European founders: Where is your company incorporated?
Hey folks!
I am digital nomad and I am currently living in a lot of places (mostly Europe so far). Due to some growth I am thinking about turning my sole proprietorship into a limited but I am undecided where.
The recommendations range from just do it in your own country because you “know” it the best, to a US LLC, Estonian OÜ to the seemingly most interesting option: A Singaporean Pte Ltd.
There are so many options, so I appreciate your advice and own experience.
Hey there Dominik.
Estonian OÜ and Singaporean Pte Ltd both have corporate taxes. The best is a US LLC, as it is tax free for non-US citizens 90% of the time. This is because the LLC has limited liability protection for the members of the company, but is taxed like a partnership from a tax perspective (pass-through).
We wrote an article on this
https://startfleet.io/guide/us-llc-for-non-residents-guide
Hope this helps!
Interesting! Heard that from a couple of people as well. I have two questions regarding this:
1: What are your thoughts on patent trolls and generally the US being a country where businesses love to sue each other? I keep hearing this as a negative side of forming a US company.
2: I think I have read on your blog that vesting is not possible with an LLC, is it? From what I have seen, C-Corps are just much more structured and easier to vest but it's certainly possible with an LLC? For my particular situation, I am currently in the process of onboarding a potential business partner and I'd like him to vest into the company for certain period of time. What would be your advice on that?
Hi
2, Thanks for pointing that out, when we wrote that, we were referring to C-Corp vestings. The fact is that you can create a vesting schedule for LLCs as well.
Feel free to write us a mail or chat with us on the website :)