frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Ask HN: What surprised you about Estonia e-Residency and running an Estonian OÜ?

47•jvilalta•1h ago
From the official information online, joining the e-Residency program and setting up an Estonian company seems relatively straightforward.

I'm considering using an Estonian OÜ for a SaaS business and would love to hear from people who have actually gone through the process.

What surprised you after becoming an e-resident and establishing your company? Were there recurring costs, compliance requirements, banking/payment issues, tax complications, or other operational challenges you didn't anticipate?

How easy has it been to run the company remotely? Have you ever needed to travel to Estonia to resolve an issue?

Looking back, would you do it again? What do you wish you had known before getting started?

I'd appreciate any lessons learned, gotchas, or advice from current or former e-residents.

Comments

dgellow•1h ago
Where are you located? Where will you administer the company from? That impacts your tax situation quite a lot.

See https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/understanding-cross-border-tax..., look for “Permanent Establishment”

jvilalta•34m ago
I am in the US currently, would be managing initially from the US. I understand there will be US tax complications, but I can/would deal with those.
ExpertAdvisor01•13m ago
The worst thing you could do as an us citizen (I assume ) and resident is to incorporate outside of the US.
pyvpx•8m ago
This is a terrible idea. please hire a professional with direct experience on these matters and not blog posts from influencers
ttoinou•1h ago
I was surprised how amazing it is ?

  What do you wish you had known before getting started?
Your yearly financial data is public, everyone will know your income / profit. And you will get spammed, your email will be public too.

  How easy has it been to run the company remotely?
Great

  Have you ever needed to travel to Estonia to resolve an issue?
Only visited once to open bank account LHV but I closed it since then and can use remote banking

  Looking back, would you do it again?
Yes
gdotdesign•35m ago
Same experience for me, it's been great!

I never needed to visit since I could use Wise for banking.

The only thing is that surprised me was the tax rate, when I created my Company the advertised rate was 20/80 but in reality it was ~25/75 and it increased since.

m00dy•27m ago
Wise is not a bank.
poly2it•41m ago
Question: are OÜs particularly beneficial even for non-Estonians (EU), and in what way?
jvilalta•30m ago
I can't speak about all EU countries, but the one country I looked into (Spain), I couldn't find a way to do everything remotely. It required being physically present for some things, so that's why I am asking about whether Estonia actually delivers IRL on the e part of e-residence.
m00dy•40m ago
I think banking is still the biggest issue if you’re not an Estonian resident.

Honestly, I’d avoid the EU in general. There are only about four or five good places to set up a company and stay connected to the financial system: the US, especially Wyoming or Delaware, Dubai, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Ringz•3m ago
Why not London/UK?
leitasat•39m ago
It was great until they turned racists and stopped me from using the service because of my nationality (Russia), even though neither me or the business had anything to do with Russia.
8note•30m ago
are you a russian speaking estonian? or russian citizen?
leitasat•26m ago
Russian citizen living abroad
fractallyte•26m ago
That's understandable (and predictable), considering russia's aggressive stance regarding the Baltics.

At the consulate, I emphasized that I was opening a company in Estonia to support the economy and country, especially because of the threat they're facing off against. Demonstrating one's deep knowledge of the situation, and fully backing Estonia in spite of the magnitude of the threat, is the way to win friends.

m00dy•20m ago
your comment is weird, can't call if it's AI slop or not.
mongol•2m ago
If you are Russian, you have something to do with Russia
Gys•33m ago
Please beware:

From: https://learn.e-resident.gov.ee/hc/en-gb/articles/3600007215...

> Corporate tax residency

> However, some countries have different rules for deciding if a company is tax resident. It is common that, in addition to the place of incorporation, the place of effective management can trigger tax residence. If you run your company from a country with regulations like this, then the company may end up having dual tax residence. This happens when two states believe that the company is tax resident in their jurisdiction and will want to tax the company’s profits.

This 'It is common that [...] the place of effective management can trigger tax residence' is indeed common.

jocaal•31m ago
Also estonian law doesn't recognize trusts, so if you want to save your assets for your children that's a problem.
ExpertAdvisor01•26m ago
You mostly use foundations for that purpose in civil law countries (which are also not part of the hague trust convention )
logifail•9m ago
Hence the executives/boardmembers-all-fly-to-some-island (Jersey is the one in my mind), have board meeting in the airport, sign the papers, and all fly home?

Company stays "in" Jersey, none of the humans need to live there?

mhog_hn•33m ago
Any tips for a 2 person European company. One founder based in Amsterdam, the other in London. We are close to setting things up, some input from other founders would be great
wayneshng•29m ago
It has been a great experience. Setting up the company was online, and it took 3 days, including the time spent to change the name because the initial name was rejected. You can use Wise for banking, but LHV is also visible but there is an account limit if you don’t live there. Accounting is easy, but you will need an accountant for tax reporting if you have a VAT ID. My accountant charges me 60 euros per month and does an amazing job.
ExpertAdvisor01•28m ago
Useless + overhyped .

Company will end up as tax resident from the country where it is managed & controlled .

If there is an DTA the tie breaker rule applies and the country from where it is managed & controlled gets the right to tax .

Also you get to enjoy bureaucracy+ dual accounting in both countries .

If there is no DTA it can lead to double taxation .

And if you don't have a fixed place of management/business+ tax residency (basically nomading) a US LLC disregarded for tax purposes is a much better fit .

edoceo•20m ago
Username checks out.
hakanderyal•20m ago
UK, USA and Singapore are the popular choices for this. UK is simple and cheaper, Singapore is a bit more expensive. I don’t see a reason to go USA route unless you are seeking investment from there.

I’m using UK myself. It takes a few forms and half a day to get a working Wise/Stripe account.

Onavo•12m ago
Finally somebody who knows their stuff. I never understood why people preferred Estonian incorporation given that it's almost certainly more expensive and less convenient than the other options.
joshuaheard•16m ago
I switched to 1Password after the last one.

Cultures of Making and Relating

https://blog.khinsen.net/posts/2026/06/25/cultures.html
1•akkartik•18s ago•0 comments

Ghostty/Agents.md

https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/blob/main/AGENTS.md
1•adithyassekhar•20s ago•0 comments

Technical feedback on a client-side microkernel enclave?

https://eunomia.adeno.ltd/portal/eunomia-demo.html
1•renrenrenren•2m ago•1 comments

Daytona is going closed source

https://www.daytona.io/dotfiles/updates/daytona-is-going-closed-source
1•ushakov•2m ago•0 comments

In Meta's Reality Lab: Your body's data was only valuable once

https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/in-the-reality-lab/
2•johnshades•2m ago•0 comments

The principle of least power (2007)

https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-principle-of-least-power/
1•pramodbiligiri•2m ago•0 comments

YouTube Video ID Allowance

https://michaelchadwick.info/blog/2026/02/02/youtube-video-id-allowance/
2•speckx•3m ago•0 comments

Everyone's Been Drawing Pterosaur Wings Wrong

https://nautil.us/everyones-been-drawing-pterosaur-wings-wrong-1282235
1•Brajeshwar•5m ago•0 comments

Object-oriented OS with many features of popular niche Linux distributions

https://github.com/Jonathan-R-Anderson/anonymOS/
2•rockbeatspaper•5m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Hikaru Labs – Bulk image and file processing, 100% in-browser

https://hikarulabs.xyz
2•CFBL•5m ago•1 comments

Calling everything AI-generated is lazy

https://00f.net/2026/06/25/stop-calling-everything-ai-generated/
1•Tomte•6m ago•0 comments

A Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

https://scrollprize.org/firstscroll
1•verditelabs•6m ago•1 comments

Billionaire's Warning: I'm Selling. The Crash Is Here [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32u5T6lO8qk
2•hsnewman•8m ago•0 comments

Claude Code Hints at Fable Return

https://twitter.com/synthwavedd/status/2069813760622043483
3•thedebuglife•9m ago•3 comments

The Trump White House Is over Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei

https://www.wired.com/story/the-trump-white-house-is-over-anthropics-dario-amodei/
3•thedebuglife•9m ago•0 comments

What if some of history's earliest kings were queens?

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/history-earliest-kings-ur-sumeria
2•bookofjoe•10m ago•0 comments

Route Through Dead Zones. 302x Faster Than Google

https://www.elara-cortex.com/
1•jkuria•10m ago•0 comments

My New Life with the Palantir Chore Coat

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/06/palantir-chore-coat/687686/
2•jonah•10m ago•0 comments

Anthropic accuses Alibaba of largest distillation attack to date

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/24/anthropic-alibaba-distillation-campaign.html
2•paulddraper•11m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Do you thank your agents when they did a good job?

2•ex-aws-dude•11m ago•0 comments

We're rebuilding financial services with AI

https://arcawealth.ai
2•smalt•15m ago•0 comments

US Supreme Court scales back Roundup cancer lawsuits

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-scales-back-roundup-cancer-lawsuits-2026-06-25/
5•Tomte•18m ago•0 comments

Complete text of carbonised Herculaneum scroll unlocked for first time

https://www.reuters.com/science/complete-text-carbonised-herculaneum-scroll-unlocked-first-time-2...
2•tylerchr•19m ago•0 comments

As banks close accounts, experts point to immigration crackdown

https://www.americanbanker.com/news/as-banks-close-accounts-experts-point-to-immigration-crackdown
10•petethomas•20m ago•2 comments

IBM Debuts First Sub-1 Nanometer Chip Technology

https://newsroom.ibm.com/2026-06-25-ibm-debuts-worlds-first-sub-1-nanometer-chip-technology
3•porridgeraisin•20m ago•0 comments

UK sales of electric vehicles just overtook petrol cars for the first time

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-sales-of-electric-vehicles-just-overtook-petrol-cars-for-...
4•j4mie•21m ago•0 comments

NationStates Turns Twenty (2022)

https://maxbarry.com/2022/11/12/news.html
1•altilunium•23m ago•0 comments

The U.S. last beat screwworm in 1966

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/06/25/texas-screwworm-history-eradication/
3•mzs•23m ago•0 comments

GTA 6 prices by country, $58 in South Korea to $107 in Israel

https://www.shanethegamer.com/esports-news/gta-6-prices-by-country/
2•misbloss•23m ago•0 comments

Gunship: Origins Devlog #1 – Flying the Latest Build [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fWPkThNmzg
2•skibz•23m ago•0 comments