How to bill customers in US/UK without having a company there?

I want to create a startup for US/UK based people, and then expand it to more countries.

I am a self-employed/freelancer in Spain.

I need to be able to bill my customers by credit card, so people without a PayPal account can also pay. I don't know if I have to register a company in the country I am going to run the business.

I can form a Spanish company and look for a payment gateway from a Spanish bank. Would that be enough? Or is it better to use an international online payment gateway?

I´m in the same situation than Alex, and my consultant said that in order to manage the VAT issue, you have to discriminate if the customer is EU based.

If the customer is in the US there is no need for managing VAT. But if the customer is from UK you have to charge the VAT using the spanish rate (21%)

Adrian: You can´t create a Limited company in UK if you are living in Spain. It is against the law because Hacienda (the spanish tax entity) says that if you live in Spain your company is a spanish company and you could find yourself paying taxes in Spain and UK. This is a recurrent question in some spanish forums because the UK legislation for startups is better than the spanish one in several orders of magnitude.

There are bank wire transfers as well. If you have several customers not thousands, it is the easiest and cheapest way to accept payments for your job. All you need is a bank account.

If you have many customers, you may consider PayPal as they accept cards without registation: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/compare-business-products Also, you should consult with an accountant about paying VAT. It may be tricky to reclaim VAT in Spain for selling services abroad.

You need a merchant account in Spain linked to your bank to accept credit cards. This will let you accept payment from virtually anyone with a credit card in the world. (Some countries, like China, can not pay you in this fashion.) It may be difficult to get a merchant account in Spain- check with your local bank first.

Paypal might be useful for non-business (consumer) orders, but most businesses will not use it. (They don't have a Paypal account.)

In the US, no one is going to wire transfer you funds. International wire transfers in the US are expensive and hard to do.

TL;DR - You need to ask an accountant.

Depending on the company you're doing work for in the US you might need more than just a way of paying by credit card. Some companies will want you to have an EIN (Employer Identification Number), which in turn means you need to get an ITIN (forget what that stands for - basically it's a Social Security Number for people who don't normally get SSNs - like non-US folk - so all the tedious admin stuff carries on working :-) Google will help you find out more. The process is fairly painless - but does take time.

Not all companies require this - and it's certainly possible legally for companies to pay you without these if the project is set up the right way - but some folk in the larger companies require 'em, or work in a way that requires 'em.

My US experiences also differ from Gary E's in that:

• Some US companies are more than happy to do wire transfers. Depending on how their accounting processes are set up they may actually prefer it (paying for "people time" on credit card's being seen as a no-no by some firms). Many larger US companies have EU branches anyway and may prefer it.
• I've never had a problem with PayPal that's due to the company not having a PayPal account (you don't need one - you can just pay with a credit card directly). I have had problems because it's seen as unprofessional, or because they prefer to pay another way (direct bank transfer, money transfer, cheque).

Setting up a Ltd. company in the US from outside the US is, unfortunately, a complete PITA unless you're there physically for a while to setup bank accounts etc. I'd try and avoid it if possible. I have been told that it can be more tax efficient though - but you'll need to ask an accountant.

Some companies in the UK will want you to be a Limited Company. Not because you have to be legally, but because it reduces their risks (simplifying slightly - if you muck up your taxes as a sole trader they might be responsible for paying some of those taxes, if you're a limited company they won't be).

Setting up a Limited company in the UK from somewhere else in the EU is pretty painless, or at least so I've been told. Best ask your accountant on the details though. Probably best to wait to see if it will be an issue for the clients you work with first.