Earlier quoted context omitted.
A GmbH is not like an LLC, it's more like a Delaware C-Corp. People forget this all the time.
Why Delaware?
[deleted]
How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
661–670 of 1001 posts
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#662Earlier quoted context omitted.
But there are plenty of companies that provide substance
What do you mean?
Well, substance is a way to domicile your company in a certain jurisdiction in a way that passes checks according to the rules of tax authorities of necessary countries. I saw people doing it in Madeira, in fact with German clients, and had German cops/tax officers fly to them to Madeira, check compliance, and agreeing that they conform - you need to do a certain minimum set of things like keep an office, papers, minimum number of employees etc. - there, and that will be enough.
As for your own tax residence, some countries offer shortened terms of annual stay to qualify, Cyprus offers 60-days scheme for example (that again comes with a certain set of rules to obey).
Simply put, there's a massive demand for the "i want to pay as little tax as legally possible on my IT business" thing, and many countries lined up to do it as conveniently as possible for people from all kind of places. Only country for which it doesn't work is good ol' USA, because of world-unique system of citizenship-based taxation.
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#663As a German I agree with the gist: Germany is overly buerocratic and not startup friendly. When it comes to founding a company the author overcomplicates things, however. This is OK when you want to study the process, or want to become an expert in this and maybe make a business out of it. If you just want a company get started, just buy a ready made one. There are specialized lawyers that always keep a pool of fresh…
I find that Europe often has things like this. That is, the “easy way” that everyone uses. The frustrating thing is that there is no way of learning about it until you’ve already endured months of pain trying to follow the impossible steps outlined on the official government website. If that site had a little notice on top saying “Stop! Nobody does it this way! Google this term instead”, that would save a lot of pain…
I'm Dutch (Netherlands) and lived in Germany a while. I started companies in both. The Netherlands is ultra-quick and cheap. Germany not so much as per this thread.
The mythical "European state" where everything works the same does not exist.
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#664Having founded a company in Germany, I would never under any circumstances do it again. Notaries should not exist, and could be replaced by a simple website. It's all incredibly tedious and slow, and there are lots of reoccurring work and fees. Closing a company takes 2-3 years too, even if there are no irregularities.
Founded companie(s) to in NL and DE. It's not so much that there is a notary step, it's just that the DE notary is slow, expensive etc. In NL it takes 30 minutes at a notary (or online) and typically EUR 125 or so. Done.
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#665Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree heavily. Just because you have trains going everywhere (that's not a Germany-specific thing) doesn't mean they are allowed to be hours late. The transport system is broken, was destroyed by trying to cut costs in the past. Same with schools and educators. And don't get me started on healthcare. Your sentiment is part of the problem to be honest: Germans are always complaining, it's fine as it is bla bla. I…
I'm comparing this mostly to the UK, which is not a third world country. And to be clear, I agree that DB have been absolutely awful with delays and a lack of proper track maintenance. But to present that as a full picture of the German transport system is to be completely myopic, and that's the issue. Yes, improvement is possible and necessary, but it's also nice to celebrate the successes of your country, and havin…
> I'm comparing this mostly to the UK, which is not a third world country.
I'm not so sure at this point. Comparing ourselves to the UK would be sad tbh.
Yes the 49€ ticket is a nice achievement. But again, it's not about having a perfect transport system. It's having one that is representative to our position in the world, our wealth etc. Buses are something of a gamble. Trains are notoriously unreliable. The same goes for a lot of regional/local providers. That's basic. Things like nice seatings, luxuries, food etc. would make it perfect. But you need to cover the basics first.
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#666Earlier quoted context omitted.
These are the cases which Germany wants to avoid: "Scheinehe", where people get paid to marry and give the other person an "Aufenthalts- und Arbeitserlaubnis" -> allowed to stay and work in Germany. There is quite a business around this.
Lets combat marriage fraud by making it a kafkaesque ordeal to get married in the first place. Big brain move, how many innocent couples get caught in the net, versus how many fraudsters can you realistically catch (organized crime has figured out how to game the bureaucracy, no doubt).
Germany has laws and traditions around marriage.
If one doesn't respect German laws, best to go to a country which works differently and stay there.
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#667Earlier quoted context omitted.
My sympathy for your troubles, but please keep in mind: Everybody is processing Ukranians and Arabs. The system was never meant for such a rapid influx of people. The people working on immigration are not lazy or unmotivated, they are exhausted.
It was already a shit show 10 years ago, so while the influx surely didn't help, it isn't like it wasn't broken already.
Syria, Brexit, covid, Ukraine. At this point they should have adapted.
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#668Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree heavily. Just because you have trains going everywhere (that's not a Germany-specific thing) doesn't mean they are allowed to be hours late. The transport system is broken, was destroyed by trying to cut costs in the past. Same with schools and educators. And don't get me started on healthcare. Your sentiment is part of the problem to be honest: Germans are always complaining, it's fine as it is bla bla. I…
For what it’s worth, I’m German and live in Sweden and the train network is significantly worse than in Germany. There are serious structural deficiencies at Deutsche Bahn, absolutely. But the gras is also always greener elsewhere. The nordics don’t have a better train network. It’s bad enough in Sweden that a Chinese company has started offering the MTRX, basically the ICE equivalent between the two largest cities (…
So I've heard. I once did a train trip vom Braunschweig to Narvik. Braunschweig to Hamburg was typical: the waggon I had a reservation in was not provided. So the train was not only late but overfilled. The danish train again from Hamburg to Kopenhagen was perfect.
The polar express from Stockholm to Narvik was awesome. On the trip down we had problems with construction and ice, so we were stranded in Abisko. We were taken with buses to a hotel, got food and even got a refund + 700skr deduction for our next trip. No questions asked. The experience was the opposite of the one you get in Germany. No bureaucracy. We got the SMS after Riksgränsen!
The next day I couldn't make my original train from Stockholm to Kopenhagen, so the train conductor just got me a new ticket for free. No questions asked. No bureaucracy.
Clear communication, situation well handled, all good. So at least this part blew my mind! Also the ticket control by just checking seats. Awesome.
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#669Earlier quoted context omitted.
The degradation comes from waves of austerity politics by right wing governments. These services are expensive and require staff to keep things going. Austerity ideology dictates that there simply must be inefficiency in public services, and cuts are the cure to this disease since this will cause the public sector to "make do and mend" and end up running more efficiently, rather than having a knock on effect and decr…
I know basically nothing about Finland, and was curious about your comment as I find government spending an interesting topic. So the first thing I did was look up the government budget trends in Finland. [1] As an outsider it just seems that the Finnish budget is growing at an exponential pace? From 2010 to 2019 the budget went from ~50bn to 55bn per year, nearly managing to even create a balanced budget in 2018. Fr…
Finland has been a very poor country after WW II until the 1970s (compared to Sweden who had no war or Germany who lost the war). An economy best compared to Portugal or Greece.
The was a first overheating boom in the end of the 1980s, until a heavy recession took over in the 1990s. The next boom was Nokia driven in the 2000s until the global banking crisis. Since Nokia has fallen (well, it still exists but with a different business and more modest success) there has been little to no growth and heavy deindustrialization.
So basically Finland is back to the previous state of being a poor country with weak industry (I am exaggerating a bit). But the spending has continued to grow like the Nokia boom years had never ended.
Edit: Finland has one of the least favorite population pyramids in Europe. People getting older and no children. Very little immigration until maybe the last decade. And now a far right government with a strong anti-immigration agenda.
Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain
#670Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anyone know more about this? Find this really interesting and surprising!
As someone who was advised to wait 6-12 months for a tax refund in Finland (not a standard payroll/prepaid tax) [1] I'd say it's because 'the system' is still the old system from the past that hasn't entirely kept up with the fact that in this day and age: - A limited company is not always a giant manufacturing concern - An ever increasing amount of the population will not have been born in and will not be living the…
I thought those delays were meant to encourage you to declare everything in advance on your tax card.