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How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

eidel.io

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Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#151
post #135
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how are you comparing renouncing citizenship with temporarily leaving the country

I think the wording was unclear as that's what I thought too, that "leaving" meant for good, and maybe there was a way back - hence the temporary part. A tax on simply exiting the country is a very foreign concept to Americans I would assume.

Hah! Americans have to file US tax whether they live in the US or not.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#152
post #2

Not to brag, but there are so few things to actually feel some civic pride for in America, and business registration is one of them, so I guess we have that. I can get an IRS EIN (tax ID), register an LLC, obtain a sales tax license (only required for selling stuff), and open a business checking account in about 2 hours in Colorado. Someone who knows what they’re doing and doesn’t spend time researching banking optio…

Unless you're opening companies on a daily basis to evade taxes or whatever, I fail to see why you would need the process to be that fast. Because with such short delays, nobody will have actually checked anything, so the only winners are fraudsters, in the end.

Do you actually need to do it in 2 hours? No, of course not.

And you probably won't do it that fast anyway. But that figure demonstrates the small amount of red tape.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#153
post #114

I document German bureaucracy for a living,[0] and everything is like that. Every life event - immigrating, getting a job, getting married, having a child, buying a car - is mired in slow, paper-based bureaucracy. It is a constant, significant impediment to life in the country. Just last week, I was telling people that the best way to get married in Germany is to get married in Denmark. I cannot overstate how terribl…

Oh hey there! I've just moved to Germany from the US (not Berlin but hey, easy enough to apply the general knowledge elsewhere) and your site has been fantastic. Obviously I did not move because I valued bureaucracy, but I'm willing to put up with it partly for a fantastic job, and partly to escape the horror that is modern America. Thank you so much!

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#154
post #140
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have enough experience to speak about CC in Germany, but I don't see why a Rewe or ... boh, Aldi, Mcdonalds, etc should prevent that. I am a bit surprised, to be honest.

Big chains and enterprises, for sure. But there’s still a lot of SMBs not accepting credit cards.

Are these the same SMBs that ... accept only cash? :) Or do they really exclude CCs?

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#155
post #114

I document German bureaucracy for a living,[0] and everything is like that. Every life event - immigrating, getting a job, getting married, having a child, buying a car - is mired in slow, paper-based bureaucracy. It is a constant, significant impediment to life in the country. Just last week, I was telling people that the best way to get married in Germany is to get married in Denmark. I cannot overstate how terribl…

I refuse to believe it is worse than France. I trust the Germans to at least be somewhat efficient.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where would you do it then instead?

Estonia, like stated in the article. As a German founder living in Estonia, I can confirm that the difference in complexity when it comes to founding a company, filing taxes and dealing with bureaucracy isn’t even comparable.

do you know how in such cases salaries works? i.e. founder and employees are german and the company is in Estonia. Do they work as contractors? I thought to be a normal salaried employee you had to have the company also registered in germany too.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#157
post #114

I document German bureaucracy for a living,[0] and everything is like that. Every life event - immigrating, getting a job, getting married, having a child, buying a car - is mired in slow, paper-based bureaucracy. It is a constant, significant impediment to life in the country. Just last week, I was telling people that the best way to get married in Germany is to get married in Denmark. I cannot overstate how terribl…

I refuse to believe it is worse than France. I trust the Germans to at least be somewhat efficient.

Germans are anything but efficient. At best, they're methodical. Speaking from experience, that is also a lie.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#158
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow and I thought realtors getting a % cut on sales was a scam, at least in NA when you get to the notary, it's a flat fee.

It sounds like notaries are a different service as well, in the US a notary is a minor(very minor) government official whose primary purpose is to verify that the person signing a document is the person they are claiming to be. For the most part US notaries have little knowledge of the contents of that document. In California (I think other states, but each state has it's own specific laws) the fees are fixed below a…

At least in Canada, it's not government employees but rather not-quite-a-lawyer types who are glorified ID verifiers.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did that need limited liability though? In Germany you'd just become an entrepreneur with a simpler company type without limited liability.

Do you want to take the risk of losing your home just to start a business?

Personal insolvency sucks, but you won't actually loose your home here in Germany.

Re: How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

#160
post #114

I document German bureaucracy for a living,[0] and everything is like that. Every life event - immigrating, getting a job, getting married, having a child, buying a car - is mired in slow, paper-based bureaucracy. It is a constant, significant impediment to life in the country. Just last week, I was telling people that the best way to get married in Germany is to get married in Denmark. I cannot overstate how terribl…

I completely agree. I have been living here for 8 years, and recently applied for a permanent settlement permit.

My application went into a blackhole for more than 4 months, while my existing permit expired, essentially making me a prisoner here (I can stay and work in Germany but if I travel internationally, I won't be allowed entry back).

Meanwhile, my applications for a temporary travel permit were unanswered for months. There is no way to contact the foreign office (no email, no telephone, no fax). You just send your application and pray.

I strongly advise anyone to stay away from Germany if you have better options. This country is a bureaucratic nightmare in general.

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