Totally agree! My goal also wasn't to avoid paying taxes. I just would like to have a fully digital and less bureaucratic system for it. But well, I guess I have to wait until Germany finally gets that.
I still live in (and don't plan to change it) in Germany. So I guess the whole thing doesn't really work for me. The goal of the whole operation would have been to make bureaucracy easier, but that doesn't seem to work. So ... it's a no do, unfortunately.
Thank you! Yes, that's why I'm looking for a simpler and less bureaucratic alternative. I'm totally fine with general accounting and taxes. But I would be happy if there was an alternative somewhere where you don't have to go to a notary for every little change and don't necessarily need a tax advisor because you have to talk to five different tax offices. Germany really makes it more complicated than it needs to be.
Haha, thanks for linking to my website! Happy to answer any questions.
Skimmed this thread and I'm quite surprised how few people are aware of the permanent establishment problem.
Quick primer on the permanent establishment problem: You would technically have to pay taxes for your company in the place you're living (not Estonia). For example, if you're living in Germany, your Estonian OÜ would technically have to file for German taxes, too, because it's being run from Germany and it now has a permanent establishment in Germany.
So, roughly speaking, the Estonian OÜ is only useful if:
- You are in a country which doesn't have a permanent establishment problem and maybe even offers tax benefits for foreign companies (e.g. the non-dom rules of Malta, Cyprus, etc.)
- You are in a country which doesn't have a permanent establishment problem because they don't crack down on foreign company ownership (e.g. most developing countries)
In all other countries, the Estonian OÜ is likely going to cause you many tax headaches in the long run. In practice, this means:
a) Your local tax authorities don't notice or don't understand, and you're still fine, even though you'd need to file for taxes;
b) Your local tax authorities crack down on you and you need to go looking for a very expensive international tax advisor versed in Estonian and your local tax law.
Thanks for chiming in and also many many thanks for the great blog post :)
Yes, I came to the same conclusion. It's a nice construct, but not for EU residents like me. So I guess I'll go for a german UG/GmbH or cancel the whole project at all.
My main use case would be when I'm not working from my desk but in a coworking space or from a hotel or something like that. But if it works really well, i could also see myself replace the monitor at home completely.
Good music: spotify algorithm.
Good movies: somewhat unsolved problem for me. Mostly coverage in traditional news formats, movie industry awards, friends, imdb.
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