USA International Taxation - Selling retail in a different country.

[Dmitriy]

Need some help. I have an ecommerce website with a warehouse in the US. I ship internationally but because of the long shipping periods and customs that the clients have to pay, it is very unfavorable and my international sales are slacking. I want to open a small warehouse in Australia so that the products purchased by Australian clients can be shipped directly from that warehouse. How do I go about doing this from the tax perspective? Do I need to open a company in AU? Do I register my current business in AU? What should I be doing?

Thank you in advance for your time!

 

[CPA Mike Morales]

One question. Who's running the small warehouse in Australia?

 

[Drmdcpa]

That is a good question, but the answer is probably local labor.

There are legal issues as well as tax issues aside from operational issues.

There are simply too many questions to ask to give proper advice.

I am assuming you are a US citizen or resident.

My suspect is it would be better to open a separate company in AU, but you will need an AU attorney and accountant to confirm this.

It would present planning opportunities if you had two separate companies, but it would also create additional administrative and operational issues.