I considered offshoring my business to the US and the bureaucracy involved would be horrific.

For comparison, you can set up a business in the UK with a couple of clicks. Beyond that it's a matter of filing a tax return once a year and payroll returns monthly - or annually if you qualify for an exception.

I created a Delaware LLC in a few minutes, online, from the deck of a boat in the Med. except for filing taxes there was nothing complicated about it.

I recently moved to France, even relatively simple things such as renting an apartment require ridiculous amounts of paperwork compared to the UK. I can't imagine starting a business here.

It may be more than what you have to provide abroad (but I would disagree on a few cases, for instance Japan where you need exceptional guarantors like your company, as well as pay a few months of rent that will never be refunded - known as "key money"), but there is a reason for that.

As a landlord in France, I can assure you that renters have extreme protections here. They can avoid paying rent for months on end without being evicted. That's why we have to ask for so many documents, to try to reduce as much as possible the risk for us.

Furthermore, the documents a landlord can ask a potential renter is limited by law, so there shouldn't be any abuse with that.

I just started renting flat in France and the amount of paper I had to give wasn't particularly bad (id copy, copy of three pay slips and proof of home insurance, which I did in two day over the phone and by internet)

Also, these are not legal requirements but requirements of landlords (apart from ID, perhaps), and they tend to be similar in France and the UK.

But when it comes to setting up a company France is nightmarish compared to the UK, which has one of the simplest, quickest, and cheapest systems around.

I was just commenting on the renting a flat part. I've never set a company in France

Maybe my experience was worse being young and renting in Paris, but they wanted several things on top of that (birth certificate, passport, job contract, last 3 utility bills).

Your landlord demanded those things to make sure you'd be able to pay, they're not legally required (maybe apart from checking that you're using your real name).

The UK has an easier company creation process (compared to most countries), which doesn't mean other countries are necessarily bad or that you need to do it all alone.

Yes it would be better without the bureaucracy but it doesn't mean it is unsurmountable.

Sure, today it's easier to open a company in the country of your choice, but there might be cases where you want or need to open it in a specific country.

(Also, life happens. I doubt the work of any startup started only after the paperwork was 100%)

The last time I rented a place in France was 2007 and it didn’t seem that onerous even then. But what I lacked in paperwork I made up for by paying a larger caution.

Basically, landlords are reluctant to rent people who may not be able to pay. And it takes years to evict. The more likely you aren’t in that group the less paperwork they’ll need.

There is this 1 € GmBH concept, where there is almost no paper work.

Which doesn't exist in the Netherlands. As a BV (the Dutch equivalent of a GmBH), you're obligated to have a CEO-equivalent person, which you're by law forced to pay a market-conform salary, or, even if you're not doing this, you are still forced to pay taxes as though you did.

You have other options, like VOF or CV, if you have funding constraints.

Here in Belgium there's the "starters-BVBA" which is the equivalent of the 1 euro GmbH. Yes, there's paperwork and some investment involved, but IMHO it's a myth that starting a company in Europe is a huge hassle.

> You have other options, like VOF or CV, if you have funding constraints.

Which isn't a real option; VOFs and CVs do not have the financial and legal separation of you and the company that a BV has.

Do you really need that though? If revenue is not large enough to start a BV? You can still get insurance and separate bank accounts.

I did it before with a Dutch partner, we just started a VOF together. Our plan was to turn it into a BV once revenue reached a certain point (it never did, so we didn't... it was a side hustle).

True in general, but as long as you don't have a lot of equity in your BV yet, you don't have to do it. The tax man won't force you to go broke paying yourself a Market-rate salary.

The 1€ GmBH isn't available in all (most?) European countries. I know that Germany introduced them a couple of years ago. It's great if you live in the country where you register the GmbH, but it can get lots of tax paper work quickly when your country of residence differs from the country where your company is registered.

The paperwork is reduced initially (though a GmbH isn't significantly more complicated - it's just a lot more expensive), but it's still treated the same with regards to taxes etc, so the same rules do apply. It's meant to lower the costs of having limited liability for simple circumstances, not so much cut the red tape.

This was probably true at one time, but the States are utterly brutal from a compliance/reporting perspective now.