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Comment by rusticpenn | Hacker News Reader

There is this 1 € GmBH concept, where there is almost no paper work.

Which doesn't exist in the Netherlands. As a BV (the Dutch equivalent of a GmBH), you're obligated to have a CEO-equivalent person, which you're by law forced to pay a market-conform salary, or, even if you're not doing this, you are still forced to pay taxes as though you did.

You have other options, like VOF or CV, if you have funding constraints.

Here in Belgium there's the "starters-BVBA" which is the equivalent of the 1 euro GmbH. Yes, there's paperwork and some investment involved, but IMHO it's a myth that starting a company in Europe is a huge hassle.

> You have other options, like VOF or CV, if you have funding constraints.

Which isn't a real option; VOFs and CVs do not have the financial and legal separation of you and the company that a BV has.

Do you really need that though? If revenue is not large enough to start a BV? You can still get insurance and separate bank accounts.

I did it before with a Dutch partner, we just started a VOF together. Our plan was to turn it into a BV once revenue reached a certain point (it never did, so we didn't... it was a side hustle).

True in general, but as long as you don't have a lot of equity in your BV yet, you don't have to do it. The tax man won't force you to go broke paying yourself a Market-rate salary.

The 1€ GmBH isn't available in all (most?) European countries. I know that Germany introduced them a couple of years ago. It's great if you live in the country where you register the GmbH, but it can get lots of tax paper work quickly when your country of residence differs from the country where your company is registered.

The paperwork is reduced initially (though a GmbH isn't significantly more complicated - it's just a lot more expensive), but it's still treated the same with regards to taxes etc, so the same rules do apply. It's meant to lower the costs of having limited liability for simple circumstances, not so much cut the red tape.

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