SEZ (Special Economic Zone) or 0% CIT country for small scale manufacturing and export company? List of SEZs so I can compare?

[abusivefather3957]

I'm looking for a special economic zone or a close to zero percent CIT country to establish my manufacturing and export business in. I am resident in a territorial tax country and European so I can go most places with my passport. We already have a logistics provider in Europe so it's not necessary to have great logistics. Ideally the company has the following properties:

- 0% Withholding tax for non-residents (so I can receive money tax free). I should be able to get money out of the country easily.
- 0% corporate tax (or close to it, more than 3% is ridiculous IMO) for at least three years, better if more
- Little red tape, I don't want to establish in a country that will give me problems every step of the way.
- 100% foreign owned business
- Somewhat reliable customs processes and importation. We import components from China and export the final product to our warehouse outside the country. Can't establish in Western Sahara...
- Able to hire a director if needs be with ease
- Banking is possible, or at least an EMI, especially for non-resident company owner to set up. If this is really a big issue, I have another company that processes credit card payments for the business so I could buy supplies with that company, then bill the SEZ/0% tax company for the supplies. The credit card processing company is in a high tax jurisdiction so that one will be earning little profit ideally.
- Not on any blacklists. Grey lists maybe, but i don't want to attract attention to myself.
- Easy to prove the company is profiting from active income (so I don't trigger CFC laws in case I decide to move to a country with them).

I don't care where in the world, anywhere is fine for me. I will only go once or twice a year. Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar, Mozambique, I don't care! I am young and have no responsibilities.

Last of all, here is a want of mine, but it's not essential:

- As little operations necessary to qualify as possible. I want to have contractors do as much of the assembly process as possible, warehousing services, etc. If I have to be more hands on it's not a problem, but ideally I won't be. I can even export some assembly services to be done in China before we receive the semi-finished/finished product, which would be even better to be honest. Whichever activity is enough for me to qualify, manufacturing, exportation, it's fine for me.

I'm not really interested in Dubai with all the recent developments and the expense of administration there, but if I can't find anything else I will establish a QFZP as a last resort (I am eligible).

So, does anyone have any ideas? Or know where I can find an index of these SEZs so I can compare which one to go to? If anyone has a list I would be very grateful, so I can see for myself.

edit: something I forgot to say is one of my employees is willing to relocate so the PE problem is solved. We can hire, rent an office, employee will be the director etc. since it's necessary anyway. I only asked about hiring a new director in case employee of mine gets fired.

 

[Don]

I'm looking for a special economic zone or a close to zero percent CIT country to establish my manufacturing and export business in. I am resident in a territorial tax country and European so I can go most places with my passport. We already have a logistics provider in Europe so it's not necessary to have great logistics. Ideally the company has the following properties:

- 0% Withholding tax for non-residents (so I can receive money tax free). I should be able to get money out of the country easily.
- 0% corporate tax (or close to it, more than 3% is ridiculous IMO) for at least three years, better if more
- Little red tape, I don't want to establish in a country that will give me problems every step of the way.
- 100% foreign owned business
- Somewhat reliable customs processes and importation. We import components from China and export the final product to our warehouse outside the country. Can't establish in Western Sahara...

Since you are actually adding value with your business model, perhaps this could qualify as "Made in Georgia".
Georgia has free trade agreements with both EU and China.
All Free Zones provide generous investment incentives such as the possibility of 100% foreign ownership, no corporate taxation, no restriction on repatriation of capital and profits, no exchange control, and no restrictions on investment in any sector.

- Able to hire a director if needs be with ease
- Banking is possible, or at least an EMI, especially for non-resident company owner to set up. If this is really a big issue, I have another company that processes credit card payments for the business so I could buy supplies with that company, then bill the SEZ/0% tax company for the supplies. The credit card processing company is in a high tax jurisdiction so that one will be earning little profit ideally.
- Not on any blacklists. Grey lists maybe, but i don't want to attract attention to myself.
- Easy to prove the company is profiting from active income (so I don't trigger CFC laws in case I decide to move to a country with them).

I don't care where in the world, anywhere is fine for me. I will only go once or twice a year. Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar, Mozambique, I don't care! I am young and have no responsibilities.

Last of all, here is a want of mine, but it's not essential:

- As little operations necessary to qualify as possible. I want to have contractors do as much of the assembly process as possible, warehousing services, etc. If I have to be more hands on it's not a problem, but ideally I won't be. I can even export some assembly services to be done in China before we receive the semi-finished/finished product, which would be even better to be honest. Whichever activity is enough for me to qualify, manufacturing, exportation, it's fine for me.

I'm not really interested in Dubai with all the recent developments and the expense of administration there, but if I can't find anything else I will establish a QFZP as a last resort (I am eligible).

So, does anyone have any ideas? Or know where I can find an index of these SEZs so I can compare which one to go to? If anyone has a list I would be very grateful, so I can see for myself.

https://www.worldfzo.org/Services/knowledge/Atlas

edit: something I forgot to say is one of my employees is willing to relocate so the PE problem is solved. We can hire, rent an office, employee will be the director etc. since it's necessary anyway. I only asked about hiring a new director in case employee of mine gets fired.

This is great.
Immigration to Georgia is relatively easy.
You want to have entities managed and perhaps even owned by local residents.

 

[abusivefather3957]

Since you are actually adding value with your business model, perhaps this could qualify as "Made in Georgia".

Yes and in fact the product is proprietary. However we don't have any patents or anything like that. It's an electronic product too, which we put a lot of R&D into, so perhaps there's an opportunity here? I only mentioned manufacturing because I thought it would be easier to prove for tax purposes, however now that I think about it, it was foolish to not mention the proprietary nature of the product. Could we prove it without any patents though? We have control over supply of course, and we have the design files etc.

Georgia has free trade agreements with both EU and China.
All Free Zones provide generous investment incentives such as the possibility of 100% foreign ownership, no corporate taxation, no restriction on repatriation of capital and profits, no exchange control, and no restrictions on investment in any sector.

That's great to hear. I initially dismissed Georgia but it seems the WHT does not apply to the free zone companies. Do you think it's the best option country-wise? I always hear people talking about Georgia but have never understood why exactly, especially because it now is a CRS participant. I have a connection that I can leverage there in fact, so it would be very useful.

https://www.worldfzo.org/Services/knowledge/Atlas

This is great. I suppose I will look into the membership and see if I can find any consultants well versed on this kind of thing.

This is great.
Immigration to Georgia is relatively easy.
You want to have entities managed and perhaps even owned by local residents.

If it were owned by the local residents, how would it work? I've thought about it before, by using cryptocurrency to control the funds. Without that, how is this even possible without losing control of the entity?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Don]

Yes and in fact the product is proprietary. However we don't have any patents or anything like that. It's an electronic product too, which we put a lot of R&D into, so perhaps there's an opportunity here? I only mentioned manufacturing because I thought it would be easier to prove for tax purposes, however now that I think about it, it was foolish to not mention the proprietary nature of the product. Could we prove it without any patents though? We have control over supply of course, and we have the design files etc.

That's great to hear. I initially dismissed Georgia but it seems the WHT does not apply to the free zone companies. Do you think it's the best option country-wise? I always hear people talking about Georgia but have never understood why exactly, especially because it now is a CRS participant. I have a connection that I can leverage there in fact, so it would be very useful.

This is great. I suppose I will look into the membership and see if I can find any consultants well versed on this kind of thing.

If it were owned by the local residents, how would it work? I've thought about it before, by using cryptocurrency to control the funds. Without that, how is this even possible without losing control of the entity?

Banking tends to be problematic for non-residents, and it is certainly a weak point in Georgia. If you browse the forum about Georgian banking, you might lose your appetite.
@JohnnyDoe might be able to tell you more about the "benefits" of Georgian banking.

 

[abusivefather3957]

@Don Can you recommend me a consultant who specializes in this? Or let me know where I can begin to look for one?

 

[Don]

@Don Can you recommend me a consultant who specializes in this? Or let me know where I can begin to look for one?

Yes, feel free to DM. I can recommend my colleagues in Georgia.