The operating manual for cross-border solo founders

Where you pay tax isn't determined by where you live or where your passport says. Multiple countries can claim you simultaneously based on their own independent rules.

LLC or C-Corp? Delaware or Wyoming? Single entity or multi-entity? The entity formation decision is one of the earliest and most consequential choices a cross-border founder makes — with tax implications that may not surface for years. This guide covers entity types, jurisdiction selection, multi-entity complexity, and IP ownership.

A single consulting invoice can be classified as service income, royalty, management fee, or technical service — depending on which jurisdiction is looking at it. For consultants and freelancers operating across borders, income characterization, permanent establishment risk, and worker classification are structural questions that most CPAs aren't equipped to see.

Your bank account works. Your Stripe dashboard shows revenue.

Authorities don't assess your intentions — they assess your evidence trail. Documentation gaps compound over time: a missing transfer pricing memo affects your entity claim, which affects your banking relationship, which affects your compliance profile.

Structural decisions don't wait for you to be ready. Every month of delay embeds another layer of precedent — tax filings, banking history, platform agreements — that makes correction harder and more expensive.