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Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?

#21

Post by jdietrich »

Opening a UK limited company is at least as straightforward. Registering takes a couple of hours, it can be done entirely online and the fee is £12 ($15). You don't need to be a UK resident. You do need a registered office in the UK, but a company formation agent will provide one for about £20 ($26) per year. All your tax returns can be filed entirely online and HMRC provide a very helpful tax advice service. It really is fantastically simple.

The obvious advantage to registering in Estonia would be the certainty of continued access to the European Single Market. We're still not entirely sure how Brexit will pan out.

https://www.gov.uk/limited-company-formation

https://www.gov.uk/corporation-tax

Another option well worth considering is Stripe Atlas. It's not the cheapest way to start a corporation, but Stripe provide a huge amount of added value.

https://stripe.com/atlas

Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?

#22

Post by gumby »

I set up a company and bank account a couple of months ago. It was very easy.

We are in development so don't have any customers yet, so I can't tell you how taxes etc will be but I can tell you the process of dealing with the .ee government so far is paradise compared to the US process.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?

#25

Post by istotex »

sparkling wrote: post #6

After looking into it for a while, i decided not to do it. Context: I live in Germany for roughly 2/3 of the year, rest is traveling. Not sure where you are located, but if you spend the majority of your time in a other EU country (e.g. Germany) you will have a very hard time explaining to the local tax authorities that the company entity is not effectively being managed from Germany. And when you fail to explain thi…

This comment should be higher up. If you are a freelancer thinking you could save on taxes by setting up a remote company in Estonia, be aware that your tax authority can (and will) demand that your company be taxed in your home country.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?

#26

Post by sloaken »

jdietrich wrote: post #21

Opening a UK limited company is at least as straightforward. Registering takes a couple of hours, it can be done entirely online and the fee is £12 ($15). You don't need to be a UK resident. You do need a registered office in the UK, but a company formation agent will provide one for about £20 ($26) per year. All your tax returns can be filed entirely online and HMRC provide a very helpful tax advice service. It real…

How are taxes in the UK as coimpared to Estonia?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?

#28

Post by istotex »

sloaken wrote: post #26
jdietrich wrote: post #21

Opening a UK limited company is at least as straightforward. Registering takes a couple of hours, it can be done entirely online and the fee is £12 ($15). You don't need to be a UK resident. You do need a registered office in the UK, but a company formation agent will provide one for about £20 ($26) per year. All your tax returns can be filed entirely online and HMRC provide a very helpful tax advice service. It real…

How are taxes in the UK as coimpared to Estonia?

Corporation tax in the UK is currently at 19%. If you are a UK tax resident, you also have to pay dividend tax which starts at 7.5% (over your allowance).

Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?

#29

Post by jwr »

I considered it for my SaaS business. But at the moment my business is based in Poland, so moving to Estonia doesn't change things much (I still can't economically sell to individuals within the EU because of idiotic VAT regulations). I chose to remain in Poland for the time being. On the plus side: low taxes, EU law, first patent troll doesn't bankrupt my business. On the minus side: Stripe continues to ignore Poland, so I have to deal with Braintree and this is a pain in oh so many ways, VAT MOSS is a disaster, and we have the Cult of the Invoice.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?

#30

Post by frereubu »

istotex wrote: post #28
sloaken wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are taxes in the UK as coimpared to Estonia?

Corporation tax in the UK is currently at 19%. If you are a UK tax resident, you also have to pay dividend tax which starts at 7.5% (over your allowance).

More information here: https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-dividends

It jumps significantly (next step up is 32.5%) once you move into the higher income tax brackets, which start at £46k: https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates

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