Hey, I posted this on XBiz but I also wanted to ask here… I own a U.S. company that runs dudesnude, an adult dating site with 100% user-generated content.
I’m looking for a lawyer who is experienced in the adult space and can help me sort out some questions around GDPR, 2257 and relocating a business some where more adult-friendly (and tax-friendly) than the USA.
Do you love your lawyer? If so please let me know their link… thanks!!
I might know a guy ~
ChadKnowsLaw at Gmail
I love my Lawyer - see above 
.
The moment you take money out of an off-shore business, then, if you’re in the US, it’s taxable US income. And taxable in whatever state you’re in. If you move out of the US then you owe the difference between what you paid in your new country and what you’d owe under federal taxes (but wouldn’t owe state taxes). In other words, there’s no way a US citizen can avoid paying US taxes unless they move to a country with a higher tax rate.
I’m not a lawyer, so talk to one to confirm what I’ve said. Two that are highly regarded are:
Corey Silverstein (pronounced stine, not steen) – https://adult.law/, and Larry Walters – https://www.firstamendment.com/. I’ve met Corey and had a pretty lengthy chat with him, but haven’t worked with either of them.
Thank you all for the helpful recommendations and advice!
Yeah, I am not trying to avoid taxes by taking my company out of the USA (though of course, that never hurts, ). It’s more about avoiding some of the more draconian US laws. I already don’t live in the USA and may be giving up my US citizenship so I just want to understand my options.
It doesn’t matter where you go, unless you block US traffic, you’re subject to US law. You’re also subject to EU law even if you’re in the US – unless you block EU traffic. Unfortunately, the governing law is determined by where the user is, not where the server or website owner is. No one really cares what the law is in Sudan because you’ll never go to Sudan and they don’t have the resources to anything but block your website (if that). But the US and the EU have treaties and extradition agreements that mean that they can enforce their laws well outside their borders. And the US and the EU are places you’ll actually want to go (without worrying whether you’ll be arrested when you arrive).
You’ll probably pay a lot more for hosting in some shithole country. Personally, I’ll stick to the US, maybe Canada.
Chad DOES know law!
Hmm. How does Planet Romeo (based in Amsterdam) have an escort directory? I assume prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, and the owners of the company are Dutch citizens. So US members using that part of their site would be breaking the law (the user) but the site owner wouldn’t have to worry, no?
This is an example of the kinds of things I’m thinking about…
Pretty sure their owners would face arrest if they vacationed in the US. They may also face arrest in other countries as well.
And (I’m guessing that) Europe probably won’t extradite for something that’s not a crime where the person is located.
Speaking of the Netherlands, there’s DAFT (The Dutch-American Friendship Treaty) that was signed before the EU came into existence that makes it VERY easy (comparatively) to for a US small-business owner to immigrate to the Netherlands. But you’d still be a US citizen, bound by US law. AND once there you’d be fully subject to things like GDPR (which currently you just need to roughly follow).
I don’t know - our companies are based in Singapore and Canada. Our hosting is in The Netherlands. None of this are a “shithole country”.
There are perfectly legal ways around everything, and no, non-US companies are not subject to US laws and non-US hosting is not subject to US laws except via treaty. So if you can move to ease your restrictions and regulations go ahead. At QC, Singapore is our 100% legal, transparent entity and the Canada company was the one we had to create to satisfy CCBill.
Incorporation, banking, hosting… all possible internationally.
I was referred to https://slogold.net (by a VERY reputable company) to help us when CCBill was forcing us to have a North American or EU presence. We didn’t end up needing their assistance but he was incredibly helpful, knowledgeable.
And, definitely, Chad Knows Law can help you with everything you’ve listed. He was the lawyer on the ground in our industry when 2257 came into play.
Wish you the best! And if you have any questions, I’m more than happy to help if I can.
Thank you both!
And especially thanks for the links, Mary – very helpful. Glad your move to international has gone so well. How/why did you choose Singapore, in particular, for your home base?
We didn’t choose Singapore - Dan, the owner, is a Singaporean citizen so it was just his home base.
+1 for Chad, Corey, and Larry. All highly experienced.
We use Corey, who is excellent. Chad I’ve never worked with, but had good talks with and he’s highly regarded. Can’t go wrong with either.
I can recommend Sagar Raich as a great internet specialized Lawyer who can do both federal litigation and is a great defense Attorney. He only takes select clients but if you are interested, shoot me a DM I can get you a referral! https://www.raichattorneys.com/