Getting paid from EU operators - Best solution?

[afrekomedia]

Hi all,

We have a multiple casinos operating through MGA - a few of which we're experiencing some issues with.

Our company is registered in Serbia (outside EU), which means operators with banks within EU have to do non-sepa payments.

A few of these operators insist on not being able to pay non-sepa and that their banks completely disallow it.

Now, we have also provided these operators with payment instructions, to assist them with making the payments using our correspondent bank in Italy.

Running around in circles now since a lot of them can pay, while some insist on not being able to do so.

Unfortunately the use of web wallets is complicated for us considering the laws in Serbia.

Any affiliate here that has experienced these types of issues and how they went about to solve them?

Appreciate any answers.
AM

[Triple7]

Almost every bank does payments to Serbia. Sometimes they charge an extra fee. Isn't it an option to register a company within the EU?

[afrekomedia]

Thanks for your reply Triple7.

It is an option that's possible, but our current solution works best in terms of our organisational structure.

We don't mind the additional fees, we were even prepared for them since swift transactions are usually more expensive... The response is that the operators' specific banks won't do non-sepa.

[Sherlock]

Just make an account within SEPA area (broader than just EU). I am pretty sure it is not that unusual for example in Bulgaria.

[Triple7]

Thanks for your reply Triple7.

It is an option that's possible, but our current solution works best in terms of our organisational structure.

We don't mind the additional fees, we were even prepared for them since swift transactions are usually more expensive... The response is that the operators' specific banks won't do non-sepa.

That seems to be a nonsense argument from them. Every bank within the EU can do payments to Serbia. I think the thing is that a higher fee is charged to them.

[Juan Roman]

Not all banks can make payments to Serbia or at least they claim so. I would advise opening an EU company in Estonia for those clients that cannot pay to Serbia.

You can open the company 100% remotely using a service like Xolo, pay the freelancers easier and avoid the heavy paperwork.

Granted, the taxes are higher than in Serbia when you take everything into account, but using a Wise business account more than compensates for the extra costs. And having a peace of mind is not something you can put a price on.

[Sherlock]

Granted, the taxes are higher than in Serbia when you take everything into account, but using a Wise business account more than compensates for the extra costs. And having a peace of mind is not something you can put a price on.

Opening a bank account anywhere has literally nothing to do with taxes. (And I am not sure whether Estonia has higher taxes than Serbia.)

I do not know how you mean that Wise business account can compensate higher taxes. I doubt that.

Advising to someone from Serbia to open a bank account in Estonia makes no sense. There are no economic ties between Estonia and Serbia. Bulgaria has shared border, nearly the same language and cyrilic alphabet. People o studying to Sofia. 1st country where he has to try to open a bank account is Bulgaria, because simply it is usual for Serbs to have a bank account there.

[Juan Roman]

Opening a bank account anywhere has literally nothing to do with taxes. (And I am not sure whether Estonia has higher taxes than Serbia.)

I do not know how you mean that Wise business account can compensate higher taxes. I doubt that.

Advising to someone from Serbia to open a bank account in Estonia makes no sense. There are no economic ties between Estonia and Serbia. Bulgaria has shared border, nearly the same language and cyrilic alphabet. People o studying to Sofia. 1st country where he has to try to open a bank account is Bulgaria, because simply it is usual for Serbs to have a bank account there.

I was speaking about setting up a company in Estonia. No need to set foot in Estonia to open an EU company, which is not bad for people from Serbia. And yes, Estonia does have higher taxes than Serbia if you are a Serbian resident choosing between Serbia only company (either 15% company tax + 15% tax on dividends or 10% company tax + 10-15% personal income tax). For Estonian company, the rate is 20% company tax + 10-15% personal income tax that you still need to pay in Serbia on profits from the Estonian company.

Sure, I over-exaggerated the Wise advantages (less than €1 fees for every payment to freelancers vs €20+ in traditional Serbian banks), but it definitely adds up if you have a lot of freelancers you work with.

I don't know many Serbs who have bank accounts in Bulgaria, but you must know more about Serbian people than I do

And having a foreign bank account for a Serbian company would raise all kinds of red flags, unless you are really close with the governing party that has hijacked the country basically from its people.

[Sherlock]

I have bank accounts (only) in countries where the company is NOT registered, there is no red flag. That is the safe method.

The main red flag for us is gambling (or when our bank figures out what exactly is our "internet marketing"). That is an issue for both Wise and Estonia (Wise prohibits gambling and Estonia is the most gambling blocking nation from whole world - I spent there some time last year and they did not block just one Betsson brand from all sportsbooks I know iirc, they blocked even most affiliate websites).

I do not have account in Bulgaria, but people from other countries do have even company accounts (from other countries) there. I think (maybe wrongly because Serbia is not EU) that for Serbian company it should be not a problem to open bank account there. It is very dangerous to have bank accounts in country where the company is. The bank account is first place after which authorities go if they do not like something. When the bank account is in different country there is at least small bumper zone.

What you suggest is a completely new setup for the OP. It is beyond this thread. Maybe he is a small affiliate and it makes no sense for him. Maybe he is growing and then makes sense to go full offshore since he is out of EU. Even offshore companies can have bank accounts in SEPA area (my offshore companies have).

Going from Nis to Sofia is possible in half a day. From Belgrade it is one day. The biggest problem with opening the bank account in Bulgary from Belgrade is the measurement of average speed of the whole serbian highway (they measure speed at the first and last booth).

Btw. Bulagria has 10% corporate tax.

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Another solution is simply making the e-wallet with registered address in EU and not in Serbia. I helped to do this for many non-EU people (from former Yugoslavia and Latam). The ewallets do not care. Even fabricated statements are fine so far from them, but someone must be able to pick up the verification mail. Again, for Serbs is best such address in neighboring EU countries (HR, HU, RO or BG). [Same setup is good for Binance, which for EU residents offers the handy card connected to crypto.]

[Triple7]

Opening a bank account anywhere has literally nothing to do with taxes. (And I am not sure whether Estonia has higher taxes than Serbia.)

I do not know how you mean that Wise business account can compensate higher taxes. I doubt that.

Advising to someone from Serbia to open a bank account in Estonia makes no sense. There are no economic ties between Estonia and Serbia. Bulgaria has shared border, nearly the same language and cyrilic alphabet. People o studying to Sofia. 1st country where he has to try to open a bank account is Bulgaria, because simply it is usual for Serbs to have a bank account there.

I agree here.

Bulgaria or Romania are the best options if living in Serbia.

Bulgaria has 10% company tax and 10% dividend tax. Romania has 16% company tax (if you have a turnover below 1m, even as low as 1% in the best case) and 5% dividend tax.

I'd not rely too much on e-wallets and e-money accounts. They're, just like Maltese banks, focused on gambling and bothering accounts with gambling related income. Banks in Bulgaria and Romania are not.

[CasinoVIPOffers]

I have personally not come across this issue (yet) but it's good to know. Thanks for sharing as this will benefit everyone who is in the same market and deals with the same payment.