appen. Back to square one. No business bank account.

I examined a road atlas of the United States and Canada. To drive from Vancouver, BC to Mesquite, NV and back to Calgary, AB, where I had some business to take care of, would take a week. (2541 miles - 4065 Km). At an estimated cost of $4.50 Canadian per gallon of gas, the cost of gas alone would be nearly $500 Canadian. Add in meals, accommodation and an oil change for my GMC Jimmy, and the bill would work out to about $1500 Canadian for just that part of the trip. A bit expensive for the price of opening a bank account.

I’m sure I’ll come up with a solution to my problem. What I’d like to do though is to ensure that no one else runs into the same problems that I di

The title indicates the most important words in real estate. As I have just found out, it is very important in business also.

You would think that a company that does all its business on the Internet could be located anywhere. To some extent that is true. However, it should, at the very least, be located in the country where you live.

Heaven help the unwary. I listened to a New York lawyer and I’ve been paying and paying since.

My home is in Canada. I contracted with a New York firm to have them build me a web site and to provide coaching. It worked well. I then talked to a New York lawyer about setting up a company with my wife and I as partners. He suggested that because the United States law favors companies, that the business should be registered in the United States. At the time, it seemed like a good idea to me too.

I contracted with a tax firm to do my accounting and tax preparation and a service company to do the registration and set up of my new business. So far, so good, although by now the fees for everything had cost me nearly $10,000 Canadian. Ongoing monthly fees for hosting my web site, maintaining a United States mailing address, tax consultation and web site maintenance run about $150 Canadian.

Then the problems started. I couldn’t open a business bank account in Canada because my company was in the United States. I couldn’t open a business account in Nevada, where my company is registered, because I had to physically be there to do so. This is a requirement of the Patriot Act. I live north of the 54th parallel, over 12 hours north of the border between the United States and Canada.

I contacted PayPal to ascertain if I could use them to collect payments for any products I sold. PayPal requires a United States bank account for a United States company. Back to square one.

During all of this mess regarding bank accounts, my 93 year old father died. I will be driving over 2000 Kilometers to Vancouver Island to attend the memorial service.

On the way back, I thought that I could cross the border south of Vancouver, British Columbia and open an account at a bank in Blaine, Washington. I phoned Bank of America to see what documentation I would need to bring with me to open a business bank account for my Nevada company. After being put on hold numerous times and transferred from one person to another, I gave a young gentleman my telephone number and asked him to have someone from the small business department in the Blaine branch to call me.

About two hours later, a very nice young lady called and I explained my problem to her. She said that Washington State treated companies from other states as foreign businesses. This meant that I would have to contact the State House and get them to provide me with a form to transfer my company from Nevada to Washington State where it would be re-registered as a Washington State business. Sorry! Not going to happen. Back to square one. No business bank account.

I examined a road atlas of the United States and Canada. To drive from Vancouver, BC to Mesquite, NV and back to Calgary, AB, where I had some business to take care of, would take a week. (2541 miles - 4065 Km). At an estimated cost of $4.50 Canadian per gallon of gas, the cost of gas alone would be nearly $500 Canadian. Add in meals, accommodation and an oil change for my GMC Jimmy, and the bill would work out to about $1500 Canadian for just that part of the trip. A bit expensive for the price of opening a bank account.

I’m sure I’ll come up with a solution to my problem. What I’d like to do though is to ensure that no one else runs into the same problems that I did

that the business should be registered in the United States. At the time, it seemed like a good idea to me too.

I contracted with a tax firm to do my accounting and tax preparation and a service company to do the registration and set up of my new business. So far, so good, although by now the fees for everything had cost me nearly $10,000 Canadian. Ongoing monthly fees for hosting my web site, maintaining a United States mailing address, tax consultation and web site maintenance run about $150 Canadian.

Then the problems started. I couldn’t open a business bank account in Canada because my company was in the United States. I couldn’t open a business account in Nevada, where my company is registered, because I had to physically be there to do so. This is a requirement of the Patriot Act. I live north of the 54th parallel, over 12 hours north of the border between the United States and Canada.

I contacted PayPal to ascertain if I could use them to collect payments for any products I sold. PayPal requires a United States bank account for a United States company. Back to square one.

During all of this mess regarding bank accounts, my 93 year old father died. I will be driving over 2000 Kilometers to Vancouver Island to attend the memorial service.

On the way back, I thought that I could cross the border south of Vancouver, British Columbia and open an account at a bank in Blaine, Washington. I phoned Bank of America to see what documentation I would need to bring with me to open a business bank account for my Nevada company. After being put on hold numerous times and transferred from one person to another, I gave a young gentleman my telephone number and asked him to have someone from the small business department in the Blaine branch to call me.

About two hours later, a very nice young lady called and I explained my problem to her. She said that Washington State treated companies from other states as foreign businesses. This meant that I would have to contact the State House and get them to provide me with a form to transfer my company from Nevada to Washington State where it would be re-registered as a Washington State business. Sorry! Not going to happen. Back to square one. No business bank account.

I examined a road atlas of the United States and Canada. To drive from Vancouver, BC to Mesquite, NV and back to Calgary, AB, where I had some business to take care of, would take a week. (2541 miles - 4065 Km). At an estimated cost of $4.50 Canadian per gallon of gas, the cost of gas alone would be nearly $500 Canadian. Add in meals, accommodation and an oil change for my GMC Jimmy, and the bill would work out to about $1500 Canadian for just that part of the trip. A bit expensive for the price of opening a bank account.

I’m sure I’ll come up with a solution to my problem. What I’d like to do though is to ensure that no one else runs into the same problems that I di

sically be there to do so. This is a requirement of the Patriot Act. I live north of the 54th parallel, over 12 hours north of the border between the United States and Canada.

I contacted PayPal to ascertain if I could use them to collect payments for any products I sold. PayPal requires a United States bank account for a United States company. Back to square one.

During all of this mess regarding bank accounts, my 93 year old father died. I will be driving over 2000 Kilometers to Vancouver Island to attend the memorial service.

On the way back, I thought that I could cross the border south of Vancouver, British Columbia and open an account at a bank in Blaine, Washington. I phoned Bank of America to see what documentation I would need to bring with me to open a business bank account for my Nevada company. After being put on hold numerous times and transferred from one person to another, I gave a young gentleman my telephone number and asked him to have someone from the small business department in the Blaine branch to call me.

About two hours later, a very nice young lady called and I explained my problem to her. She said that Washington State treated companies from other states as foreign businesses. This meant that I would have to contact the State House and get them to provide me with a form to transfer my company from Nevada to Washington State where it would be re-registered as a Washington State business. Sorry! Not going to happen. Back to square one. No business bank account.

I examined a road atlas of the United States and Canada. To drive from Vancouver, BC to Mesquite, NV and back to Calgary, AB, where I had some business to take care of, would take a week. (2541 miles - 4065 Km). At an estimated cost of $4.50 Canadian per gallon of gas, the cost of gas alone would be nearly $500 Canadian. Add in meals, accommodation and an oil change for my GMC Jimmy, and the bill would work out to about $1500 Canadian for just that part of the trip. A bit expensive for the price of opening a bank account.

I’m sure I’ll come up with a solution to my problem. What I’d like to do though is to ensure that no one else runs into the same problems that I di

umentation I would need to bring with me to open a business bank account for my Nevada company. After being put on hold numerous times and transferred from one person to another, I gave a young gentleman my telephone number and asked him to have someone from the small business department in the Blaine branch to call me.

About two hours later, a very nice young lady called and I explained my problem to her. She said that Washington State treated companies from other states as foreign businesses. This meant that I would have to contact the State House and get them to provide me with a form to transfer my company from Nevada to Washington State where it would be re-registered as a Washington State business. Sorry! Not going to happen. Back to square one. No business bank account.

I examined a road atlas of the United States and Canada. To drive from Vancouver, BC to Mesquite, NV and back to Calgary, AB, where I had some business to take care of, would take a week. (2541 miles - 4065 Km). At an estimated cost of $4.50 Canadian per gallon of gas, the cost of gas alone would be nearly $500 Canadian. Add in meals, accommodation and an oil change for my GMC Jimmy, and the bill would work out to about $1500 Canadian for just that part of the trip. A bit expensive for the price of opening a bank account.

I’m sure I’ll come up with a solution to my problem. What I’d like to do though is to ensure that no one else runs into the same problems that I di

appen. Back to square one. No business bank account.

I examined a road atlas of the United States and Canada. To drive from Vancouver, BC to Mesquite, NV and back to Calgary, AB, where I had some business to take care of, would take a week. (2541 miles - 4065 Km). At an estimated cost of $4.50 Canadian per gallon of gas, the cost of gas alone would be nearly $500 Canadian. Add in meals, accommodation and an oil change for my GMC Jimmy, and the bill would work out to about $1500 Canadian for just that part of the trip. A bit expensive for the price of opening a bank account.

I’m sure I’ll come up with a solution to my problem. What I’d like to do though is to ensure that no one else runs into the same problems that I did.

To avoid them, make sure that you register your business in the state or province in which you live. In this way, you will have little trouble getting a business bank account. You can also pick lawyers, accountants and tax advisers from firms that you are more familiar with. And make sure you avoid New York lawyers, unless, of course, you live in New York.