Suitable Jurisdiction for Side Hustle, EU Resident

[DBeker]

Hello all - I'm a resident in France and a salaried employee at a regular 9-5 job type thing. I have some occasional side activities that can generate some income (inconsistently, so some months there will be good cash coming in and other months, there may be nothing sort of thing) for mainly online consulting type work in a niche field. I estimate around 30K EUR of revenue for the first year, as a side activity. But the nature of the services that I'm providing is probably better suited to be behind a company rather than a sole proprietorship.

I am fine to report/declare all income in France and so it is not for tax reasons, but as I am a salaried employee here, I would like to be set up with a company outside of France - mainly just so that I don't appear on the French UBO register.

I don't have an issue in being on a UBO register in another EU country, or elsewhere. The reason for this is that I'm a salaried employee here and technically I should not be having side-hustles but secondly, should something happen and my employer needs to lay people off etc. I don't want to run into issues when (if) I need to file for unemployment benefit (which in France are very generous!). I've heard of stories of company directors on the French UBO list have had issues in claiming unemployment benefit after losing their primary source of income through their day-job.

Given that this will be a part-time/side thing and not likely to generate high amounts of income, at least not initially. I am looking for an inexpensive set up (ideally something that can be done fully remotely) with easy/minimal reporting requirements and ease for banking/payment processing.

I was thinking perhaps Ireland as it is EU, but not sure if this is cost effective. Also I don't know how CFC rules are considered within the EU - but I figure it would be simpler than an outside-EU option.

To the esteemed forummers here, what suggestions might you have?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jerry1911]

See if you can get a US LLC or UK LLP recognized as a tax transparent entity by the French tax authorities. You will pay personal income taxes on the income but you will stay out of the French UBO register and you'll have limited liability.

Alternative is to register a UK limited company and transfer the residency over to France so you run it like a SARL. I am referring to the tie breaker in the DTAA between France and the UK if it exists.

 

[JackAlabama]

Hello all - I'm a resident in France and a salaried employee at a regular 9-5 job type thing. I have some occasional side activities that can generate some income (inconsistently, so some months there will be good cash coming in and other months, there may be nothing sort of thing) for mainly online consulting type work in a niche field. I estimate around 30K EUR of revenue for the first year, as a side activity. But the nature of the services that I'm providing is probably better suited to be behind a company rather than a sole proprietorship.

I am fine to report/declare all income in France and so it is not for tax reasons, but as I am a salaried employee here, I would like to be set up with a company outside of France - mainly just so that I don't appear on the French UBO register.

I don't have an issue in being on a UBO register in another EU country, or elsewhere. The reason for this is that I'm a salaried employee here and technically I should not be having side-hustles but secondly, should something happen and my employer needs to lay people off etc. I don't want to run into issues when (if) I need to file for unemployment benefit (which in France are very generous!). I've heard of stories of company directors on the French UBO list have had issues in claiming unemployment benefit after losing their primary source of income through their day-job.

Given that this will be a part-time/side thing and not likely to generate high amounts of income, at least not initially. I am looking for an inexpensive set up (ideally something that can be done fully remotely) with easy/minimal reporting requirements and ease for banking/payment processing.

I was thinking perhaps Ireland as it is EU, but not sure if this is cost effective. Also I don't know how CFC rules are considered within the EU - but I figure it would be simpler than an outside-EU option.

To the esteemed forummers here, what suggestions might you have?

Thanks in advance!

Hello all - I'm a resident in France and a salaried employee at a regular 9-5 job type thing. I have some occasional side activities that can generate some income (inconsistently, so some months there will be good cash coming in and other months, there may be nothing sort of thing) for mainly online consulting type work in a niche field. I estimate around 30K EUR of revenue for the first year, as a side activity. But the nature of the services that I'm providing is probably better suited to be behind a company rather than a sole proprietorship.

I am fine to report/declare all income in France and so it is not for tax reasons, but as I am a salaried employee here, I would like to be set up with a company outside of France - mainly just so that I don't appear on the French UBO register.

I don't have an issue in being on a UBO register in another EU country, or elsewhere. The reason for this is that I'm a salaried employee here and technically I should not be having side-hustles but secondly, should something happen and my employer needs to lay people off etc. I don't want to run into issues when (if) I need to file for unemployment benefit (which in France are very generous!). I've heard of stories of company directors on the French UBO list have had issues in claiming unemployment benefit after losing their primary source of income through their day-job.

Given that this will be a part-time/side thing and not likely to generate high amounts of income, at least not initially. I am looking for an inexpensive set up (ideally something that can be done fully remotely) with easy/minimal reporting requirements and ease for banking/payment processing.

I was thinking perhaps Ireland as it is EU, but not sure if this is cost effective. Also I don't know how CFC rules are considered within the EU - but I figure it would be simpler than an outside-EU option.

To the esteemed forummers here, what suggestions might you have?

Thanks in advance!

well US LLC since its cheap or try the first year in France (at home) such that to focus on max growth and once you know it works you can setup activity elsewhere (since its consulting and you dont need heavy machines).

 

[DBeker]

Thanks for this - was originally considering the US LLC, but did not think about the UK LLP. This might be of interest and will look into it. Thanks for the tip

 

[JackAlabama]

Thanks for this - was originally considering the US LLC, but did not think about the UK LLP. This might be of interest and will look into it. Thanks for the tip

You need more members for the llp. At least 2

 

[marioIT]

See if you can get a US LLC or UK LLP recognized as a tax transparent entity by the French tax authorities. .

better be sure (contact good tax law firms) as many tax-hell EU countries nowadays consider those as NON transparent... and if that happens it's as expensive as a SARL.

 

[Don]

Where are your clients? Especially asking because you dont want to mess with VAT.

You could potentially use Estonian LLP- features:
No need to submit annual statements,
no CIT if you dont withdraw profits (there is a type of LLP that is a separate legal entity).
Everything can be done digitally.
Cheap substance, but limited professional management services, nonetheless great value.
Get virtual address with https://www.clevver.io/ and you have a registered address and mobile app to manage your mail.
Very easy to convert the company later to LLC.
Can sell the company without notarization.
Build your company by reinvesting the capital tax free.
At some point restructure it under a holding in a good jurisdiction so you can later exit tax free.

Have actually witnessed an unemployed guy start this way. Making eur 10k/month while still on benefits lol.

 

[DBeker]

Where are your clients? Especially asking because you dont want to mess with VAT.

So it's essentially a side hustle - for the most part, it's online consulting and clients are mainly EU based. But in addition, I want to use this same structure to occasionally do some small time import/export trading (mainly foodstuff from Europe) with Middle East/Asia. So I would like some half decent banking and from what I've heard, Estonia is not so easy with this regard. I want to avoid having too many companies for something very small scale and with a lot of unknowns on how successful it will be (the consulting part is more or less ok as I have some initial clients, but the trading is a bit sketchy).

But the UK LLP or Estonian one could still be of interest. Maybe I don't need banking for neither as I am potentially now looking to see if it is possible to have a foreign LLP serve as the 'President' of a French SAS/SARL. Maybe even a dormant UK Ltd could suffice for this regard? This might solve the problem of getting me off the French UBO/Company Registrar as the LLPs name would go in instead. I will drop by my bank branch tomorrow and ask the question to see if such a setup can open a bank account or not.

 

[menzu]

US LLC is your perfect option - unlike other countries you don't figure publicly as UBO or director of the LLC, opening a bank account is easy (we can do that for you) but you have a bunch of options, including wise that can issue IBAN for EUR payments.

You can leverage Bitcoin and stablecoins move funds easily to France or anywhere else.