UK Company - Sales in USA
UK Company - Sales in USA
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Discussion

IATM

Original Poster:

3,948 posts

178 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
quotequote all
HI Guys,

I run a UK company and 97% of my sales are in the UK but I am tempted to start selling in the USA.
I wanted to get peoples experiences surrounding Sales tax and CT.

How exactly are people running such a set up. Are they setting up new companies for the US side of this. There are so many different states with different rates of sales tax and also what CT would I pay - would it be UK CT or US CT?

I am going to speak to my accountant however I feel its always best to double check!

The Sales in the USA will be very slow initially - by slow I mean 15,000USD for the first year maybe? if even that. Hopefully will pick up after that or be a complete flop.

Thanks

Ean218

2,046 posts

281 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
quotequote all
If you are selling direct from UK to US customer there is nothing to really get worried about. The buyer deals with any import duty/sales taxes, you account for sales normally in the UK.

If you want to create an entity in the US to handle the sales that is a completely different ball game.



IATM

Original Poster:

3,948 posts

178 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
quotequote all
Well essentially I am looking to use a 3rd party fullfillment service in the usa if that makes a difference.

insurance_jon

4,099 posts

277 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
quotequote all
check you r insurance to make sure your product liability covers you for the USA

VEIGHT

2,379 posts

259 months

Wednesday 13th May 2015
quotequote all
I'd be interested in this also.

cailean

917 posts

204 months

Thursday 14th May 2015
quotequote all
Watch out for 'Nexus'...

So it depends on how you structure and sell into the US. If you have an 'establishment' there and solicit sales into different states you could be liable for a proportion of sales taxes from different states even if you don't have an establishment in those states.

Ok, I'm no expert in this field but I sat in a presentation this morning on this very topic - one tax accountant from our firm's US network member firm, one UK solicitor and a Virginia business association talking about risks of entering the US for UK companies.

I have a 50 page PDF of the 3 presentations that I can email you if it helps (and if you PM me).

C



IATM

Original Poster:

3,948 posts

178 months

Thursday 14th May 2015
quotequote all
cailean said:
Watch out for 'Nexus'...

So it depends on how you structure and sell into the US. If you have an 'establishment' there and solicit sales into different states you could be liable for a proportion of sales taxes from different states even if you don't have an establishment in those states.

Ok, I'm no expert in this field but I sat in a presentation this morning on this very topic - one tax accountant from our firm's US network member firm, one UK solicitor and a Virginia business association talking about risks of entering the US for UK companies.

I have a 50 page PDF of the 3 presentations that I can email you if it helps (and if you PM me).

C


Hi.

I would be very grateful if you could do that. I am rather surprised at the pure uncertainty of accounting for sales in the usa. Spoke to 3 accountants yesterday and again it was rather touch and go regarding how it would be done. One of hem mentioned the whole Google set up issue is up in the air right now which is also causing uncertainty.

It might be a case of me calling hmrc to confirm what's what or maybe a better accountant

cailean

917 posts

204 months

Friday 15th May 2015
quotequote all
Ok, no probs, can you PM me so I can email it to you.

C