
Ask HN: US/Canadian companies? - cwp
A while back I read a blog post by a founder discussing how his company is structured. He's based in Québec (Montreal, I think), but set up the country in such a way that he could easily take on US-based investors. There's a Canadian company that employs the team, but the IP is all owned by a parent company registered in Delaware.<p>Does this ring a bell for anyone? I don't remember the name of the blogger or the company. Or do you have any other resources that discuss this kind of thing? I'm a dual US/Canadian citizen starting a company in Vancouver, and trying to navigate the legal minefield that results.
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eps
I am not sure if there _is_ a legal minefield to begin with. I had a startup
incorporated in Vancouver few years ago, it got mentioned on TechCrunch in
passing and this generated a torrent of calls from VCs, many of which were
from States. None of them appeared to be a bit concerned about Canadian
registration, and in the end the company got acquired by the US company and
that too happened without much legal fuss.

What it is that you are trying to safeguard against? Perhaps you are
overthnking the issue?

~~~
cwp
Oops, I guess my original question was a bit misleading. The blog post I was
trying to dig up organized the company with a US parent in order to be
friendly to US investors, but that's not the issue that concerns _me_.

The problem is that I'm a US citizen starting a Canadian company. The US has
laws that are designed to prevent people from running all their income through
foreign companies as a tax dodge. (See, for example,
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_foreign_investment_comp...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_foreign_investment_company)
and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Foreign_Corporation>). I say
"minefield" because the application of these laws depends on subtleties of
accounting and tax filings (not my strong suit), and the cost of screwing is
are potentially quite high. (Eg, the IRS might decide that I should pay
personal income tax on my company's gross revenue.)

Now, it's not completely untenable; I do know a couple of people with US
citizenship that have started Canadian companies and haven't had any real
problems. However, I'm thinking it might be easier and safer to have a US
entity other than my personal self own the foreign corporation. Right now I'm
trying to figure out what's involved in setting up such a structure and
whether or not it will actually help.

Anyway, thanks for the response and congratulations on your success! What was
the name of your company?

------
olalonde
Might want to ask over there: <https://www.facebook.com/NextMontreal>

