Posts Tagged Merchant Account
Cyprus Offshore Bank and Cyprus Offshore Company formation.
Posted by peter in Cyprus Bank Account, Cyprus Company Formation on March 16, 2009
If you decide to take your business offshore for instant in Cyprus it is highly recommended to make a good planning for what you need, how you want to set everything up and what the outcome should be.
The best you can do is to write everything down, make a brief description of what it is you want it to be and what you expect once everything is done.
We have such many new client requests which just asking us to open a Cyprus Offshore Company and a bank account, some have not considered what it is they are going to use it for, they open the company (which is pretty easy) and then want a Cyprus bank account for this company but fail to deliver the few required documents we ask for or they become everything ready but don’t use it in fullest.
We think it is time to explain a few general and basic about how to make the prober Offshore Setup to conduct business for instant Online.
Do I need a nominee shareholder and if so should it be a local or foreigner?
First off, you only need a nominee shareholder if you want the company to be anonymously or if you want to avoid paying any TAX on net income.
If you reason to choice a nominee shareholder is to avoid TAX you will need to choice a foreigner, which we also provide. If you want to use a nominee shareholder because you don’t want to be listed in the public register of Cyprus ( become a anonymous company) you can choice a local shareholder, in anyway you only need one.
Do I need a nominee director (local direct) and if so should he be a foreigner?
As explained above in the chapter about nominee shareholder then almost the same apply for a nominee director, it depends very much on what it is you want, is the reason to avoid paying TAX or is it to become an anonymous company! If it is the first you need a foreigner if it is the second one, you can use a local director.
Do I need to have a nominee shareholder or director?
No not at all, you can just incorporate your Cyprus Company in your name or your local company’s name, you just need to bearer in mind that you will be listed at the public register in Cyprus, but you won’t have to pay TAX at all for this Cypriot company.
Also you can open a bank account in Cyprus for your company which is what many clients do. Whether the account is kept anonymously or as a regular business bank account depends on how you made your Cyprus Company structure as described above.
With your Cyprus Bank Account you can send and receive International Wire Transfers, you will become a IBAN number for your account and e-banking (Internet Banking) from where you can manage your bank account 24/7/365. The Cyprus Bank Account can be opened as single currency account (with only one currency of your choice) or as multi currency bank account where you can choice from the currencies EURO, USD, CYP, GBP.
Typically it takes about 4 – 5 days after we received all your original documents for the opening of the bank account to have the account opened, additional 14 days for the codes to be generated and send to your address for the internet access (e-banking).
Another thing which we often get asked is if it is possible to become a merchant account to accept credit card payments for on a website with this company.
Well, yes it is, you can open a Merchant Account and you can use your Cyprus Company for the opening of that account as well as a regular bank account as explained above. However, we don’t work with any bank in Cyprus in regards for the Merchant Account opening, so we use some Banks in Europe which have specialized in this. The moneys can of course be transferred to your Cyprus Bank Account which is connected to your Company in Cyprus.
What are the steps to get started if I would like the full scale of your services?
This is also a question which we get asked often, and to clarify, then we always start with the company since we need this in place to be able to sign a bank account and/or a merchant account on behalf of the Cyprus Company.
Once the Cyprus Company is established (which in average takes 7 days) we go ahead and open the Bank Account with a Cyprus Bank and then we go and apply for the merchant account, since the Acquiring Banks which do the credit card processing will ask for the company details and the banking details before they open the Merchant account, therefore it is important to have the Cyprus Company and Cyprus Bank account in place first.
Offshore Banks dont open Merchant Accounts
Posted by peter in Cyprus Bank Account, Cyprus Company Formation on January 19, 2009
“Many offshore banks have very strict rules on who they accept as their customers and contrary to popular belief they don’t accept just anyone as long as they have money! They have their reputation to maintain as a reliable and trustworthy financial institution and it would not be acceptable to them to allow criminals to use their services. Opening an offshore company can give you privacy or anonymity, the confidentiality laws of these jurisdictions are usually very strong and are a legal method of minimizing the tax amount you have to pay each year. “
This is what we wrote in one of our articles for not long time ago, and it is true, almost any bank in an offshore jurisdiction has that strict rules and regulations that they simply are unable to enter into the Merchant Acquiring business. Offshore banks will not be able to obtain a license to clear Visa or Mastercard credit cards often because they wouldn’t be able to withdraw the money from the card holders due to for instant European banks would decline such requests.
For instant if you get a Merchant Account in the Philippines or in Mauritius which both are great known offshore jurisdictions and which also have a license to do credit card clearing for each country, then you will often face the problem that your customers can’t pay with their credit or debit card. This due to the fact that many banks for instant in Europe or in the US simply decline such request because those countries are knows for scam and frauds.
However the problem can be solved very simple. You can become a Merchant Account with some banks in Europe and in countries which aren’t black listed in other banks around the world, once you have this merchant account you can ask the agent or the bank with which you have the merchant account to transfer your funds to an offshore bank account for instant in Cyprus.
Don’t make the mistake and open a Merchant Account in your local bank and ask them to transfer the money to your offshore bank account which might be in any of the different offshore jurisdictions, because they won’t do that.
By using the above model, you will need to face that your payment processing rates and fees might be much higher then what you can get them to in your local bank, but this should make it up with the TAX benefits you get through your Offshore Company. Don’t be fooled by low budget payment processors and payment service providers which promise you a offshore merchant account with a processing rate for instant of 4% or even lower, that’s simply not possible.
Also all the so called “free” service that tell you they will process your Visa and Mastercard credit cards for 3% flat rate, no monthly and no setup fees, they will process the cards but don’t transfer the money to your offshore bank account, and even if they would like to do that, then their financial institution will decline that request.
As solid Offshore solution for instant in Cyprus isn’t easy to get done. It needs the experience and knowledge from people which have been working in both the Merchant Acquiring and the offshore company formation business sectors, There are only a limited number of Offshore Service Providers which can help you and also assure you to become the real and right solution, many other will fool you into something you have better been without.
For the real solution which both it secure and reliable contact cclogic.com the experts in Offshore Merchant Services
Offshore Company Experts
