Europe’s Other Crisis: A Digital Recession

Re:Europe’s Other Crisis: A Digital Recession by germanier on Monday November 02, 2015 @05:07AM (#10490957)

From German view you will have to follow almost the same rules and regulations that a German company would have to follow, so not really an advantage on that front. Doing taxes will be complicated though. You would have to pay the same German taxes that every German company needs to pay but of course the US might also want their share. Navigating double-taxation treaties is not easy.

If you need a legal presence in the US it's actually easiest to start two companies, one on each side of the pond, with one of them owning the other.

You should definitely go to a tax consultant knowing this stuff if you consider doing such things.

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Re:Europe’s Other Crisis: A Digital Recession by kuschku on Monday November 02, 2015 @05:10AM (#10490965)

This is especially an issue with the US, which is notorious for double-taxing income of its citizen that was generated (and taxed) in other countries.

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Re:Europe’s Other Crisis: A Digital Recession by kspaans on Monday November 02, 2015 @05:33AM (#10491042)

Are you referring to double-taxing or the US's "taxing income earned abroad" policy? It looks like the US has many tax treaties[0], and it's my understanding that these treaties will usually shield you from double-taxation.

What the US does do, however (as I understand it), is tax you on the difference between the income tax you pay in a foreign country and what you would pay if you were in the US. In other words, living in a foreign country with lower income tax than the US won't let you avoid paying at least as much income tax as if you were still in the US. (And if you move somewhere with higher taxes the US won't charge you any extra (nor give you tax credits! :P).)

0 - https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/International-Businesses/Unit...

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Re:Europe’s Other Crisis: A Digital Recession by kuschku on Monday November 02, 2015 @05:34AM (#10491046)

Extra paperwork (especially when you have to deal with paperwork in multiple languages) can get insanely expensive, though. Which makes the "incorporate outside the US" ineffective.

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