[igordebatur]

The app was published many years ago by Whitescape, the agency we owned at that point. I was born in Russia 35+ years ago. But now I'm the resident of Canada. Google has never asked me about this.

But even that must not be the case: since then the Google Play account and it's payment profile are associated with Riders app Inc (the US Delaware c-corp) and our new bank account is with Mercury (Evolve bank and Trust)

[mike_d]

The owner of the app is a company with a Russian nexus. Do you have a formal asset transfer agreement that moved the ownership of the app and all related assets to your Delaware corporation? Did the original company receive anything of value in exchange for all the assets? Can that agreement be independently verified?

These are the things I would personally look for in an investigation to determine if "Riders app Inc" was a corporation of convenience or the actual owner of the app.

[igordebatur]

Yes, we've transferred the ownership and it's obvious in the Google Play's dashboard, I triple checked. All the IP's belong to Riders App Inc, the domain etc. The company is properly structured.

[mike_d]

So respond back to Google with the wire receipts where you paid Whitescape for the app and divested yourself of any ownership in that entity.

[igordebatur]

How's so? The problem lasts from 2 months ago. The original issue couldn't be about any ties with Russia.

I'll still try to do that ^ but not sure if this could help.

[mdoms]

Ok so it's very clear that you've been rightly caught up in Russian sanctions. Your recourse is to put pressure on the Russian government of which you are a citizen.

[smeej]

Yes, please, try to oust your...dictator.

Oh wait. That's not how it works? You mean the tyrant who's invading another country doesn't give a rat's behind about the opinions of the citizens of the country he already controls?

Weird.

</s>

Edit: typo

[mdoms]

He can't single-handedly oust a dictator, obviously. But sanctions have collateral damage and that's very much intentional. Lots of people who are actually in Russia are having a much, much harder time than OP right now.

[ahelwer]

My sincere wish is that you are someday held to the moral standard you currently apply to Russian citizens. I suspect you would not enjoy that day.

[asats]

My opinion of the HN and the whole startup / silicon valley crowd got significantly worse because of the predominance of people like mdoms here on HN. Clueless, entitled and often bordering on being straight up evil with their "good intentions". "Just go back to your country and overthrow your dictator, aren't you a citizen" somehow seems to be a common line of thinking here.

[postsantum]

I smell trolling in his comments, but, in general, it's a very common worldview that is probably caused by excessive Marvel-like products consumption. If you go to a place like r/worldnews, you will see this is a mainstream position there

[speedgoose]

You need people like this, otherwise you would not live in a democracy.

Im probably not willing to die for political purposes but I’m thankful my ancestors overthrew the king.

[igordebatur]

asats, I wish for more people to understand that there are shades between black and white, who're looking to hear arguments before making quick decisions. But it doesn't seem their percentage is much different in other communities than silicon valley / HN, it seems like a major problem attached to humanity itself. I hope for this to change while I'm alive and sane though. Would be cool to see.

[igordebatur]

The issue is not a result of sanctions: it has started much earlier. Thank you for bringing this as a potential reason and I think I understand why you're trying to kind of activate people who're not standing against the regime and the war. But this is not my case: I'm also against the regime and the war, I do what I can to support my Ukrainian teammates and friends, all of my teammates and friends do the same.

But again, this isn't the topic of this discussion. But thanks.

[igordebatur]

Nope: I'm not a resident of Russia, neither other shareholders. This is not the case. And the problem is ongoing for 2 months+.

I understand the willingness to bring this, but currently this is not the case.

[mdoms]

Have you renounced your Russian citizenship?

[igordebatur]

This requires getting another citizenship and it takes time. I'm waiting.

[jacquesm]

For Canada: good luck. I gave up after a couple of years of waiting with endless promises that it would soon be resolved, it felt like building on quicksand.

[igordebatur]

I have high hope and a lot of persistence but I hear you. All of my friends told me that Canadian bureaucracy is super slow. So I came prepared.

[mardifoufs]

Wait, I thought canadian citizenship is pretty much guaranteed after ~3 years as a permanent resident. I'm not sure since I got it when I was 9 years old but is it different now? Is it even possible to get without a PR?

[temp8964]

But you are a citizen of Russia? Do you pay tax to Russia?

[vmception]

You can count on one hand the number of countries that tax their citizens who earn outside of their country.

[cute_boi]

I personally think its egregious to tax people when they aren't using any resource from the country where they don't live. Tax is mainly collected for development of nation, at least that's what government says.

[vmception]

Yes, that is what they say, what they do is largely different. The outcome, and my current view, is that the threat of taxes incentives other kinds of transactions, and when those transactions are not pursued then the remainder of the money available is taxed.

This means do the transactions that are not tax events, do the transactions that are deductible expenses, do the transactions that result in tax credits. Invest in the area or sector experiencing the tax holiday, move to the area with the tax exemption.

No individual politician will say it that way, any individual politician will say the opposite “tax everyone, fair share, yada yada”, but they are politicians, and the political body in aggregate creates tax laws more similar to my observation.

And yes, I can acknowledge that there is a very limited number of things that a wage slave can do to reduce taxes. The tax code awards taking risks, this doesn't mean the employee wont fail and have no remaining ability to exchange time for food and shelter. But if you dont fail, it will continue rewarding you.

[igordebatur]

No I don't pay tax to Russia, I happily stopped when I moved to Canada.