Self-Employment With Income From Abroad Or Service Export Company?

[afathertobe]

This is still really a long shot, but I may at some point in the future have the chance to work from any location and earn money from abroad. I have done some preliminary research but at this stage it's hard to cut through all the legal lingo and get to the point:

 

I could potentially be 1) a self-employed contractor in the services industry with a contract from a single company including regular payments from abroad or 2) as a small Philippine subsidiary of said company, exporting these services through that entity. 

 

1) Is there a business or work Visa that covers such a setup legally or do most people simply visit on a multiple-entry tourist visa and work on their computers? 

 

2) The export portion of these services would almost certainly reach 100%, but I could not find much information regarding other requirements so far - how many employees would I need? how much taxes paid? tax exemptions, special incentives? 

 

According to this Ernst&Young document there is a Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) which includes "Creative Industries/ Knowledge-Based Services" - this would come with significant incentives (income tax exemption among others) but a BOI-registered enterprise needs to be either under a Philippines national or 60% owned by a national.. which would really complicate matters. 

 

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Doing_business_in_the_Philippines/$FILE/Doing-business-in-the-Philippines.pdf

 

I'd like to keep the discussion focused if possible, and I can't disclose too much of my work. But perhaps you have some experience with this, or have some great sources I couldn't find. 

 

Either way, thanks in advance! 

Edited December 16, 2015 by afathertobe

[Jollygoodfellow]

Complex question.

There are PEZA  economic zones with incentives but not sure if that suits you as the term exporting services is vague. 

 

Have a look here,  http://investphilippines.gov.ph/incentives/

 

Expat's handbook, http://www.peza.gov.ph/documents/expat_handbook.pdf

[Thomas]

1) Is there a business or work Visa that covers such a setup legally or do most people simply visit on a multiple-entry tourist visa and work on their computers?

Sure there are some foreigners working through computers in HIDING. It's illegal though.

Normaly it's a Visa PLUS work permit. Apply for a TEMPORARY work permit during they handle your application to get a normal one.

I don't know if Special Visa for Employment Generation (SVEG) solve what you want. You can read about it for instance here  http://www.dti.gov,ph  or search "Barangay Micro Business Enterprise" and you will find several info about this.)

[afathertobe]

 

1) Is there a business or work Visa that covers such a setup legally or do most people simply visit on a multiple-entry tourist visa and work on their computers?

Sure there are some foreigners working through computers in HIDING. It's illegal though.

Normaly it's a Visa PLUS work permit. Apply for a TEMPORARY work permit during they handle your application to get a normal one.

I don't know if Special Visa for Employment Generation (SVEG) solve what you want. You can read about it for instance here  http://jlp-law.com/blog/special-visa-for-employment-generation-sveg-a-primer/

 

 

That's a great reply, thanks for that Thomas. I need to a lot more reading, but many of your points help me with that task.