Posted by jvilalta 2 hours ago
Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?
I'm considering using an Estonian OÜ for a SaaS business and would love to hear from people who have actually gone through the process.
What surprised you after becoming an e-resident and establishing your company? Were there recurring costs, compliance requirements, banking/payment issues, tax complications, or other operational challenges you didn't anticipate?
How easy has it been to run the company remotely? Have you ever needed to travel to Estonia to resolve an issue?
Looking back, would you do it again? What do you wish you had known before getting started?
I'd appreciate any lessons learned, gotchas, or advice from current or former e-residents.
Company will end up as tax resident from the country where it is managed & controlled .
If there is an DTA the tie breaker rule applies and the country from where it is managed & controlled gets the right to tax .
Also you get to enjoy bureaucracy+ dual accounting in both countries .
If there is no DTA it can lead to double taxation .
And if you don't have a fixed place of management/business+ tax residency (basically nomading) a US LLC disregarded for tax purposes is a much better fit .
What do you wish you had known before getting started?
Your yearly financial data is public, everyone will know your income / profit. And you will get spammed, your email will be public too. How easy has it been to run the company remotely?
Great Have you ever needed to travel to Estonia to resolve an issue?
Only visited once to open bank account LHV but I closed it since then and can use remote banking Looking back, would you do it again?
YesI never needed to visit since I could use Wise for banking.
The only thing is that surprised me was the tax rate, when I created my Company the advertised rate was 20/80 but in reality it was ~25/75 and it increased since.
Also, shameless plug for people broadly interested in the country of Estonia and how it became a leader in e-gov/tech only a generation after independence from the Soviet Union, I wrote a book about it after being curious myself! https://www.rebootinganation.com/
From: https://learn.e-resident.gov.ee/hc/en-gb/articles/3600007215...
> Corporate tax residency
> However, some countries have different rules for deciding if a company is tax resident. It is common that, in addition to the place of incorporation, the place of effective management can trigger tax residence. If you run your company from a country with regulations like this, then the company may end up having dual tax residence. This happens when two states believe that the company is tax resident in their jurisdiction and will want to tax the company’s profits.
This 'It is common that [...] the place of effective management can trigger tax residence' is indeed common.
Company stays "in" Jersey, none of the humans need to live there?
So if 50% or more of your directors spend 183 days per year in the UK then your Estonian based business becomes UK tax resident in the eyes of the UK.
Do not underestimate the complexity of these rules.
I’m using UK myself. It takes a few forms and half a day to get a working Wise/Stripe account.
See https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/understanding-cross-border-tax..., look for “Permanent Establishment”
But you have to investigate how the Dutch will treat it .
You could apply for a advance tax ruling with the Dutch tax authorities before doing anything
Later on when you scale, you can convert the LLP into an LTD.
Also you might avoid exit taxes as it is an partnership , if you move between countries.
Also there is basically no information in the post besides 2 founders in different countries.