In general, investment in the United States will be in the form of a subsidiary. It is possible for a non-U.S corporation to operate a branch office in the United States, but there are significant disadvantages to a branch, particularly with respect to its tax treatment.
Branches of non-U.S corporations are not subject to federal regulation or registration requirements. However, each state will require a “foreign” corporation to “qualify” before “doing business” in that state. A corporation will be considered “foreign” if it is organized under the laws of another country or another state, and so this in not a requirement imposed only on non-U.S investors.
“Doing business” is a technical term that implies a substantial presence in the state. This would include the ownership of leasing of real property, the maintenance of a stock of goods for local sale, employee and the like. Selling products to local customers, either directly or through an independent sales representative or distributor, would not in itself constitute “doing business”.
The State actually exercise little control over the qualification process other than to ensure that the qualifying entity’s name is not confusingly similar to an already registered entity and that all registration fees and taxes are paid (qualification is basically a form of taxation). In most states, qualification for a non-U.S corporation consists of a relatively easy application, a registration fee, and a notarized of legalized copy of the corporation’s articles of incorporation (in English or a certified translation).
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一般而言，外國公司都是以設(shè)立分公司的形式在美國進(jìn)行投資。然而，這種方式縱使可行，不足之處也非常顯著，特別體現(xiàn)在所需繳納的高額稅款方面。
當(dāng)某公司被視作為外國子公司時，就可以免受美國聯(lián)邦規(guī)章制度的限制。但要想成為合格的一分子并享受此番待遇也并非易事，需要滿足相應(yīng)條件，即它需要遵守其它國家的規(guī)章，這也就是美國對外國子公司的定義。
在美國，公司開始營業(yè)被學(xué)術(shù)地稱為“辦公”，其標(biāo)志一般是需要有辦公區(qū)，貨物儲備以及工作人員等等。否則就未能達(dá)標(biāo)。換句話說，無論是直接在本地售貨，還是通過經(jīng)銷商或第三方代銷都不算“辦公”。
其實，美國檢驗這些外國子公司是否合格的流程相當(dāng)簡單，與此相比，檢驗公司名稱的過程就及其繁復(fù)。必須確保沒有重復(fù)或容易混淆的名字。因為保護(hù)已納稅的公司的商標(biāo)名也是政府應(yīng)盡的義務(wù)之一。在美國大多數(shù)州，檢驗外國子公司是否合格的流程相對來說比較簡單，只要繳納更名費，再用英文(或官方翻譯)對公司商品合格證進(jìn)行公證就可完成。
