Foreigners have found the thought of setting up a lifestyle business in Bali attractive for years.

However, the challenge is that by nature they are often not large-scale companies. This means that it’s difficult for a lifestyle business in Bali to follow the minimum capital requirements set up for foreign owned companies.

In this article we cover the main challenges of starting a lifestyle business in Bali and the solutions for the most common scenarios. We also show how you can live in Bali as a digital nomad and even hire local staff without having a company.

Lifestyle business in Bali
Common activities of lifestyle businesses in Bali

Bali is a perfect to balance mindfulness with productive business and set life into perspective. Also, the living costs are relatively low. As per Nomadlist.com, about US$ 1,060 per month in Bali covers food, living, office, social and entertainment costs.

Here are some of the common business activities foreigners often conduct in Bali:

• Food and beverage related business (restaurants, workshops, cookbook launches etc.)
• Recreation and leisure activities (yoga, surfing, diving, golf)
• Clothing design and distribution
• Cosmetics import and sales
• Spiritual health, holistic and wellness services

Common myths regarding doing business in Bali

Below is a collection of myths, some of what you may have heard as well. We have gathered this list based on the numerous discussions we had with our clients in Bali.

1# Foreigner cannot be a director of a local company

Indonesian laws do not prohibit foreigners to be directors of the local company. Local company must have a local director but in addition to local director, the local company may also have a foreign director if certain conditions have been fulfilled.

2# Local companies cannot issue work permits to foreigners

The ability to issue work permits depends on the size of capital of the company.

3# Local companies pay less taxes

The taxes are same for locally owned and foreign owned limited liability companies.

4# Having a local partner makes company registration process faster

Having a local partner does not have any effect on the duration of the company registration process. As long as there is at least one foreign shareholder the company is considered as  a foreign owned company, and the requirements for foreign owned companies apply.

5# Local PT and PT PMA can only issue a limited number of work permits to foreigners

Foreign directors and commissioners will get 12 month work permits in Indonesia regardless of the ownership structure of the company. For other positions, the company needs to demonstrate that the position cannot be filled by a local person and the term of the working permit is discretion of the immigration, and the minimum validity of the work and stay permit is 6 months.

This blog was first published on www.emerhub.com

Similar to this:

Real Estate in Bali - Overbuilding

Making your Villa pay

So, you want to buy a home in Bali?