Just start with "Step 13a: Finding a Tax Advisor" and they will help you with the rest.
olieidel•6h ago
Sure, there are lots of middlemen who are more than happy to take your money to navigate this broken process, and tax advisors are probably #1 on the list :)
That being said, even throwing money at a tax advisor won't reduce the 16 steps to 1. More like 5-10.
You'll still have to to go the notary yourself, you'll still be opening the bank account yourself, you'll still be subject to Handelsregister spam and fake invoices, etc., etc.
integralid•5h ago
Why not step 1? For 90% of software developers sole proprietor is enough (note: I don't live in Germany but in a country with a similar system). GmbH is a pretty heavy solution for larger companies.
German system is more complicated than it should be, but I think this is a bit overblown because of the stereotype.
olieidel•2h ago
Yup. Most of the time, you simply don't need a GmbH.
I wonder why German people often think they need to found one - maybe because people in the US have a low threshold of founding an LLC, but that's because it's easy and cheap; or maybe due to the German Angst of "I will immediately get sued, so I need limited liability".
nwellnhof•6h ago
olieidel•6h ago
That being said, even throwing money at a tax advisor won't reduce the 16 steps to 1. More like 5-10.
You'll still have to to go the notary yourself, you'll still be opening the bank account yourself, you'll still be subject to Handelsregister spam and fake invoices, etc., etc.
integralid•5h ago
German system is more complicated than it should be, but I think this is a bit overblown because of the stereotype.
olieidel•2h ago
I wonder why German people often think they need to found one - maybe because people in the US have a low threshold of founding an LLC, but that's because it's easy and cheap; or maybe due to the German Angst of "I will immediately get sued, so I need limited liability".