a good option.

 

[FreedomSearcher]

I was in the same situation as you but different niche, I am from the Netherlands however. I actually setup in the UAE in February a few weeks before they switched paying from trading income to royalty income, so had to pack my bags again and look for another country.

Depending on if you have a lot of US source revenue (meaning revenue coming from US viewers) your options become more limited. I don't how you are structured in right now in Belgium because you could be facing exit taxes if are structured as a B.V. which you might also want to take in consideration when moving (but I am not sure on that since I don't know anything about the tax system in Belgium).

If you don't have any US source revenue and don't face exit taxes you have a lot of options just check other threads on this forum, but I assume since you are in the tech and science niche you will have US revenue (if not you can completely ignore the following), meaning you will face withholding taxes depending on where you are tax resident.

So your options basically become limited to Georgia, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Malta, if you only have a small percentage of revenue from the US, you can decide to just pay the 30% withholding tax and you could look at 0% countries like UAE. Best thing is to run a few calculations.

Georgia
- No withholding tax
- I believe 5% tax
- 183 stay requirement

Cyprus
- No withholding tax
- 12.5% tax
- 60 day stay requirement

Malta
- 10% withholding taxes (which can be partially offset against the corporate tax)
- 5% tax
- 183 day stay requirement

Bulgaria
- 5% withholding taxes (which maybe can also be offset against the corporate tax)
- 5-10% tax
- 183 day stay requirement

I personally picked Malta because I'm not planning to be out of Malta for 183 days, but if that is the case for you Cyprus might be a good option.

I have a B.V. indeed. I think the exit tax here is 15%, would be interested in seeing if there's a workaround.
I heard from people who run channels too that they have a UK - UAE setup. Does anyone know who can set this up for me? Or if there are better alternatives?

 

[Mr Gus]

I have a B.V. indeed. I think the exit tax here is 15%, would be interested in seeing if there's a workaround.
I heard from people who run channels too that they have a UK - UAE setup. Does anyone know who can set this up for me? Or if there are better alternatives?

You should get in touch with a local tax advisor in Belgium about that.
But what would you need the UK LLP for? I don't see the point of adding a LLP? Google has no problem making transfers to UAE bank accounts, the only reason I see is so you can use more EMI's. But why use EMI's when you can have a local UAE bank account.

There are more people on this forum that can help you out with the UAE setup. I have used @Fred in the past and recommend him.

 

[FreedomSearcher]

You should get in touch with a local tax advisor in Belgium about that.
But what would you need the UK LLP for? I don't see the point of adding a LLP? Google has no problem making transfers to UAE bank accounts, the only reason I see is so you can use more EMI's. But why use EMI's when you can have a local UAE bank account.

There are more people on this forum that can help you out with the UAE setup. I have used @Fred in the past and recommend him.

Yeah probably for EMI's like Transferwise, as they have extremely low international fees.
Thanks a lot, I'll contact Fred and a few local experts!

 

[Mr Gus]

Yeah probably for EMI's like Transferwise, as they have extremely low international fees.
Thanks a lot, I'll contact Fred and a few local experts!

No problem, good luck!