Hacker News Reader

Comment by andai | Hacker News Reader

My 2 cents

In 2023 tried to register a business in Estonia.

I had to first get the e-residency.

This worked, (took 6 weeks I believe), but then I had to travel to another country (which had an Estonian embassy) to collect it.

Then I would have had to travel to Estonia itself to register the actual business and bank account (something like that -- it was a while ago).

(There are "done for you" business services, but from what I recall they were quite expensive, and I think would have still required the travel.)

It was theoretically doable, but due to life circumstances I wasn't able to travel at the time, so it didn't work out.

Meanwhile a few days ago, finally worked up the courage, and registered a business in the UK via a formation agent.

It took 25 minutes and $150. (Business was registered within 2 business days.) From the comfort of sitting on mine own ass, on the other side of the sea. So... yeah xD I like this way a bit better so far.

View on HN

I can't speak to how things were in 2023 but today you do not need to visit Estonia.

Registering a company in the U.K. is very easy but the tax treatment is less favourable compared to Estonia. The U.K. leaving the European Union is also disadvantageous (although the full consequence of that is yet to be seen). All company filings in the U.K. are public, much more information about your company is public compared to Estonia.

Creating a company is the easy part in the UK. Need to do HMRC and house of company reports. And now his Majesty revenue and custom requires purchasing "approved" tax software and submit expenses adhering to new regulations. And to verify your identity

and if you like access the online service you've got to wait 2 to 3 weeks for them to send a code in a physical post letter (no other way). And part of those services are mysteriously unaccessible from an IP outside the UK.

And it costs double to dissolve the entity than it did to create it. VAT is 20%, put someone on Payee: employee pays 20% to 45% (over 50k per year starts to fall into the high tax rate) + 9% insurance and as a company you also pay roughly 30% on top for taxes and insurance. Of course there is corporate tax on any profit. If with all of those taxes you somehow manage to be profitable.

I'm curious why you used a formation agent to register your UK company instead of doing it directly on the government's web site.

https://www.gov.uk/limited-company-formation/register-your-c...

I realized I had been putting it off for years due to hating paperwork, then realized the whole point of a business is that you can pay people to do stuff you don't like. So for me, the first order of business was to outsource the formation itself :)

I get it for things that are a hassle. But the process to register a business in the UK is really straightforward. I haven't used the process for many years now, but the last time I did I was impressed at how they'd made it as simple as possible whilst collecting all the necessary information.

I can't imagine how a formation agent would make the process any simpler or easier for you.

Whole point of a business is making a profit my guy! :-)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com