[tomp]

> 1. It's ridiculous to incorporate in the US, due to ridiculous tax policies; and

What are these ridiculous tax policies? I've often heard complaints about US taxes for citizens/residents, but nothing yet for companies... (I realize that many companies choose to incorporate in tax havens to evade taxes; but I'm mainly interested in knowing how is incorporating in the US worse than incorporating in e.g. UK, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Germany, France)

[charlesdm]

High corporate taxes + global taxation of profits. For example, any profit coming from lower taxed subsidiary (i.e. a dividend) will be taxed at the difference between the local rate and US corporate tax rate. So if you pay 20% in the UK, you will have to pay an additional 15% (35%-20%) in US tax.

Second, the US is very aggressive when it comes to withholding taxes (FATCA and all) - if you’re a shareholder living in a country without a decent tax treaty with the US, you’ll lose an extra 30% on any dividend you declare, unless you include intermediary structures such as holding companies etc

Now, some of these might not matter that much to a startup since they aren’t making a profit anyway. But if you build something profitable it will be relevant for an acquirer. If things are set up properly to pay less tax, they will pay more for your company.

[tomp]

> So if you pay 20% in the UK, you will have to pay an additional 15% (35%-20%) in US tax.

To me, this makes sense. Is this different to what other countries do? Although the corporate tax does seem rather high...