Join the discussion
Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.
- Hacker News
- For SaaS business, HK is definitely the best, 0 taxes, very low maintenance requirement, Stripe accepted, solid banking system.
- by forks
- Question: are OÜs particularly beneficial even for non-Estonians (EU), and in what way?by poly2it
- I can't speak about all EU countries, but the one country I looked into (Spain), I couldn't find a way to do everything remotely. It required being physically present for some things, so that's why I am asking about whether Estonia actually delivers IRL on the e part of e-residence.by jvilalta
- Any tips for a 2 person European company. One founder based in Amsterdam, the other in London. We are close to setting things up, some input from other founders would be greatby mhog_hn
- Incorporate in one of the two countries. If you're serving EU, with GDPR it might be easier to do Netherlands instead of the UK.by euph0ria
- Probably a UK limited liability partnership would be an option .
But you have to investigate how the Dutch will treat it .
You could apply for a advance tax ruling with the Dutch tax authorities before doing anything
- It has been a great experience. Setting up the company was online, and it took 3 days, including the time spent to change the name because the initial name was rejected. You can use Wise for banking, but LHV is also visible but there is an account limit if you don’t live there. Accounting is easy, but you will need an accountant for tax reporting if you have a VAT ID. My accountant charges me 60 euros per month and does an amazing job.by wayneshng
- UK, USA and Singapore are the popular choices for this. UK is simple and cheaper, Singapore is a bit more expensive. I don’t see a reason to go USA route unless you are seeking investment from there.
I’m using UK myself. It takes a few forms and half a day to get a working Wise/Stripe account.
by hakanderyal - Finally somebody who knows their stuff. I never understood why people preferred Estonian incorporation given that it's almost certainly more expensive and less convenient than the other options.by Onavo
- None of those countries are in the EU, which is important for my use case.by jvilalta
- Its been a few years but I ran BD for the program in '19-'20 -- I would say that people underestimate the difficulty in shutting down the company if that needs to happen, sometimes getting access to a proper bank account can be annoying, and don't always understand the tax implications (ex. if I was resident in Germany, all my customers were in Germany, but I tried to run everything through this Estonian biz and pay taxes only there, that could very well cause you lots of issues/complications).
Also, shameless plug for people broadly interested in the country of Estonia and how it became a leader in e-gov/tech only a generation after independence from the Soviet Union, I wrote a book about it after being curious myself! https://www.rebootinganation.com/
- Where are you located? Where will you administer the company from? That impacts your tax situation quite a lot.
See https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/understanding-cross-border-tax..., look for “Permanent Establishment”
by dgellow - I am in the US currently, would be managing initially from the US. I understand there will be US tax complications, but I can/would deal with those.by jvilalta
- Please beware:
From: https://learn.e-resident.gov.ee/hc/en-gb/articles/3600007215...
> Corporate tax residency
> However, some countries have different rules for deciding if a company is tax resident. It is common that, in addition to the place of incorporation, the place of effective management can trigger tax residence. If you run your company from a country with regulations like this, then the company may end up having dual tax residence. This happens when two states believe that the company is tax resident in their jurisdiction and will want to tax the company’s profits.
This 'It is common that [...] the place of effective management can trigger tax residence' is indeed common.
by Gys - Hence the executives/boardmembers-all-fly-to-some-island (Jersey is the one in my mind), have board meeting in the airport, sign the papers, and all fly home?
Company stays "in" Jersey, none of the humans need to live there?
by logifail - Also estonian law doesn't recognize trusts, so if you want to save your assets for your children that's a problem.by jocaal
- It is still amazing to me that so many people don't get this fact.
It doesn't matter where your company is incorporated, you'll be liable to pay the taxes where you live. And if you think the revenue service of your country is going to forget, you are guaranteed to have a very nasty surprise waiting for you when you least expect it.
The only way to more or less skirt this rule is to keep moving so you're technically never fiscally resident in any country (not even sure if it works), or move your personal fiscal residence to a tax haven like Monaco.
by sph - I was surprised how amazing it is ?
Your yearly financial data is public, everyone will know your income / profit. And you will get spammed, your email will be public too.What do you wish you had known before getting started?
GreatHow easy has it been to run the company remotely?
Only visited once to open bank account LHV but I closed it since then and can use remote bankingHave you ever needed to travel to Estonia to resolve an issue?
YesLooking back, would you do it again?by ttoinou - Same experience for me, it's been great!
I never needed to visit since I could use Wise for banking.
The only thing is that surprised me was the tax rate, when I created my Company the advertised rate was 20/80 but in reality it was ~25/75 and it increased since.
by gdotdesign - Useless + overhyped .
Company will end up as tax resident from the country where it is managed & controlled .
If there is an DTA the tie breaker rule applies and the country from where it is managed & controlled gets the right to tax .
Also you get to enjoy bureaucracy+ dual accounting in both countries .
If there is no DTA it can lead to double taxation .
And if you don't have a fixed place of management/business+ tax residency (basically nomading) a US LLC disregarded for tax purposes is a much better fit .
- Username checks out.by edoceo
- This 100%. Hire a (good) accountant.by sscaryterry
- There is no cake will drop from sky, and if there is, well it came with gravityby penpendian