International and offshore LLC structuring

[Thierry Van Roy]

I could be off, but there's not a single post on structuring LLC's internationally on BiggerPockets.

The US, a litiguous society, has a pretty decent deal to protect yourself through LLC's, but that's not the case in e.g. Western-European countries. As a consequence, you can't protect yourself, even if the legal system protects individuals better than in the US.

Often, inheritance and liquidation tax will murder your equity, while an LLC eradicates your NOI (different tax structure than personal income-generating assets).

Now, I'm not talking about a mailbox company in Belize with a front representative in Hong Kong or anything illegal like that, but I keep thinking to myself: there has to be a better way.

Who here knows a little about these types of things and where can I get myself educated on the matter?

[Roy N.]

@Thierry Van Roy

The concept of the incorporated, sole proprietorship (LLC) does not exist here in Canada either. We have the options of holding property in our own names or in a corporation.

The structure we are using to invest in the U.S.A is similar to what we have used to conduct business there in the past. We have a Canadian corporation which owns a U.S.A. based child entity (which is incorporated).

You could do something similar: incorporate a BV in the Netherlands (or in Monaco) which, in turn, could be the parent of an U.S.A incorporated entity (LLC or C-Corp) which would hold your interests in that country.

I'm certain there must be other European investors on BP who have already established a similar structure. Obviously, you will need to find a solicitor in the Netherlands who can help you optimize an organisation and tell you the expect costs to establish and maintain it.

Tot ziens,