Setting Up A Website.

[james24]

If you want to set up a website that is not selling anything, well except for advertising space, do you have to register as a business.

I have no idea what the legalities are regarding a website. Because you are making money from it regarding ad's (if it works) does that mena you have to be taxed etc.

It must be quite hard to regulate as the site would be worldwide so how does anyone know where it comes from...? As far as I know its free right...?

[filingaccount]

I would suppose it depends on the country where you receive the income from the ad sales.

[bangkockney]

Do you already have a job?

If you're close to higher rate of tax and these earnings push you over the limit, it would therefore be more efficient to incorporate.

Not hard to regulate as the money must hit a bank account somewhere in the world.

[Rabbi]

After many years in Accounting, International taxation, IT and Para-legal consulting and after living in Thailand for nearly 7 years I could go into lengthy discussion but in summary registering a domain name is quick & easy and generally the annual fee fairly low and can be done over the net with a credit card

Some countries require you to be registerd as a business to use a Country abbreviation (eg .au .nz .uk etc) This allows them to try and keep you accountable but a straight .com .net, .org, .biz .... etc is available without any country restrictions, the only restriction is getting one that suits you.

You can then have your website published and if you do it yourself or get it done by a friendly person then generally there is no advertising by 3rd parties unless you specifically want it.

No matter where you are, you are going to need at least one bank account or facility [either private or business] to receive the funds from your sales whether direct or indirect as from an agency [PayPal, a credit card banker/supplier etc] and this can complicate it especially if your sales are substantial but initially and during a trial period it can generally be treated as a "hobby" and not attract the attention of taxation authorities and in fact in many countries you can elect to be treated as such subject to Total Income.

If you need a business bank account then you will need to "prove" you are a business and so initially a private bank or even an existing credit card facility can be used during the hobby stage.

I suppose the question you need to resolve is how big will this get and when do I want to change from a "hobby" to a "business" and at this stage you would be advised to seek professional assistance.

Remember that in a business scenario you can offset your Income with many expenses to mimimise the tax impact and you need to be conscious of the tax imposts collected and paid [sales tax, VAT, import Tax & duty ..... etc]

Hope that assists you a bit and you are welcome to email me direct if I can be of further guidance.

Cheers & good luck.

[james24]

Ahh so when people pay for ads, for example a website in Thailand, you have to register it etc...? Just like a normal business...?

I thought much of it was done privately, that most websites with ads arent tax registered but receive money from ads.

In Thailand that would be impossible to ever get started...!

At the moment, no job, will this make a difference...? Who would tax it...?

[bangkokcitylimits]

You are not selling anything and probably stay low profile so don't worry about this things !

Later eventually you can adjust the set-up.

Here some good basic information http://www.thesitewizard.com/

[kuffki]

To start with, business registration is only a must for some prefix.ie if you want com.au then yes they want business info. However if you set it up as personal website then no business info is needed.

For just .com nothing is required but your payment for the domain and hosting and this days many company's offer free domain name if you purchase hosting.

Do not register as a business unless you really want to pay tax. if you will be doing adwords, there is no way to track you and tax you.

if you actually be selling the space, again depending on how you accept the payments but no need to show it to anyone.

I have 3 websites, all selling things and i am not registered as a business and do not have a problem with anyone or anything and been doing it for years now.

When my home country tax office tried to collect tax, i told them site is not in that country and money does not enter the country, when Thailand tried to do the same, i told them the same thing but vice versa.

No problems at all:jap:

[bangkockney]

When my home country tax office tried to collect tax, i told them site is not in that country and money does not enter the country, when Thailand tried to do the same, i told them the same thing but vice versa.

No problems at all:jap:

In what country is the bank account that you draw your income down to?

[dsprtliving]

would be interested to know what hosting sites you guys use that already have successful websites up and running? I've been toying with the idea of doing a personal website for a while now, but there are so many hosting sites out there. Any recommendations? I've looked at GoDaddy, but not sure beyond that...

[kuffki]

When my home country tax office tried to collect tax, i told them site is not in that country and money does not enter the country, when Thailand tried to do the same, i told them the same thing but vice versa.

No problems at all:jap:

In what country is the bank account that you draw your income down to?

I accept paypal only. then i i have paypal in both countries.

Paypal in home country is linked to mortgage account(so does not get taxed or checked) also any amount under $1000 does not even gets sent to tax office and in Thailand same thing, small amounts do not register and or can be traced as i could be selling my personal belongings or getting loans re-payed back

[kuffki]

would be interested to know what hosting sites you guys use that already have successful websites up and running? I've been toying with the idea of doing a personal website for a while now, but there are so many hosting sites out there. Any recommendations? I've looked at GoDaddy, but not sure beyond that...

forget godaddy, bloddy thing gets hacked all the time.

try out hostgator.com

with some plans you also get free ssl

[bangkokcitylimits]

would be interested to know what hosting sites you guys use that already have successful websites up and running? I've been toying with the idea of doing a personal website for a while now, but there are so many hosting sites out there. Any recommendations? I've looked at GoDaddy, but not sure beyond that...

About Godaddy, better read this first.

I absolutely love one.com ($1,45 a month incl. your own domain) for it's very easy, user friendliness and outstanding customer care, have 6 sites hosted with them. But I moved to Dynadot they offer more 'toplevel domains' such as .co and .asia. In short time already good experience with them and will move all my sites there, they also offer easy privacy settings if you prefer not to have your personal information mentioned in the Who Is database, you can adjust this by yourself. They reply fast to emails etc. very inexpensive but reliable provider, good reviews.

A very good Dutch hostingprovider offers a year free professional hosting because of their move to new Internet Protocol version 6 but it all in Dutch

Have a nice day.

Edited October 23, 2010 by bangkokcitylimits

[klikster]

Some countries require you to be registerd as a business to use a Country abbreviation (eg .au .nz .uk etc)

I don't believe .uk names require a company registration. My '.co.uk' didn't.

No matter where you are, you are going to need at least one bank account or facility [either private or business] to receive the funds from your sales ..

That sort of depends .. for Google Adsense .. in Thailand and many other countries .. you get a check mailed. Numerous banks will allow deposits and eventually credit the deposit.

[klikster]

About buying domains and hosting websites:

1 - Never allow your hosting company to register your domain in their name. Many have been stolen.

2 - It's good idea to host and register with different companies.

3 - Before signing up with a hosting company READ THE T.O.S.!!

Namecheap & Dynadot are both good. Hostgator has a good rep.

NOTE: If this is a hobby website, consider learning how to code simple HTML. There are some great free tutorials at Tizag and W3Schools. Plenty of free HTML editors on the web.

Lots of folks on this list like Content Management Systems .. lots of hackers like them too .. lots of folks on professional webmaster forums like to code their own sites in plain HTML.

EDIT: Webhostingtalk is a great forum to read about good and bad web hosting companies

Edited October 23, 2010 by klikster

[MisterMan]

1. NEVER allow you webmaster to register the domain in their name!.. make sure you have the password and then change it allowing them only technical access!!!!! and only YOU can change the owner

and what ever you do do NOT use Fatcow.com

I have been hacked, my site has been down to "technical glitches" after sending out ad campaigns.

The tech support sux and is from a script!!!!!!!!!!!!

friends recommended host gator.

also don't do a search for the best domain as you will only get people with affiliate links recommending site..haha

I use go daddy to register though.

Edited October 23, 2010 by MisterMan

[james24]

mmm interesting. I purchased from whois.com and I purchased 2 .com names, didnt purchase any hosting from them so I guess I own those names.

The web is so big that it must be quite difficult to track every person who is not taxing down

[bangkockney]

No need to track these things on the web; at financial year end the banks themselves report activity on all accounts (unless exempt) to the tax authorities.

This is why lying to the tax man can get you in real bother as they have the info from source.

[kuffki]

general rule of thump.

things are cheap for a reason. this especially applies to website hosting

it is cheap for a reason. There use to be, not sure if still around $1 hosting and $2 hosting and they all start off with great service, but before you know it your site is down for most of the time and you can not access it.

Also with cheaper hosting. they offer very limited cpanel functions, so many add-ons can not be added. And while you may not needed to start with, it may end up costing much more money and time having to transfer.

As i mentioned before i been in this business/game for almost 10 years now and have changed many many times, i found hostgator to be most reliable and with 24 hour customer service it also makes a huge difference.

I did have a problem, where my site was hacked because of them, ie someone hacked another site on their server and from there hacked my site. They fixed it and also gave me $300 credit for the troubles.

Also the free ssl is a great feature to have on any site, even the simplest one, just ensures that all is safe.

The backpanel is compatible almost with every add on, and easy to install.

Anyhow, good luck with al of it, it surely is a fun process

[kuffki]

No need to track these things on the web; at financial year end the banks themselves report activity on all accounts (unless exempt) to the tax authorities.

This is why lying to the tax man can get you in real bother as they have the info from source.

What are you talking about?????

Do not know where you come from, but i am yet to hear of a country where banks themselves report on each account.

In some country's there is a certain amount that they must report- 1 single transaction, ie for example any deposit over $10 000 must be reported

but banks DO NOT report on every account, unless tax office contacts them.

[klikster]

1. NEVER allow you webmaster to register the domain in their name!.. make sure you have the password and then change it allowing them only technical access!!!!! and only YOU can change the owner

Both registrars I use allow the owner to set 'nameservers' for domains. If a registrar doesn't, don't use them.

If for some reason the host doesn't include the nameservers you should use (i.e. ns1.yourhost, ns2.yourhost) in their first "instructions", just ask them what nameservers to use .. then set them yourself. You can also set up DNS with some independents. A bit more complex, but if done correctly gives you an additional hedge against the hosts name server going down. (i.e. ns1.yourhost, ns2.yourhost, ns3.somednsserver, ns4.somednsserver)

[OxfordWill]

The answer is simply: No.

[Rabbi]

No need to track these things on the web; at financial year end the banks themselves report activity on all accounts (unless exempt) to the tax authorities.

This is why lying to the tax man can get you in real bother as they have the info from source.

Sorry you are dead wrong in all the westernised countries that I have ever dealt with [additionally Singapore, Malaysia & even Thailand] there is no such action taken automatically by the banks.

The tax departments can only request info on particular accounts and it is generally after commencing an audit

[bangkockney]

Banks are legally obliged to notify HMRC of interest paid, but not amount of capital held. HMRC are aware of interest rates, so can make an educated guess.

[kuffki]

Banks are legally obliged to notify HMRC of interest paid, but not amount of capital held. HMRC are aware of interest rates, so can make an educated guess.

Sorry but you are wrong again. Banks are NOT obliged to report interest rate.

Banks tax your interest and pay it for you, They DO NOT report on each account. They pay the tax on interest earned for the year as per your tax number supplied.

Unless tax office contacts the bank, tax office has no way of automatically knowing.

[siamect]

1. NEVER allow you webmaster to register the domain in their name!.. make sure you have the password and then change it allowing them only technical access!!!!! and only YOU can change the owner

Thanks for bringing this up MisterMan! Well done!

This is really a very important point and it need to be repeated over and over.

I wrote something about this here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/398115-establishing-a-relatively-private-website/page__p__3883503#entry3883503

long time ago

I also just put a copy here http://home.siamect.com/computing/node/51

Martin

[bangkokcitylimits]

1. NEVER allow you webmaster to register the domain in their name!.. make sure you have the password and then change it allowing them only technical access!!!!! and only YOU can change the owner

Thanks for bringing this up MisterMan! Well done!

This is really a very important point and it need to be repeated over and over.

I wrote something about this here http://www.thaivisa....03#entry3883503

long time ago

I also just put a copy here http://home.siamect....mputing/node/51

Martin

And how do you think of webmasters who want you to 'buy their hosting package' and have your site on their server ? I find that strange also. There's also a foreigner here offering 'free webdesign' but charges $30/month for the rest... Guess you and other private server-owners cannot give the guarantees a renowned webhost can offer, 'personal circumstances' etc. of the server-owner can so easy become involved.

[siamect]

labellabellabelhttp://home.siamect....mputing/node/51

1. NEVER allow you webmaster to register the domain in their name!.. make sure you have the password and then change it allowing them only technical access!!!!! and only YOU can change the owner

Thanks for bringing this up MisterMan! Well done!

This is really a very important point and it need to be repeated over and over.

I wrote something about this here http://www.thaivisa....03#entry3883503

long time ago

I also just put a copy here http://home.siamect....mputing/node/51

Martin

And how do you think of webmasters who want you to 'buy their hosting package' and have your site on their server ? I find that strange also. There's also a foreigner here offering 'free webdesign' but charges $30/month for the rest... Guess you and other private server-owners cannot give the guarantees a renowned webhost can offer, 'personal circumstances' etc. of the server-owner can so easy become involved.

Just to avoid misunderstandings... I'm only hosting my own personal stuff. I have never offered any hosting for others. I have been asked to help a few friends with their home pages and I do it only on a strictly non commercial basis. I have never charged anything for helping people with their websites since 2002. Where I work, I make web applications for man/machine interactions and tracking of production data and parameters.

What I think about free offerings ending up expensive... well as most people I think it sux big time... dishonesty is a label we can put on stuff like that.

If you need a web designer. Let him do the design. Never let him touch the server where you have your live website, nor the DNS records or anything that has to do with the domain registration. Track everything he is doing. (use Git) Do the uploads yourself. Let the web designer play with a server that is hidden from the public but visible to you.

Obviously a private server has certain disadvantages over a large scaled server park. However, my kitchen server have better response time and better uptime records than what the "professional" host I use have...

I also think that a private server can be better protected because you only need to open up port 80 and or 443 and possibly ssh if you need access from outside (use rsa key authentication). Most webhosts are additionally using ftp and that is not secure, it is a problem. They usually also have an admin page and that is also a security problem. Basically anything with password authentication is a problem....

Martin

Edited October 23, 2010 by siamect

[james24]

can anyone tell me if whois domain are cool to register with. Im starting to worry a bit as I bought 3.com addresses from them but now Im starting to think I dont know enough about it all, even a simple thing like this...!!!???

[siamect]

can anyone tell me if whois domain are cool to register with. Im starting to worry a bit as I bought 3.com addresses from them but now Im starting to think I dont know enough about it all, even a simple thing like this...!!!???

If you mean whois.com I think it is cool and if you mean whois.net then it redirects to verio.com and at least they where cool to me...

The question is, what you did buy?... did you buy a hosting plan along with the domain names? in that case you can just go on and make your pages. Otherwise you need a webhost...

Martin

Edited October 23, 2010 by siamect

[james24]

No I just went for the names at the moment as the website isnt finished yet. (first one aaagghhhh)

Yeh I bought it from whois.com, just checked. It was all quite straightforward so when its built, Ill have the joys of looking for a hosting company :-)