Best EU country to start a new business?
Hey there!
A few weeks ago, Nika, a fellow hunter, asked about the countries where doing business is more difficult.
But what are the best ones to start something new?
My partner and I are "digital nomads" (we don't like this term too much, but it clearly explains what we do) and have lived in different countries. We come from Italy, then lived in Portugal, and now we're in Germany (Berlin).
We feel like Germany is quite business-friendly (e.g. you don't pay taxes on the first 12000 euros you make), but we've heard of other EU countries where there are a lot of benefits associated with opening a new business there, like the Netherlands.
What is your personal experience, and which EU country do you think is best? Maybe we'll move there next lol
Replies
I want to see opinions :D
TBH, the lowest taxes are in Slovakia, Hungary (but be careful about the political situation).
I would consider it among those European countries the Czech Republic.
Tho I do not think that Nordic countries are beneficial in terms of taxes, I think they have very high quality standards and safety conditions.
I know that many people also register their companies in Estonia. I speculated a lot, but it turned out that all the money I would like to "save" on taxes would probably be spent on administration and bureaucracy to manage that. :D
@busmark_w_nika I think that the economic and political situation of a country also affects your business, so yeah, probably Slovakia and Hungary are cheap and you don't have to pay a lot of taxes, but instability would have a negative impact anyway. At least, that's what I believe.
You tried registering a company in Estonia? I've heard that you can do everything online, but you need to register your residence first and live there for at least six months (if you're an EU citizen). Thought about it, too, but I think it's too cold there ahah
@pamela_arienti Not me, but one of my friends. He registered online, and the only thing he did was that he received his card and physically got it from the Estonian embassy based in Germany. That's all.
I would love to see people talking about their experience as well in other countries.
I've heard Portugal was nice but I have no clue about taxes and all the administration stuff.
How does Germany works on that ?
@eliotlm Portugal is nice because you don't have to pay as many taxes as in other countries (like northern Europe), but language and bureaucracy are huge obstacles.
Administrative staff only speak Portuguese, and they won't try to help you in any way, so you're basically on your own trying to understand what to do. There are experts who can help you open a business and manage your taxes, but they're too expensive for Portugal, in my opinion.
As for Germany, I'm having positive feelings about it. For the moment, everything seems pretty straightforward when it comes to registering your business (you can do it online, and they respond in just a few days, although everything is in German; however, ChatGPT works just fine for this kind of task lol).
It also seems that you receive a lot of benefits, especially when you open a business and work from home. For instance, you can deduct a lot of expenses from your taxes, such as heating, gas, grocery shopping, etc. And taxes are more proportional than in many other EU countries, so if your income is low, you pay less.
@pamela_arienti thank you for your response. Very interesting, I thought Portugal would be easier in terms of language and admin.
Germany seems like one of the best option out there. How long have you been in Germany and are you planning on going somewhere else ?