RAK Offshore with EMI

[MrDeddy]

Hi Guys,

New to the forum, really happy to have it as lots of good threads!!

I was hoping for some advice - my situation is as follows:

Currently UK non-resident (for last ten years) living in SE Asia (now not tax resident having just been made redundant due to COVID). I am looking to set up a trading company offshore that will allow me to mitigate corporate/personal tax (basically keep profits offshore). The company would be procuring IT hardware/software for projects. I have a local in country partner that would hold the local contract and purchase the goods off my offshore company.

I still have a lot of contacts in my industry and so can procure a good bit lower than the local company, hence I am able to give them a better price and keep some back as commission.

I am wondering if I can set a RAK Offshore company for this and use an EMI such as Bankera to manage paying out invoices and receiving funds from buyers etc? Having looked into it, Its doubtful I would be able to get a UAE bank account, I don't have the history and paperwork needed.

So specifically, I am wondering if this type of setup would be viable? I would have to buy hardware under my company name, ship it to my freezone and then change the invoicing, airway bills around to represent the new pricing and the local partner as importer etc - again, I think this should be ok but would really appreciate anyone's thoughts.

Secondly, would you see any issue using an EMI for this? Deal values could be $500 -$1m and so I would need to be able to move these amounts of cash around freely and reliably in order to pay suppliers.

Really appreciate any input you might have on this plan.

Thanks a lot in advance!!

 

[EliasIT]

Secondly, would you see any issue using an EMI for this? Deal values could be $500 -$1m and so I would need to be able to move these amounts of cash around freely and reliably in order to pay suppliers.

According to @Gediminas there will be no issue to use Bankera for your UAE setup and also not with the volume. Personally I have no experience with Bankera nor any EMI when it comes to sums above 500K - Transferwise has been working perfectly fine for me with sums up to 100K / month.

 

[MrDeddy]

Thanks for your response.

An idea I have would be to use profits accrued in the offshore company to invest in crypto projects.

So this would mean effectively making a transfer from Bankera or another EMI to an exchange and purchasing the digital currencies.

I understand that Bankera is crypto friendly, not sure about TransferWise?

I am wondering if there is any issue with investing profits into crypto (as part of the offshore company's investment portfolio). Ideally whatever method was used to invest, I would want it to be as discreet as possible. I don't know if there would be any issue in terms o0f funds being released off the company books?

Not sure what the UAE rules are for this type of thing.

 

[CaptK]

I would employ you to go to the UAE and set it up there. You could use your partners set up as proof and set up a website before you apply.

Don't use RAK use either Ajman or Fujeirah company. Get a UAE bank account as you won't get any issues with large amounts.

 

[MrDeddy]

Hi @CaptK , thanks for your feedback.

I have met with the banks in the UAE and there requirements are quite stringent for setting up a company as well as wanting me to hold a balance of around $30k. I also don't have some of the details they are asking for as my residence status is a little unusual given I have just moved locations having lost my job. Thus I have pretty much ruled out the bank account option initially, once I am established with a few trades then I would be looking to get this organized, but initially it would need to be EMI.

Interested why you would suggest Ajman or Fujeirah. over RAK? I thought the RAK free zone was longer established and better suited to trading / shipping etc?

Thanks