91–100 of 141 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you never heard of fringe benefits tax?
Have you read my post? Let say I am a junior SWE in EU. I incorporate in Estonia and issue my employer with an invoice from said company. That company pays for my house, my car, my dental service and whatnot, and what's left I take as a employee salary. I pay local tax for that salary, but that's only a fraction of what I've billed my employer.
You said you are from Germany but not where you are now. If you are still in Germany, forget it. Just because you incorporate outside of Germany does not exempt your from any taxes (and its beauraucracies) in Germany. That is, even with an estonian corporation, you will owe german corporate taxes (plural - one goes to the state one to the county - a.k.a. Körperschaftsteuer and Gewerbesteuer). That implies you will ha…
If you manage your company in, let's say, Germany, it is de-facto German company in the eyes of German tax authorities. When German tax authorities will find this out they will make you open UG/GmbH and pay back the corpo-tax, plus possibly a fine.
Now you will be stuck with 2 companies - Estonian and German, which is way bigger hassle. Not to mention Estonian company becomes useless/liability.
I also want to mention that practically every country has offshore-company laws like this, even places like Thailand and other SEA countries. It's not only EU.
Please read up on what a permanent establishment means from a tax perspective. Most countries tax laws, especially EUs unambiguously state that the Estonian company will be taxed as if it was a company in your primary residence country. The e-residence website repeats this many times, with many examples focusing on Germany. https://learn.e-resident.gov.ee/hc/en-gb/articles/3600025428... The whole e-residence thing on…
It's a very narrow list of countries then. Only reason where it would really work if the owner is digital nomad with no tax residency anywhere.
Admittedly, US makes LLC's much easier to form as compared to EU. But I sort-of like the EU's privacy perspective for the most part and feel like if I do ever end up making a business, having an EU/Estonian company might make more sense but it also charges a lot in the start compared to the US counterpart.
What are people's thoughts and is there any real tangible value from say a non EU citizen perspective in creation of an EU company as compared to US company when there is a sizable difference in the amount of money needed to form a company?
I hope EU really simplifies the business creation and some stock market related things as well as it does feel to be a little bit fractured. I had heard that there were some proposals regarding that, Let's hope that those start to take place.
(Also although EU feels good for privacy, it's a little concerning to me on how Chatcontrol was denied but then it was asked again in a rare occurence which makes me wonder about the privacy aspects of EU, I do think that EU cares about privacy somewhat more than the current US govt but it should also work on anti-measures to prevent such laws from being passed by giving privacy as a right for example, so to me, the EU's chatcontrol feels a bit concerning and I think that EU citizens might agree with that as well.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you never heard of fringe benefits tax?
Have you read my post? Let say I am a junior SWE in EU. I incorporate in Estonia and issue my employer with an invoice from said company. That company pays for my house, my car, my dental service and whatnot, and what's left I take as a employee salary. I pay local tax for that salary, but that's only a fraction of what I've billed my employer.
Here's a newer post from a German who previously was a fan of the Estonian e-business, saying things changed for the worse in 2025: https://denationalize.me/emigrate/goodbye-estonia-how-a-popu...
So I think the fact that you worry about bureaucracy signals that maybe you should rethink your idea.
For hobby projects, don't bother with a company. It is possible in any country to earn money on the side as a hobby. Sure, if you live in the EU, the taxes will eat away most, if not all the profit, but it's a hobby and learning opportunity.
Once you tested, and see potential for serious money, just pay someone to start the company for you. Easy peasy!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"accounting and taxes are a thing everywhere. EU rules make accounting for companies quite complicated" >> this is the most wrong thing ever. You cannot compare the one click accounting in estonia with german kafkaesk absurdity designed to grind you down. How things are implemented are drastically different in countries even if both in the EU.
If you have a company in estonia but you reside and fully control it from Germany, you might be liable for taxation in Germany due to CFC laws.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you never heard of fringe benefits tax?
Have you read my post? Let say I am a junior SWE in EU. I incorporate in Estonia and issue my employer with an invoice from said company. That company pays for my house, my car, my dental service and whatnot, and what's left I take as a employee salary. I pay local tax for that salary, but that's only a fraction of what I've billed my employer.