As a business owner, online or offline, it is crucial to keep as much money as possible within your own bank accounts so that you can reinvest and keep the company going. Therefore, minimizing your taxes legally is something that all entrepreneurs need to look at eventually.
With many online businesses, you need not incorporate in the state nor even necessarily in the country that you are in. You can register a company or become a permanent resident in a different country, and leverage these benefits. You can do all of these without even changing your citizenship.
There is a reason why states like Nevada in the USA or countries like Singapore and more are highly popular among savvy business owners: they allow you to leverage lower or no personal income taxes and more.
For instance, in so-called tax haven locations and countries such as Singapore, corporate and personal taxes are low, and there is no capital gains tax nor death tax for residents — this includes both Singaporean citizens and Singapore permanent residents. That is why many business owners around the world either incorporate their businesses in Singapore or also submit an application for Singapore PR, as this allows them to benefit from the above financial benefits even more without actually changing their citizenship. This is especially useful for those of us with online business models.
One of the main benefits that one can enjoy with a permanent residence in a place like Singapore is that one never needs to give up his or her citizenship to do so. It can be mentally very tough to overcome the fears and apprehension that most have when it comes to making a big move like migrating to a different country, and giving up one’s current citizenship for any reason at all. However, getting something like a permanent resident application in Singapore approved, though it could be a different country from you at the moment, is something that is easy for most people to accept — especially when it can help you legally reduce taxes by a lot. Getting a permanent residence or applying for PR is more like getting a second passport, and is metaphorically building another bridge, without burning your current one.
Additionally, if one eventually falls in love with the place and wants to live there for good, he or she as a permanent resident can also help their immediate family members apply for a long-term visit pass. Also, because the original citizenship is still intact, you can still easily travel to your home country and visit your other friends and family members. Getting a permanent residence in a country like Singapore alone is pretty much a win-win situation. Because Singapore is also an independent English-speaking country, many business owners from the Western parts of the world readily apply for a Singapore PR.
While some people think that entrepreneurs like us only run home-based businesses because we want freedom, that is not true at all. Home-based entrepreneurs not only desire freedom, but also to create wealth. In today’s Internet age, that is all possible now. Therefore, finances are still important, and even though a home business can have lower costs than a traditional one, everyone still wants to maximize their after-tax income.
