It is not enough simply to register a company abroad – the tax authorities and banks require evidence of a genuine presence (substance). The speakers used examples to explain how this works.

🇧🇬 Bulgaria: routine expenses that demonstrate genuine business activity – office supplies, telecoms, a local director and co-owner, and minor operating costs.

🇦🇪 UAE: it all starts with preparing documents for the bank – a resident visa, a telephone number, a roaming contract. Next comes the company website, a local address and contact details.

💼 Separately – social media and a LinkedIn profile as part of the ‘substance’: if you’re supposedly working for the company, it needs to be evident.

⚠️ The golden rule: you don’t choose a jurisdiction simply because ‘someone wrote online about low taxes’, but rather based on a specific business model – and you build a genuine presence to match it, not a mere imitation.

Discussed at the in-person meeting ‘Tax Strategies in IT’