The approach to the U.S. market: options and strategies

The U.S. market still represents one of the most developed and competitive economies in the world. 

It is considered a target country in companies' expansion business strategies, thanks to a open system of low bureaucracy, with infrastructure and logistics highly developed and an administrative level of the Very efficient public and judicial sector.

With the Trump government's new tax reform, dubbed the most significant in the past 30 years, have been Further lowered tax burdens for businesses, increasingly incentivizing companies to consider the United States as an important target in the logic of international expansion. 

In order to have a direct presence in the United States, Italian companies should determine upstream What is the most suitable corporate structure To the achievement of their goals.

The main options are.: 

- Business Corporation (“INC” or “CORP”): through its incorporation a new legal entity is created. A CORP is an entity separate from its owners. Regardless of what happens to the shareholders, it continues to exist until it is legally dissolved. It is a more complex structure than those that follow but particularly suitable for structuring market investment operations by foreign companies. 

- Limited Liability Company (“LLC”): it functions like a limited liability company, but taxation and management falls to the partners as with partnerships. While this is an easier company to manage, it hides a number of obvious limitations, particularly related to taxation, which make it a vehicle that is not particularly attractive to foreign investment.

- Branch of a foreign company: it is regarded as an extension of the foreign company formally registered in the U.S. as a subsidiary. It is not considered a separate legal entity, which confers limited liability on its owner, and will be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of the state in which it operates. This is an optimal solution for companies that need to assess market potential without committing to direct investment in the market.

The decision On which path should be taken requires adequate strategic planning and must be taken on the basis of a careful analysis of both from the legal and operational and fiscal management perspectives. 

Octagona can help your company evaluate the best strategies for entering the U.S. market, thanks to a direct U.S. office and a network of specialized professionals.