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 Polan…
Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
41–50 of 77 posts
Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
#42In my experience a lot of freelancers are using it (especially when they like to work in different countries). Personally I’m quite happy using it and it’s a way better experience in comparison with the chamber of commerce in the Netherlands when you start freelancing (had some bad experiences unfortunately when they sold my data to shady companies which will target you with fake invoices/bad deals/spamming). Another…
Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
#43Double taxation seems to be the main pain point looking at the comments. It will help to google and see if your country has a tax treaty with estonia.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
#44I 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 Polan…
Can you elaborate on how does being in Poland protect you from patent trolls?
Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
#45Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
What VAT regulations are keeping you from selling to other EU customers?
Recently VAT collection was changed for electronic services. Before you simply charged your countries applicable tax rate, unless a VAT ID was provided. Now you have to charge the VAT rate applicable to your customers country of residence, forcing every vendor to care for and implement correct VAT rates and regulations for all your products and every of the 28 countries in the EU - possibly even more due to bilateral…
I have no idea what the situation is in Poland, but there's no such thing as a "felony" in my country; an honest mistake on my tax return is an honest mistake, not a criminal offence. I'd only be criminally liable if I was unreasonably negligent or acted with the deliberate intent to deceive. As long as I a) record the customer's country for each transaction and b) fill out my VAT MOSS return accordingly every quarter, the tax authorities (HMRC) are perfectly happy.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
#47In my experience a lot of freelancers are using it (especially when they like to work in different countries). Personally I’m quite happy using it and it’s a way better experience in comparison with the chamber of commerce in the Netherlands when you start freelancing (had some bad experiences unfortunately when they sold my data to shady companies which will target you with fake invoices/bad deals/spamming). Another…
How do you avoid that the company becomes a dutch tax resident if you manage it from the Netherlands most of the time?
Also the Dutch tax laws don’t care about the company as long as you pay the personal income tax plus some employee insurance tax.
Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
#48In my experience a lot of freelancers are using it (especially when they like to work in different countries). Personally I’m quite happy using it and it’s a way better experience in comparison with the chamber of commerce in the Netherlands when you start freelancing (had some bad experiences unfortunately when they sold my data to shady companies which will target you with fake invoices/bad deals/spamming). Another…
Re: Ask HN: Anyone doing business using Estonian e-residency?
#49I 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?
#50In my experience a lot of freelancers are using it (especially when they like to work in different countries). Personally I’m quite happy using it and it’s a way better experience in comparison with the chamber of commerce in the Netherlands when you start freelancing (had some bad experiences unfortunately when they sold my data to shady companies which will target you with fake invoices/bad deals/spamming). Another…
would this be a good option for a consulting business, or services in IT ?