

Ask HN: use Stripe outside US? - meira

Is there any possible way for a citizen&#x2F;company of a not supported country to use Stripe? The money can stay in the Stripe account and&#x2F;or US in the next months, no need to withdrawy it. The main reason is the easiness to implement and better taxes.
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patio11
You'll need a US bank account to disburse payments to, since Stripe does not
have wallet functionality. You'll also need either a US citizen or a US
corporate person, per their terms and conditions.

Non-residents can get both US corporate persons and US bank accounts, though
it takes a bit of work these days. You can form an LLC trivially online (I
used LegalZoom for a Nevada LLC, on advice of my accountant). Getting a bank
account is _modestly_ more difficult. The easiest way is to go to a
multinational bank which has branch offices in your country and get them to
pull the strings to open up a _US_ account for you on behalf of your _US_ LLC,
with the person having signatory authority being you. This keeps everything
nice and tidy with their Know Your Customer processes, most of the time.
Citibank is my go-to bank for arranging this for Japanese people, but in
principle, you can get it from any bank willing to give it to you. (Word to
the wise: they may be suddenly radically more willing to pull the strings if
you are vague about your revenue numbers. "We're just establishing the US LLC
on a trial basis with one product, but may redirect more of our business
through it as time goes on. So, I don't know, call it $X0k per month
immediately and potentially higher depending on future conditions.")

Note that international taxation is complicated. Talk to an accountant.
Seriously. Talk to an accountant! I probably overpaid at least five figures
over the years due to not taking this advice earlier.

~~~
meira
Great response, patio11! Thanks a lot :)

