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A comment on Ask HN: My side project is ramen-profitable. What do I do now?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: My side project is ramen-profitable. What do I do... by jakobegger on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:01AM (#11619198)
I'd recommend against that. You'll probably be fine as a sole proprietor (Einzelunternehmen).

A separate legal entity (UG / GmbH / Limited / whatever) is mainly useful for three things:

- avoiding personal liability

- shared ownership

- tax optimisation

For a website like this, there is practically no liability to worry about. And if you don't have a partner, you don't need to worry about shared ownership.

For tax purposes, the overhead of a legal entity only pays off if you already have a lot of revenue (in Austria, more than 200k€ per year)

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Re:Ask HN: My side project is ramen-profitable. What do I do... by WA on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @05:17PM (#11624310)
I second that. There is no need to start a UG or GmbH.

Especially not for avoiding personal liability!

Because as the director of the company (which you are as a solo founder), you ARE still personally liable (GmbH-Geschäftsführer-Haftung).

Get a Gewerbeschein. It's 25€ or so. IHK might want membership fees, but they are really low if you don't have much income.

Go with Kleinunternehmerregelung. It makes many things easier if your revenue is below 17,500€ per year.

Don't forget: The first 8,000€ in income per year are tax-free.

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Re:Ask HN: My side project is ramen-profitable. What do I do... by cruppstahl on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @03:33AM (#11626804)
Thanks for the insights!
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Re:Ask HN: My side project is ramen-profitable. What do I do... by cruppstahl on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:13AM (#11619244)
Agree for a website. I'm selling software licenses, avoiding personal liability would be interesting (if it was affordable).
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Re:Ask HN: My side project is ramen-profitable. What do I do... by jakobegger on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @06:46AM (#11619412)
"Limited liability" is mainly related to financial liability (taxes, wages, payments for supplies). If you are worried about your software accidentally deleting all your users files, getting insurance would probably be better than founding a GmbH (and more affordable too).
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Re:Ask HN: My side project is ramen-profitable. What do I do... by cruppstahl on Tuesday May 03, 2016 @07:27AM (#11619587)
Interesting - thanks for your answers!
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