My second option was Berlin and opening a UG, but I'm reading of many hurdles one has to jump with a German company. Harder to close if things don't go well, more expensive to operate, more regulations to adhere to, more bureaucratic processes etc. I've thought of Paris as well but I've read there's a lot of bureaucracy/hurdles that makes things hard for business owners.
TLDR; It seems that UK ltd is way more straightforward and the ecosystem and taxation is easier to understand (documents in English certainly help). On the other hand many people are saying you shouldn't found a company in the UK right now because of all the aforementioned reasons.
Any advice?
* Fly to London, rent a room / place
* Make an appointment to get a NI Number: https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number
* Setup a limited company with accountants, e.g: https://www.crunch.co.uk/
* Open a personal and business bank account, e.g. with Revolut or TransferWise
With a combination of low salary and issuing dividends your personal tax liability will be something like 5% on £50,000 of income (not counting corporation tax which is currently 19%), if you have a spouse or civil partner it's even better...but watch out for tax payments on account:
https://www.gov.uk/understand-self-assessment-bill/payments-...
In my opinion, the UK is a great place to do business in Europe if you're working remotely for clients all over the world and London is a great place to live too (if you don't mind the high housing prices with an income that can support it).
Just do it ASAP before Brexit, and apply to the EU Settlement Scheme: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families
If you change your mind later, you can always close your company and move away but getting a visa and moving here after Brexit will probably be a bit more complex.
Much lower cost of living, decent tech community.
Most importantly, you'll be able to drive to the EU in less than an hour if for any reason you physically need to be in EU jurisdiction.
It'll always be in both the EU and the UKs interest to ensure smooth times between the North and the South here, both in terms of free movement and conducting business. The UK is trying to play hardball, but their US trade agreement relies on not upsetting the balance here on a bipartisan basis in the US.
In addition, you'll have regular flights available from Belfast to London should you need it, or you can be in Dublin airport in about 90 minutes if you need more far reaching links. (Naturally this is more useful when covid is less of an issue)
Hope that helps.
The UK will no longer be part of the EEA after Brexit. Iceland, Norway, Swiss are part of the EEA. EEA gives you access to the market as an EEA citizen. That means for the UK you will have to deal with visa and the problems that come along with it, if you opt for UK.
If you move your company, you should move to. But EU is mostly the same, not like you move to the 3rd world. Some countries have a better brand name than others, but don't be blinded by brand name.
Because you should live there, you need to consider more than taxation, like perhaps crime rate: https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp?title=2...
Talk with accountants. Online information is often old or incomplete.
Do consider Berlin. Yes, it's more bureaucratic, but depending on what you'll do you'll have access to a much larger market. Operating a business is more expensive than London, but cost of living is much cheaper and QoL arguably better.
However, you should probably be willing to learn some German.
Switzerland is probably the winner but it is much higher COL (though you can get San Francisco salary there for a much better quality of life).
I actually currently live in Berlin now and I have to admit that the more I research, the more I find that Germany isn't so bad of an option at all. If you want children/family in the future, Germany has much better benefits than Switzerland.
If I create a company now, it is because two clients have paid me money.