Starting a business, selling an American Product

Business Entrepreneurship
1

Hey Guys
I don’t know where to start with opening a distribution and eCommerce business In Taiwan.

I will update this top post as the plan changes and as I begin to compile the steps to the process so that others can use this as a real world guide.

Goals:

  1. Legally register the business.
  2. Legally Employ myself.
  3. Legally sell product.
  4. Bring the lady with.
  5. Pay all taxes due.
  6. Stay in Taiwan indefinitely.

About me:

  1. I am a married American guy from Cali.
  2. I’m an Int. opps manager by trade, I understand int. shipping and customs.
  3. I understand the basic process of opening a business. If the business were to be opened in the USA I’d have almost no questions.
  4. Operating the company will not be a problem after I make it through the first year without receiving scary letters form the powers that be.

About the ‘business’:

  1. The product is a hard good aimed at young men with a retail value around 6000nt each, made in China, Taiwan and California, assembled in the USA.
  2. I would be importing from the USA to TW via ocean freight.
  3. I have exclusive rights for selling and distribution in TW and HK.
  4. I have access to awesome pricing, and I am THE GUY in reference to the product that would be sold.
  5. I have the necessary capital to buy the product, a website, a warehouse, 3 months of marketing and 6 months of money to live off.

About the plan:

  1. Show up in TW lased in money and ambition.
  2. Rent a 25-30ping warehouse.
  3. Land the goods via ocean freight.
  4. Open brick and mortar accounts to sell my product along side similar items in TW and HK.
  5. Launch a direct to consumer eCommerce site and sell in TW only.

The process so far:

  1. Ask Around. (Friends already in TW, Formosa, I’m still 6-8 months from leaving the US so I’m not to the CPA step I think.)
    2.?
    3.?
    4.?
    …
    …
    12,568. Profit (lets assume this is a profitable business for the sake of this post)

Hurdles:

  1. Investment requirement?
  2. Revenue requirement(FY1, FY2, FY3)?
  3. Set up down time.?
  4. ARC.?

Things I don’t care to hear about:
1.Doing it Illegally, I’m not going on ‘lifecation’, I’m not a backpacker. I am a professional looking for a change of scene, and see opportunity in Taiwan.
2.Marry a national(IDK what the deal is with this, I have seen people here suggest getting a divorce then marrying a local. I’m good, and I’m keeping my lady)
3.Starting the Business in HK or else ware off shore. ( I will be doing this in TW, or I won’t be doing it at all)
4.Teaching English.(I don’t have a formal education, I drooped out of high school to work with the company I’m still with)

2

For business registration and employing yourself, get a good accountant. I just went through the whole process on my own and made lots of mistakes along the way. Each mistake means more delays & more $$. I hear a lot of foreigners use JusRegal for this. (I am using them for accounting and think they are doing a good enough job, but haven’t worked with them on registration.)

3

Talk to jusregal.com/English.htm

4

I agree, an accountant will be able to answer all of your questions and handle the parts you want them to. Depending on the entity structure you decide to use, there are a lot of reporting requirements (filing reports every two months, official registered address, etc). My company used this firm to form the structure and continue to use them for my ARC and bimonthly company filings: clincpa.com.tw/en/index/

If you’d rather do it all yourself, you can refer to the sticky thread at the top of this forum. It’s about a Rep office, but the other structures are similar (each has different restrictions and requirements).

Regarding your hurdles:

  1. Investment requirement? Around $15k usd (in TWD wired to a bank account opened in your company’s name - this capital basically represents your 1st year revenue)
  2. Revenue requirement? Approximately $100k usd in revenue each year to sponsor one ARC (presumably for yourself). The first year requirement is a bit lower but it depends on when the ARC card expires. If you have enough revenue you will probably get more than 1 year when you renew. After that you just need a yearly average of $100k in revenue to keep qualifying.
  3. Set up down time? It took about 4 months to get everything formed and setup correctly. The banking can be especially annoying. Prepare yourself to start putting your company number on every receipt you can for food and transportation. Deducting things is a bit different than the US, you don’t get to just state it, you must provide a receipt with the company number in advance. It adds a whole new challenge to booking travel, making payments for things, etc.
  4. ARC? Yes, assuming you meet the revenue requirements. Visa runs are always an option if you don’t need the medical insurance and don’t mind leaving every 3 months.

Again, a good accountant will walk you through each step and tell you exactly what to do and when. Accountants in Taiwan cost about the same as the US and you will get what you pay for. Once it’s setup, then your real work begins because it will be on you to collect all of the transaction details (invoices, bank slips for transactions, receipts, etc).

Good Luck to you!

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