521–530 of 761 posts
My Dear German friends, please accept that EU-inc is a massive boost for EU competitiveness. Continuing to block progress here only proves that the EU is good at making promises on paper but fails to deliver real change. The reason this "28th regime" actually works—and bypasses the previous vetos — is that it’s optional. It doesn’t try to force Germany to change its local GmbH laws or kill the notary system overnight…
It's inordinately difficult and expensive to start an LLC or SA in some EU countries. It's even difficult and expensive to _stop_ an LLC and dissolve it. Huge amount of risk and cost on founders and a huge distraction from running a business. I think that EU-Inc _could_ be an improvement, but it needs to avoid the committee laundry list of ideas/requirements/form fields that plagues the EU startup ecosystem. My worry…
> It's inordinately difficult and expensive to start an LLC or SA in some EU countries. Totally. One of the biggest and most horrific aspect of it is the KYC/AML. We regularly read articles explaining that drugs are so out of hand that several EU countries, like Belgium, are becoming narco-states: these are front page, major newspaper, stories. We also read articles explaining that cash bills from petty drug dealing…
It's inordinately difficult and expensive to start an LLC or SA in some EU countries. It's even difficult and expensive to _stop_ an LLC and dissolve it. Huge amount of risk and cost on founders and a huge distraction from running a business. I think that EU-Inc _could_ be an improvement, but it needs to avoid the committee laundry list of ideas/requirements/form fields that plagues the EU startup ecosystem. My worry…
I think what's even more important is that the costs for founding and maintaining such an LLC should scale with revenue, including scaling to 0 . In many EU countries, you still have to pay social security and/or health insurance, even if your company brings in no revenue. This isn't supposed to be a problem, as you're not really supposed to officially start a business unless you cross specific revenue thresholds. Ho…
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German here. That's not true. What crazy documentation do you require? An ID, proof of residence, and a business plan? (edit: you don't even need a business plan) That being said, everything about the process is annoying and you always have the feeling that you're doing something wrong or forgetting something. Together with some ridiculously slow processing times, it's the perfect combination to frustrate you and I'm…
> ... and a business plan? Why would the government need a business plan? It's none of their business what you want to do with your company besides a general description as "software development" or "consulting services" or whatever.
There are plenty of European member states that want the ability to control very precisely what you do with "your company". You want to call yourself "a software engineer"? Ooops...
In the EU it seems particularly the German-speaking countries are borderline obsessed with a) titles, and b) whom may use those titles. See, for instance, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34096464
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Those things are as designed. This is good. We don't want "at-will" employment like in the US. We want to have rights as employees. We want to have social welfare. We want our free healthcare. It's not a bug it's a feature. We don't want an American-style society. Current developments should be enough reason to understand why (and the understanding that Trump's backers are part of a huge group of people on the low si…
> We don't want "at-will" employment like in the US. Only lazy people want to be employed for life somewhere. All the benefits, no responsibility.
The leeches and bureaucrats don't care about actually accomplishing things, about ending corruption, or fixing any of the real world problems experienced by the citizens of the EU. They just want their grift to continue, to feel morally and intellectually superior, and to feel the validation of exercising power over their subjugates. Because they know better, and their education is superior, and if everyone would just listen to the experts, the whole world would just get along and run smoothly.
Everywhere else in the world that allows people to actually do things - and the Europeans that "just do things" in defiance of all the idiots in charge - will own the world in ten years. The EU will be a sad little footnote about the dangers of bureaucratic overreach and pompous elitism.
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> the Estonian company they run now has to file tax returns and pay taxes not only to Estonia but also Spain. Yes, this again makes sense to me. You have a company in Estonia, so that pays taxes in Estonia. You work for this company from Spain, so you pay taxes in Spain. Doesn't it work the same elsewhere? What other ways could it work, assuming we want taxes somewhere ? > But then if what Estonia considers acceptabl…
The Estonian company pays the Spanish resident money to them personally. Indeed it is normal that the Spanish resident has to deal with the Spanish taxes on this money only. If the Estonian company is supposed to be considered a separate legal person based in Estonia, it shouldn't have to deal with anything Spanish.
There are some who talk the talk, but when it comes down to it, the behemoth that is the Brussels (and Strasbourg!) machine will never accept reducing its influence.
Re: Strasbourg, ditching the EU Parliament in Strasbourg completely would a really great first step to indicate that the EU is serious about cutting waste. However, the French have a veto, so it will never happen.
https://www.euronews.com/2019/05/20/eu-parliament-s-114m-a-y...
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I mean if you now live in Spain, then you need to pay taxes in Spain, because that's where you live. This makes sense, does it not? Or is the expectation that you shouldn't pay taxes where you live, only where your company that you work for/in is based? FWIW, I also live in Spain, and also pay "high taxes" as I'm in the highest income bracket, and it sucks to see large parts of your income and capital gains disappear…
I think they mean that the Estonian company they run now has to file tax returns and pay taxes not only to Estonia but also Spain. The company lives in Estonia. Yeah if they are taking income personally locally then that should go to the country of residence, as is normal. But then if what Estonia considers acceptable standards for tax reporting differs from what Spain considers acceptable, or what they consider 'pro…
To employ a regular (non-management) employee in Spain (and it applies anywhere else in Europe), an Estonian company would to at least have a local address, then register and maintain regular contact with several authorities there (chamber of commerce, social administration, tax office). The bureaucratic overhead makes it practically impossible to have employees across several countries (definitely as a small company), the only practical option is to pay an employer of record ~600 EUR/month extra (significant salary difference) only for the joy of maintaining the employment paperwork.
The really fun part happens if a managing director moves. Then the company is considered to have a permanent establishment in Spain, needs now to maintain ALL administration like a Spanish company, and to comply with Spanish corporate law, in parallel to what it was already doing at home. Both countries' laws apply, both expect taxes, and it is not even clear cut how much of the company activity and profits should be taxed by the company's home country and how much by the director's country! And having multiple managing directors in several countries is probably an exercise in frustration.
Then, if the director has enough and moves somewhere else, it all starts again in the new country (and you also have the headache, costs, and risks of closing the Spanish entity).
The EU may have free travel, but you can basically forget actually freely moving around as a small business owner, the company administration is prohibitively complicated.