Have you considered moving your startup abroad to save on tax payouts?

This is an unpopular opinion and it depends on your country, but paying tax in the country where you benefit from public goods (roads, public transport, schooling, health, fire department etc) shouldn't be seen as something to avoid.

Also, I know they sting, but if you have big tax bills it usually means you're doing really well!

Anyone here heard about Wyoming LLCs? Heard they can be good for bootstrapped founders.

Many Asian startups are registered in Wyoming as it is tax heaven.

I have considered it, but for me it wasn't worth the bureaucratic mess.

Besides that I'm benefiting from innovation credits, which is a subsidy scheme that many western governments offer on innovative software development. Which results in a nice tax reduction. (You do need to be a technical founder / programmer to receive this).

The application for the Golden Visa itself isn't that inviting for your average Indie Hacker, though:

"For the 10-year visa, investors having no less than AED 10 million worth of public investment" That's over $2.7 million or over 2.5m€.

"For the 5-year visa, the norms are largely similar for investors with the only difference being the amount of investment required is set at AED 5 million."

But, they do have an alternative Golden Business Visa scheme - that's worth looking into. But their tax rules are changing from 2023, so it's worth waiting to see how:

https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/insight/uae-to-implement-corporate-income-tax-in-2023-–-stepping-into-the-mainstream

I haven't necessarily considered moving to another country myself. But I've definitely thought about moving my company or starting a new one in another country where the fiscal policies are more favorable. I've heard Singapore, and Hong Kong are good places. Estonia for those who want to stay in Europe has interesting advantages too; all undistributed corporate profits are tax-exempt: https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/estonia/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income

India to Dubai for web3
India to Singapore for web2

I keep hearing about people moving to Puerto Rico that live in the US for tax reasons. I'm curious at what point it makes sense to move. There are several rules like you have to be on the island for X number of days etc. Curious if any IH's are in Puerto Rico and what their experience has been like?

John Lee Dumas from EOF talked about moving to Puerto Rico https://www.eofire.com/whypr/

Patrick Campbell - Before selling Profil Well moved to Puerto Rico

As a startup you dont want to make lots of profits anyways.

You want to paying yourself a salary which is more or less taxed the same in most places. If you have a fixed place of living (vs Nomading) you cannot avoid paying taxes in this country anyways.

And all the rest you'd want to invest in growth :)

The previous startup I worked in was in Luxembourg and this resulted in lower tax. But I think the losses in ecosystem are quite noticeable. Would much prefer to set up a startup in a big city that has a lot of supporting infrastructure, like London, Paris or Berlin.

Quite Interesting Insights!

Very interesting point. Do you think the same thing is happening in the states with american startup founders?

In the state of Oklahoma (USA), you get a state tax exemption for 10 years if you start in a certified Business Incubator: https://www.okcommerce.gov/doing-business/startups-entrepreneurs/business-incubators/

This is what I am doing for BudgetSheet. I would not move my family to another country for tax avoidance reasons alone.

Even though I don’t spend much time in my home country anymore, my company and I are still registered there and pay taxes there.

1. It’s easy, since I know the system, and thus can do taxes and finances myself, saving time and money.
2. It makes me eligible for social benefits and safety nets, should something happen to my company or me.
3. It makes the company eligible for government grants and soft funding.

Should my business be way more successful and I build a solid personal safety net, I’ll look at the alternatives more closely. As of now, I'm happy with my setup.