Comment by wewxjfq
2 years ago
Oh God, this thread will be the usual Germany bashing. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with how Germany handles corporations. The German corporate law is actually pretty good. If I could change two things, I would make IHK membership optional and allow free filings of the financial reports. These are changes that a willing government could implement in a heartbeat.
And I think no country should handle corporations like the US does. The US is a tax haven and the corporate system doesn't benefit anyone but the owners.
I've started a UG in Germany. It is one of the worst professional experiences I've ever had.
It's extremely cumbersome, bureaucracy heavy, slow and expensive. In addition I've never encountered as many scummy companies (GmbH or otherwise) as in Germany. Corporate rules and culture are both complete trash.
For reference I've started companies in Sweden, and I can do the full process online in an afternoon. Probably less than 30 minutes.
If I ever had to have a business for operating in Germany again, I would create an Estonian business. There's no reason that you corporate entity has to be German itself.
How did you do it? My UG was set up in two days, or three including the bank account, and cost, if memory serves well, 200 bucks ir so. Not the lowest anount because I do have a partner and we had some changes to the companies articles.
Doing the notary/banking/incorporation/tax-agency dance took a while.
But that's only one part of the process. The continuous level of bureaucracy is really high too, and during the years I ran my corporation it never seemed to diminish.
4 replies →
Is it a possible for a solo founder in Germany to register an Estonian Business? I had the impression (althought i'm not sure about it and would happily be corrected) you would need to apply for e-residency and need a local contact person for bookkeeping + banking. With the yearly costs being higher than just going for a Gewerbe / UG + local (german) tax advisor.
Would having a "foreign" company have any disadvantages comparing to a german company?
I investigated that, and if you din't live in Estonia you need to go there to finalize some paper work. You are still liable for taxes in Germany, as you are a tax resident. That alone makes you tax advisor more expensive, findibg one that knows his way aroubd German corporations is easy enough, that's bread and butter. International taxation is different, and thus nore expensive. In the end, Estonia is just not worth it IMHO.
Also, most start-ups don't need to be registered as a Gewerbe anyway. And let's be honest, if a "start-up" fails to cope with business and bureaucracy requirements your Döner shop successfully tackles daily you might reconsider running a business in the first place.
4 replies →
> If I ever had to have a business for operating in Germany again, I would create an Estonian business. There's no reason that you corporate entity has to be German itself.
A lot of people in Germany founded a British Limited with a captial of 1 Euro. Then came Brexit ...
> In addition I've never encountered as many scummy companies (GmbH or otherwise) as in Germany. Corporate rules and culture are both complete trash.
That's the quintessential HN comment I'm talking about. Just hasty generalizations and accusations. Tiresome.
Anecdotally, I've also never encountered as many scummy and cheating companies and GmbHs as in Germany.
Granted it's just another data point but I feel there's real substance behind this Germany bashing and it's not uncalled for.
Also, Germany is the only EU country I've encountered where scummy law companies break citizens privacy hand in hand with ISPs to spy on your internet traffic and send you fines if you torrent anything copyrighted, while at the same time marking huge fuss about how important privacy is in Germany. Ironic.
If you move to Germany make sure to get defense insurance to protect yourself if you ever need to use a lawyer.
6 replies →
The filing is free (you can do it yourself), but most types of corporation require attestation which can cost more than 1k per year.