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Become Estonia’s e-resident

e-estonia.com

51–60 of 129 posts

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#52
post #31

This is awesome. Estonia could have a shot at becoming the "Delaware" for non-US entrepreneurs, esp EU, i.e. have all the high-growth companies incorporate because of clear, friendly startup support infrastructure and laws.

It is very entrepreneurial of the Estonian government. Quotes from their announcement: "e-residency is also launched as a platform to offer digital services to a global audience with no prior Estonian affiliation – for anybody who wants to run their business and life in the most convenient aka digital way! We plan to keep adding new useful services from early 2015 onwards." http://e-estonia.com/wp-content/uploads/201…

Deosn't suprise me when the Estonian president has been quite actively involved with for example Slush http://www.slush.org/

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#55
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sigh, not this again. only found this not-very-good response in english to those "experts": http://www.vvk.ee/valimiste-korraldamine/vvk-uudised/vabarii... but saying "terribly insecure" is more than wrong. yeah, thare are many procedural things which could be better, but technologically estonian e-voting is secure. only serious threat is propaganda.

Are you saying it's resistant to penetration by Russian security services? Sorry if I don't take your word for it. They have just successfully hacked into several of the top financial institutions in the world: http://www.networkworld.com/article/2691902/security0/russia... They got away with customer data and who-knows-what-else. I'm pretty sure JP Morgan has a bigger cyber-security budged than the whole state of Es…

JP Morgan has ~$2.5 Trillion under management, annual revenues near $100B/year, and profits around $20B/year. Estonia's GDP is $25B and their annual tax receipts are about $4B/year. It's quite easy to assume that JP Morgan spends far more on security than the entire country of Estonia.

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#56

I believe this has huge implications for someone who would want to operate a company from a business friendly country, as opposed to say a country where the individual is located physically but is otherwise corrupt or war ridden. My understanding is that this status allows you to form companies, open bank accounts and sign binding documents just like someone living in Estonia. And that is pretty impressive. Add crypt…

It is to use Estonia's digital services and does not give you residency. Nothing stops you opening a company in Estonia now, but that does not mean you would only pay corporation taxes there (they are at 10% when distributed as dividends), your physical location plays a role too.

[deleted]

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#57
post #47
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So money laundering is the only reason for using cryptocurrencies? And who says cryptocurrencies can’t be regulated?

Shell companies are one of the greatest instruments for graft ever devised. I'm not a fan of them, and they get easier to make with every passing year. I don't have an opinion on cryptocurrencies. I'm sorry if it seemed that way.

Yes, there is a hazard in this. But probably also lots of utility for benign causes. So I hope they will outweigh the malicious ones.

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#58
post #43
post #37

What are the differences between residency and e-residency? E.g. they won't allow me to vote, will they? What else?

Even (physical) residence will not allow you to vote, only citizenship will. From the site: "This [e-residency] will not entail full legal residency or citizenship or right of entry to Estonia."

[deleted]

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#59
post #34

Is there a tax advantage here? Estonia's tax system is supposed to be very simple, and allows for a 0% corporate income tax on all profits that are re-invested into the corporation (source: http://www.incorporate.ee/why-estonia/low-tax-jurisdiction ). Does this mean I can form a corporate entity in Estonia and gain all the tax benefits without any physical presence?

If you want to pay taxes only in Estonia, consult a Double Tax Treaty between Estonia and your country of physical residence. Usually you would be able to employ a person in Estonia to close deals/contracts to qualify. But read the document. As soon as you distribute the profits, 10% tax applies from the Estonian end.

Usually, if your country has a DTA with estonia you'll have to pay whatever your country takes for dividend distributions anyway. The DTA means you can pay 10% to Estonia and the rest to your country but in total you're still paying whatever your country wants, in total. There might be other advantages, however, but repatriating dividends is not going to be one of them.

Re: Become Estonia’s e-resident

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Estonian language is perceived as having uncharacteristically long dragging of vowels during pronunciation, so e-Estonian works just as well. I wonder if there is some kind of inside joke around that.

The name of the country, and of the language, in Estonian is Eesti .

Do they call this thing e-Eesti then?
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