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Home How to

Starting A Business In Panama Made Perfect Sense

What Kathleen Peddicord Is Really Up To In Panama

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Nov 04, 2021
in How to, Investing, Panama
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Skyscrapers in Panama City, Panama at night

Adobe Stock/Mariana Ianovska

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In 2008, I took my leave from the publishing company where I’d been working for 23 years. I was 45 years old and living in Paris.

I spent the next three months exploring that city on foot, early to late each day, and got to know Paris well.

I also learned that three months is my limit for doing nothing, even in Paris, and returned home from a long walk one afternoon to announce to my husband that I wanted to start a business of my own.

“We’ll need to leave Paris,” he replied without looking up from his laptop.

I knew he was right. France is no place to build a business. This country does not value entrepreneurs, and running a business here is expensive and hassled. Labor law and the French perspective make every employer the enemy, and French taxes can take half of every dollar your business earns.

We were in a fortunately very flexible position at the time, able to move anywhere, so, as much as we loved living in Paris, the question became:

If France is among the worst places in the world to invest in a business, where would be among the best?

By this time, my husband and I had managed businesses in eight countries.

Based on that experience, I made a list of things important to the expat entrepreneur, as follows:

  • Quality and cost of infrastructure, especially Internet and banking
  • Quality, availability, and cost of English-speaking labor
  • The country’s approach to taxation
  • The current administration’s perspective on foreign business and foreign investment
  • Residency and work permit options
  • Cost of doing business, especially office rent
  • Ease of setting up a company
  • Stability of the local currency (if other than the U.S. dollar)
  • Time zone relative to the business’ intended marketplace
  • Local labor law
  • Local standard of living

I considered the countries I knew from experience and others, too, in the context of these 11 questions, and one stood out—Panama.

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Why Panama Is A Great Place For Entrepreneurs

The infrastructure in Panama City is the best in the region, in part thanks to the decades-long U.S. military presence here while the Americans ran the Panama Canal.

Panama as a whole is a safe, stable, affordable country that uses the U.S. dollar as its currency, meaning no exchange-rate risk. The standard of living is comfortable, even luxury-level if your budget stretches to allow for it.

Those things, though, are true for other places that could also make sense for the would-be entrepreneur, including in Latin America but also in Europe and Asia.

Panama’s trump card is the approach it takes to taxation, both personal and corporate. It’s possible to live and run a business you own in Panama, paying little in taxes, even if you’re an American. The list of places around the world where that is true is short.

I’m speaking of legal and compliant strategies. It’s not difficult to organize, but you need competent advice from a tax expert who understands both Panama’s approach to taxing corporate income and the obligations to Uncle Sam of an American living and earning money in another country. Probably, really, you need two tax experts, as finding one who understands both sides of this tax picture will be near impossible.

Because I understood Panama’s tax advantages, this country rose quickly to the top of my where-should-I-locate-the-business list.

Some 13 years ago, I considered the whole world map and chose to base my Live And Invest Overseas business in Panama.

Would I make the same decision today?

You betcha.

This country is as entrepreneur-friendly as you’ll find and remains a land of opportunity for anyone looking to reinvent him- (or her-) self and earn an income at the same time.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Peddicord signature
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: 'Expats In Panama''panama taxes'Business in Panamaentrepreneursentrepreneurs in panamastart a business
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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