
Ask HN: Have You Incorporated in Estonia? - pier25
Would you do it again?
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literallycancer
I have one company there. I'm planning a migration to a different arrangement,
but depending on what you are trying to do it might be OK.

If you want to be incorporated in the EU and are from an EU country where the
government UX sucks, it might be worth it.

If you are a B2B software company that frequently hires contractors in the EU
it's better to have the company outside the EU as there's less paperwork
involved. Also tax reasons.

~~~
pier25
How easy was incorporating, getting a bank account, doing taxes, etc?

I'm from the EU and starting to work solo on a SaaS this year and probably
release it next year. I don't plan on hiring people short term.

~~~
literallycancer
You need an ID card to do most things without going there or using snail mail.
You can go there and get either a temporary residence card, or get an
e-residence card online, which costs around a 100€ and takes about a month to
get. You can pick it up at an embassy.

Company registration is done through a web app where you just select from drop
downs or choose numbers, like how many shares are needed for certain votes
etc. I think it was around 250€ and was approved in a day or two. A forwarding
address for the company is about a 100€.

You have to visit the bank to open local accounts. You can get an account with
a EU-wide challenger bank if you don't want to go there just for this. No real
benefit to having a local account unless you want financing for local projects
or something along those lines. The banks charge you more or won't open
accounts if you are a foreigner or e-resident.

Taxes and reports can be done online. If the company is dormant or doesn't
make a profit it's very simple. Otherwise you can get an accountant.

No idea about employees and payroll but unless you want to employ locals it's
not very interesting.

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Trias11
I haven't and have yet to see any advantages to do so.

~~~
pier25
It's fast and cheap.

For example freelancers in Spain (called an "autónomo") have to pay the state
about $300 USD every month regardless of how much money you make to be able to
produce invoices and charge for your services.

Of course there are also taxes when you do make money. Not sure about the
percentage now but when I lived there it was about 40% of your profit.

~~~
aosaigh
The Spanish system absolutely boggled my mind when I lived there. I also
remember the "retenciones" system where your client retains a percentage of
your payment for the government to collect as upfront tax (like a secondary
VAT for income tax). I always assumed the complexity and untrusting nature of
the tax system drives a lot of people to evade taxes partially or completely.

~~~
pier25
AFAIK the "retenciones" tax is for employees, not when paying for a
service/good and you receive an invoice from a freelancer or another company.

