Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

From the official information online, joining the e-Residency program and setting up an Estonian company seems relatively straightforward.

I'm considering using an Estonian OÜ for a SaaS business and would love to hear from people who have actually gone through the process.

What surprised you after becoming an e-resident and establishing your company? Were there recurring costs, compliance requirements, banking/payment issues, tax complications, or other operational challenges you didn't anticipate?

How easy has it been to run the company remotely? Have you ever needed to travel to Estonia to resolve an issue?

Looking back, would you do it again? What do you wish you had known before getting started?

I'd appreciate any lessons learned, gotchas, or advice from current or former e-residents.

I was surprised how amazing it is ?

  What do you wish you had known before getting started?

Your yearly financial data is public, everyone will know your income / profit. And you will get spammed, your email will be public too.

  How easy has it been to run the company remotely?

Great

  Have you ever needed to travel to Estonia to resolve an issue?

Only visited once to open bank account LHV but I closed it since then and can use remote banking

  Looking back, would you do it again?

Yes

I think banking is still the biggest issue if you’re not an Estonian resident.

Honestly, I’d avoid the EU in general. There are only about four or five good places to set up a company and stay connected to the financial system: the US, especially Wyoming or Delaware, Dubai, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Same experience for me, it's been great!

I never needed to visit since I could use Wise for banking.

The only thing is that surprised me was the tax rate, when I created my Company the advertised rate was 20/80 but in reality it was ~25/75 and it increased since.