Estonia is expanding its E-Residency Program

[DeletedUser394]

For those that are unaware:

https://e-estonia.com/e-residents/about/

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2015/03/13/how-to-get-e-residency-in-estonia/

Just got this email. Starting April 1st, you don't even have to leave your home country;



@GlobalWealth, did you end up getting yours? If so, what was the cost and how was the experience?

 

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[zerobrainwash]

Love Estonia, even being so small it manages to kick a$$.

 

[GlobalWealth]

http://www.globalwealthprotection.com/e-residency-estonia-company-formation-banking/

I wrote about it here

 

[ilrein]

I'll have to put Estonia as a must visit during a eurotrip.

Thanks for the article @GlobalWealth.

 

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[GlobalWealth]

It is a must visit. As is Latvia.

 

[DeletedUser394]

It is a must visit. As is Latvia.

Waiting for a certain Kung Fu Master to make his return, then I'm there!!!

 

[smartman]

somehow never made it to estonia despite my travels in EU. Even had a friend posted up there for a couple years and never took advantage of it. He said the city is split into thirds now- Russians, Fins, and the english/americans there to take advantage of the economic situations there.

 

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[Durete]

Estonia is an awesome country, love tallinn.

It's like the netherlands without the massive amounts of people. (1.3 vs 18 million)
Only downside is that it is quite expensive.

Anyways this E-residency seems quite interesting.
I read on one of the links here or on google the option to have an estonian bank account, where you can go internet banking with in different currencies. that sounds very interesting, as I get paid in US dollars, and need to have a bank account for that, but my country sadly does not support that, unless you're bringing in in the high 6 numbers of capital...which I do not have.

Oh and ofcourse the thing to have an estonian based company with no coorporate taxes


edit: Hmm, gotta look more into the tax system.
it seems if you have an estonian based company, you will pay:
-20% tax over your personal salary.
- 13% social taxes
total of 33% taxes.

 

[Serks]

I don't get it.

Call me whatever you like but can anyone explain in 20 words what this means?

 

[DeletedUser394]

I don't get it.

Call me whatever you like but can anyone explain in 20 words what this means?

All of the links provided (including Globalwealth's) explain the benefits pretty well, in basic english.

For me personally, it's about diversifying your risk. This whole e-residency concept appeals primarily to libertarian minded people who don't want to be tied down or dependent on any one government.

As of this moment I've got various accounts serving different purposes spread across Canada, USA, and the Caribbean. Looking forward to adding Estonia to that list.

Also there are tax advantages if you live in a high taxed place you can set yourself up (business-wise) in a foreign country to benefit from differences in rates.

USA and other 1st world banking systems are just another time bomb waiting to go off. Estonia is an attractive, well capitalized, and much more suitable alternative to those with a lot of assets and little trust in their home government.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

This interview with the elderly man is both sad and infuriating. This is why when you have the means, you move the money around. This is why what Estonia is offering is groundbreaking.

Never use only one bank in only one country.

 

[Durete]

USA and other 1st world banking systems are just another time bomb waiting to go off. Estonia is an attractive, well capitalized, and much more suitable alternative to those with a lot of assets and little trust in their home government.

It is however part of the European Union,
So for me it's already flagged as high risk. I try to move everything away from the EU, I believe that they're worse than the NSA, USA or anything else that you could imagine on privacy breaking, total control and their financial management sounds for me as extreme high risk. (Not much success, but still.)

That being said, I might just start my company there with plans to be able to release it quickly and run away once the EU forces also that country to change the laws.

 

[H. Palmer]

Estonia is an awesome country, love tallinn.


edit: Hmm, gotta look more into the tax system.
it seems if you have an estonian based company, you will pay:
-20% tax over your personal salary.
- 13% social taxes
total of 33% taxes.

Durete, as long as you live in the Netherlands, you will be taxed on your personal income in the Netherlands.

Regarding your personal salary, your Estonian corporation will be treated in the Netherlands as the local BV.
The Raad van State has ruled that way in previous cases. You will not find this in the tax law or in the yearly issued tax advice books like Elseviers Belastinggids.

This means that you will ALWAYS be taxed for an income of at least around 50.000 euro's per year, even if the corporation does not make a profit at all.
And even if you don't pay yourself a salary.
This is the so called "gebruikelijk loon" for the DGA.

You can ask the Tax Service to be exempt from the "gebruikelijk loon" rule and they will grant that if certain conditions are met.

But if you don't ask for this exemption the tax service will impose a tax on the gebruikelijk loon and it will be impossible to roll it back.

If this sounds ridiculous to you, that is because it is ridiculous.
Don't try to be smart and think it won't apply to you, because you're in for a rude surprise.

Always seek advice from a tax consultant when you start a corporation from the Netherlands, even if the corporation is based in Hong Kong or wherever. And always expressly bring up the issue of "gebruikelijk loon".

 

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[Waisec]

http://www.globalwealthprotection.com/e-residency-estonia-company-formation-banking/

I wrote about it here

Great article, you managed to sum it up really well. Gotta say, I'm proud how the country has developed and uses it's small size and population as an advantage and encourages innovation

And it's funny how we over here take all these benefits for granted (see location). It's not until you live abroad that you really start missing it all. I've lived in Ireland in the past and while I liked the people and the place, the banking and tax system over there seemed incredibly primitive. Lots of paper work and bureaucracy, lots of unnecessary visits to the offices (which are only open at very inconvenient hours) and the time it took to get the most simple things done...
I imagine most of the world not being too different

somehow never made it to estonia despite my travels in EU. Even had a friend posted up there for a couple years and never took advantage of it. He said the city is split into thirds now- Russians, Fins, and the english/americans there to take advantage of the economic situations there.

The reality is a bit different. Two main groups in Tallinn would be Estonians and the slavs (Russians, Ukrainians etc), with Estonians making up just over half the population and Russians around 30-40%. The third smaller group would be foreigners, mainly scandinavians/brits/americans, nearly all of them entrepreneurs or workers specialized in some niche field

Either way, whether you decide to travel here, live here and/or do business here, you shouldn't have any issues getting by with English as it's very widely spoken here.

As for the country being expensive, it really depends on your income (obviously). If your business brings in just the average salary that someone would make in western EU or Northern-American, you'd feel very comfortable living here

 

[Phones]

How about Bulgaria?

10% Corporate Tax, 10% Personal income tax

And it is easy to get residence

It is however part of the European Union,
So for me it's already flagged as high risk. I try to move everything away from the EU, I believe that they're worse than the NSA, USA or anything else that you could imagine on privacy breaking, total control and their financial management sounds for me as extreme high risk. (Not much success, but still.)

That being said, I might just start my company there with plans to be able to release it quickly and run away once the EU forces also that country to change the laws.

Consp theory much? Not saying EU is much different than USA, the thing is that you have many countries, many barriers, that just in itself represents a big barrier in terms of surveillance/control/privacy breaking.

 

[GlobalWealth]

How about Bulgaria?

10% Corporate Tax, 10% Personal income tax

And it is easy to get residence



Consp theory much? Not saying EU is much different than USA, the thing is that you have many countries, many barriers, that just in itself represents a big barrier in terms of surveillance/control/privacy breaking.

I personally wouldn't live in Bulgaria. I've been a few places but didn't care for it that much. Estonia is a much nicer place to live.

 

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[Phones]

I personally wouldn't live in Bulgaria. I've been a few places but didn't care for it that much. Estonia is a much nicer place to live.

I'm not sure but from what I've read, you just need a rental there. As an EU citizen you can travel / live anywhere I guess, how can anyone know if you spent 180 days or not there?

Also, even as a nonresident, Isn't Bulgarian income is taxed in Bulgaria? so it won't get taxed again in Portugal in my case (double taxation agreenent). Nevermind, I still would pay tax in Portugal and deduct what was paid in Bulgaria. Residency it is then

Portugal also has a good program for non-citizens. While residents are paying 48% if they earn more than 80k/year

 

[Durete]

Durete, as long as you live in the Netherlands, you will be taxed on your personal income in the Netherlands.

Regarding your personal salary, your Estonian corporation will be treated in the Netherlands as the local BV.
The Raad van State has ruled that way in previous cases. You will not find this in the tax law or in the yearly issued tax advice books like Elseviers Belastinggids.

This means that you will ALWAYS be taxed for an income of at least around 50.000 euro's per year, even if the corporation does not make a profit at all.
And even if you don't pay yourself a salary.
This is the so called "gebruikelijk loon" for the DGA.

You can ask the Tax Service to be exempt from the "gebruikelijk loon" rule and they will grant that if certain conditions are met.

But if you don't ask for this exemption the tax service will impose a tax on the gebruikelijk loon and it will be impossible to roll it back.

If this sounds ridiculous to you, that is because it is ridiculous.
Don't try to be smart and think it won't apply to you, because you're in for a rude surprise.

Always seek advice from a tax consultant when you start a corporation from the Netherlands, even if the corporation is based in Hong Kong or wherever. And always expressly bring up the issue of "gebruikelijk loon".

Thanks for the information,

The netherlands however, doesn't tax me, as I'm not a resident anymore.
I'm a citizen but not a resident. can't even get my passport at the "Gemeentehuis" anymore, need to go to an embassy to get it, or to BoZ.

In fact, I haven't paid any social/income taxes since 2012. (The only taxes I ever pay are VAT if I purchase something.)

and 50.000 euro's a year..I wished I made that xD currently I'm making around $12.000 a year. (The only costs I have however are: Public transport 4 times a year, and since 2 days ago a webhost and domain.)

 

[DeletedUser394]

It's time.

'
Dear current and future e-Residents,
Hello from Tallinn! The big day has finally arrived — we have just launched the e-Residency online application site!

As of this morning, it is now possible to apply for e-Residency at e-resident.gov.ee anywhere in the world. Once your application is approved, just one face-to-face meeting is required to collect the card!

To begin, visit e-resident.gov.ee, fill in the online application, upload your photo and a photo of your identity document, state your reason for applying and pay a 50 euro state fee. We ask for your application motivation to have an overview of our customers (you!). We also want to manage the risks and conduct the necessary background checks to prevent digital identity misuse.

Once your application has been submitted, the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board will carry out your background check. Once your application is approved, you will be invited to your chosen pickup location to identify yourself, give fingerprints and collect your e-Resident smart ID card and card reader. The whole process should take about a month.

You can pick up the card from our foreign embassies and consulates in 34 countries around the world, or at Police and Border Guard Board service points in Estonia. Please note that the Estonian honorary consuls do not issue e-Residency and we currently do not plan to expand the number of pickup locations.

As of today e-Residents can:

• Establish an Estonian company online within a day. At the moment a physical address in Estonia is required, which may be obtained using a virtual office service provider.
• Administer the company from anywhere in the world.
• Conduct e-banking and remote money transfers. Establishing an Estonian bank account currently requires one in-person meeting at the bank, and is at the sole discretion of our banking partners.
• Access online payment service providers
• Declare Estonian taxes online. e-Residency does not automatically establish tax residency. To learn about taxation and to avoid double taxation please consult a tax professional.

We continue to work with the private sector and government agencies to enhance our existing services and create new programs for e-Residents. As an example, it currently requires an in-person meeting to open a bank account, or the help of virtual office providers to establish a company with a legal Estonian address. We are working hard to make these services more accessible and user-friendly soon. Stay tuned.

Our government is developing e-Residency like a startup. We launched it fast and agile, and we are constantly working to improve and extend this revolutionary program. e-Residency is now in a public beta phase: everybody is invited to apply and help us cater it best to you, the new e-Estonian — a new kind of digital and global citizen. For that, we depend on your feedback and guidance.

Since the issue of security has recently been raised, I feel that it is important to tell you about it as well. A digital identity itself does not bring along new risks, such as money laundering. Instead, it makes existing risks more visible and manageable as digital footprints are easily traceable. We have extensive logging and fraud analysis, which we make use of at our discretion and on reasonable suspicion. We also thoroughly check the background of prospective e-Residents to make sure we can trust them as future members of the Estonian e-Society.

Estonia is known worldwide for its advanced cybersecurity competence, and we take good care to mitigate the possible risks of e-Residency. The e-Resident ID itself as well as the services are built on state-of-the-art technological solutions, such as 2048-bit public key encryption. Procedures and practices are in place to ensure the safety of e-Residents’ data and that limit possibilities for misuse.

Thank you for the incredible amount of positive feedback you have already given us — and please keep writing! We have learned that people from around the world view e-Residency as an opportunity to fulfil their dreams, venture across digital borders, and free themselves from corporate bureaucracy. Our long term vision is to offer to every world citizen a government-issued digital identity and the opportunity to run a trusted company online, unleashing the world’s entrepreneurial potential.

The e-Residency application portal was officially launched this morning at Nordic Digital Day, a one-day conference about Nordic ICT innovations and reforms held during ICT Week 2015 in Tallinn, Estonia.

Please find more information at e-resident.gov.ee and follow us on Twitter @e_Residents

We look forward to welcoming you as an e-Resident!


Kaspar Korjus, Program Director
and the e-Residency Team
Tallinn, Estonia'

 

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[GuestUser140]

Our government is developing e-Residency like a startup. We launched it fast and agile, and we are constantly working to improve and extend this revolutionary program

This coming from a government...

 

[DeletedUser394]

This coming from a government...

In the next Canadian election, I'm voting for the current president/prime minister/whatever head of state is called of Estonia. lol

 

[MTF]

Planned Changes to Estonia’s Banking Law
While e-residents can open a company in a day and sign legally binding documents with just a few clicks, opening a bank account has been a little harder. E-residents applying for an Estonian bank account have had to come to Estonia and have a “face-to-face” meeting with a bank official. However, we hope that within the next year e-residents will be able to apply for a bank account the same way they take advantage of other Estonian services: digitally! By autumn 2016, partner banks will be able to “meet” with applicants who want to open bank accounts virtually via secure video chat.

Now this is a game changer. Technically it's not a big thing to go there and do it in person, but the ability to do it online will be a lifesaver for many people outside the EU or just anyone not wanting to spend/time money flying there.

Also, some cool updates:

As of today we have received over 6000 e-Residency applications from 118 countries and there are more than 400 companies connected to e-residents. We have already exceeded our initial goal for 2015 by more than three-fold and have received a vast amount of positive feedback especially considering that we are in beta phase. We are also happy to announce that in the last few months, we have had several well-known additions to the e-Residency community, such as the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe, former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki and Swedbank President and CEO Michael Wolf.

 

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[Durete]

I was in Estonia about 40 times this summer, but choose not to join the e-residents program yet,

Main reason that I wanted to join was to start a business, but so far you still need a brick and mortar shop in order to register.
(An address in the country + they're going to inspect.)

Once that is changed to online businesses being accepted as well, I'll join right away and move my business there.
(Although the tax advantages are a bit misleading as well.
No corporate income tax,
But taxes over everything that the company owns+the money in the bank account.
+ taxes for any of the money that you pay out as salaries and dividends. )

 

[GlobalWealth]

I was in Estonia about 40 times this summer, but choose not to join the e-residents program yet,

Main reason that I wanted to join was to start a business, but so far you still need a brick and mortar shop in order to register.
(An address in the country + they're going to inspect.)

Once that is changed to online businesses being accepted as well, I'll join right away and move my business there.
(Although the tax advantages are a bit misleading as well.
No corporate income tax,
But taxes over everything that the company owns+the money in the bank account.
+ taxes for any of the money that you pay out as salaries and dividends. )

Thats not true. You can register an online company. We have several clients who have done exactly that.

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