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Create An English Ltd. or German Gmbh. ?
http://www.berklix.org/mecc/ltd_gmbh.html
Dates in Reverse Chronological order
- 2019-10-11 HMRC snail mailed to a German address (warning
of an end of September deadline), using "Post NL", it arrived
Sat 5th Oct! So don't rely on postal reminders overseas!
- Brexit Brings:
2019-03
brodies.com/blog/corporate/brexit-uk-companies-operating-in-germany/
-
2011 or earlier: A web search provides various proxy
services eg: EAC Business
Services
- Nominee Director UK 150.00
- Nominee Secretary UK 49 pounds
- Registered Office UK 49.00
- Full Company secretarial service ( Inc Registered
Office,
- Nominee Director & Nominee Secretary )
199.00
2008.11.01 : Cheap German Mini Companies: 1 Euro
Modernisierung des Rechts der GmbH
- GmbH-Reform Am 1. November ist die lange erwartete
GmbH-Reform in Kraft getreten. Ziel ist es, die
Rechtsform der GmbH international
wettbewerbsfähigher zu machen. Insbesondere soll die
Gründung erleichert und beschleunigt werden.
Existenzgründer sollen nunmehr - entsprechend der
Forderung der IHK-Organisation - die Wahl haben zwischen
der Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt) mit
flexiblem Stammkapital oder der GmbH mit einem
Mindestkapital von 25.000 Euro. Statt Mustersatzung wird
es ein vereinfachtes Gründungsverfahren mit
erheblich geringeren Kosten geben, soweit nur bis zu drei
Gesellschafter an der Gründung beteiligt sind: das
notarielle Gründungsprotokoll. Über diese und
weitere Änderungen des GmbH-Rechts, zum Beispiel die
Unternehmergesellschaft (UG) oder 'Mini-GmbH', informiert
Sie unser Merkblatt..
- PS I suspect 25,000 Euro incorrect ?, I think limit
was 50,000 DM, mapped to 25,000 Euro, then got reduced to
12,500 Euro maybe summer of 2007 ?
- Der komplette Gesetzentwurf ist im Internet unter www.bmj.de zu finden.
- 2008 Easy, quick (a few
hours) and cheap to set up a UK company, it cost about GBP 30 in 2008 , a bit more
if you want a paper incorporation certificate. Standard
Articles of Association allow you to conduct any sort of
business activity.
- 10 Nov 2008: OLG München, Urteil vom 30. Oktober
2008 - 8 U 1941/08: (Off topic for this page:) German law:
A customer cannot refuse to pay at all, just because not all
was delivered Bei einem fehlerhaft erstellten
Softwareprodukt mag zwar wegen zweier fehlender Module eine
Reduzierung des Werklohnes angezeigt sein. Das Ausbleiben
jeglicher Zahlung seitens der Bestellers stellt jedoch
mangelnde Vertragstreue dar, die jedenfalls gemäß
§ 242 BGB das Rücktrittsrecht
ausschließt.
- 2008.07.01: As of 1.7.2008 German lawyers are now allowed
to negotiate flexible fees/ (& perhaps fees contingent on
winning)
- 2008.07: Recently UK companies house relaxed regulations:
Far as I know, one can now have single director companies,
& no need for that director to be UK resident.
Factual
Corrections Encouraged.
Preamble - You Want To Start A Company ?
Welcome To Competition, Risk, Aggression, Trouble, &
Expense !
There's probably lots of pages encouraging you to set up a
Ltd or Gmbh. Perhaps you don't want to trust the bland
commercially biased puff pieces, & want to be aware of
& consider some risks yourself ? This page warns you of
some problems. This author will not
make a penny either away, whether you go ahead or get scared
off. I guess that's impartial ? This
author appreciates any factual corrections to this draft
page, which is new & perhaps wrong or sparse in places.
If you form a Ltd or Gmbh you are preparing for the world as
a combat zone: You are preparing to denying others the right
to claim full damages when you screw up badly. A nation's
`defensive precautions' whether military, economic, import
tarif, or attempted exporting of local `social conditions' to
competitors, is often perceived by another nation as
aggression. You may see your plans as defensive, but consider
how you as a creditor may perceive the liability limitation
of some other Ltd/Gmbh that goes belly up leaving you
financially screwed ! Corporate Business is more aggressive
than life as an employee or contractor technologist front
ended through a jobs agency.
Companies compete commercially, & nations are in
competition too, (though some in governments seem often too
myopic to realise that they are in international
competition), certainly for highly mobile IT sector business
competition is real (eg Siemens's Munich's `internal software
house' is in Bangalore, India!); civil servants obstruct or
fine, the patent
professionals predate on our industry, & lawyers
abound rather as mercenaries did in the past, ready to help
or hinder or prepare for a coming fight, dependent on who's
paymaster, & then there's the occasional person looking
for a bribe or embezzlement (Ugh!), & free-loaders &
pirates etc. So do you Want to also be in Corporate Business,
distracted part of the time from your fun technology where
you'r highly competent, to a more scarey & exciting world
of Corporate Business, where others are already expert ?
(Remember the Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting
times"). Welcome To Business ! ... Beware all who enter !
So You Still Want To Form A Company ?
OK, Read on, but ...
I'm not paid to write this. I'm not require to be polite or
diplomatic or pander to people's often un-informed or
nationally blinkered sensitivities. I've seen things where Germany could reduce its obstruction to
business, & I'll mention some. (Equally I'm sure a
foreigner in Britain might spot room for business
improvement, but that doesn't excuse Germany's many
obstructions.) Perhaps enhanced insight may combat a national
complacency that knows no better; sometime it takes a fresh
eye to spot the problems. The sooner that more locals learn
business doesn't Have to be so obstructed, the sooner they
can push Government & society to remove German obstructions to business.
Someone asked on MECC mail list in
06.2004
- I just had a look around on www.go-limited.de which looks
pretty good at first glance as an alternative to a GMBH here
in Germany.
- I was actually just about to set up a GMBH within the
next couple of months but now I'm torn. Before I head off to
talk to an accountant I would like to know your opinion on
this.
- Does anyone know whether there is any major drawback such
as difficulty finding an accountant, increased bookkeeping
overhead, or hidden expenses, etc ...
- Does anyone know whether there is any major drawback such
as difficulty finding an accountant, increased bookkeeping
overhead, or hidden expenses, etc ...
Rephrase The Question
Invert the question, assume a UK default company base, &
one could equally ask: "Are there hidden costs setting up a
German company ?" The difference just depends if the
questioner is British or German. Most nationals of any
country won't have much more than a superficial knowledge of
corporate creation & administration even in their own
country, let alone another country in another language, so
the question is ...
"What do MECC people know about costs
& benefits of British Ltd & German GmbH ?
English Speaking Companies
This author formed an English Ltd Co.
in '86, I set it up in England 'cos
I couldn't read German properly at
the time. I could have set up in any English speaking
location, some of which are what people sometime like to
call "very tax efficient", such as Panama or the Virgin
Isles etc too, One use to find adverts for such things in
the back pages of the UK's Private Eye magazine. I wasn't looking to be so `creative' ;-)
I haven't looked at http://www.go-limited.de ,
however, they'll presumably they have some financial
incentive in Germans setting up UK Ltds, so can't be
expected to be neutral ? However I have heard from
presumably neutral sources that the UK offers a better
deal.
Probably the public of many countries think they've got
the worst bureaucrats with their own fellow nationals being
an obstruction to them. I have lived & work in both
Britain & Germany a long time, I am of the opinion that
one is better off avoiding German bureaucrats. Hence I'd
suggest forming a Ltd, not a GmbH, on the simple premise of
avoiding German Bureaucrats whenever possible.
( In numerous discussions with Americans I've also come
to the conclusion America probably has less obstructions to
(& more incentives to & for) business than either
Britain or Germany. Perhaps the newly reconstructed
emerging countries of Eastern Europe, just into the
European Union this June , might be where there's least
obstruction to business (purely guessing, let me know if true
/ false) )
Gmbh: An friend (Irish) set up a German Gmbh a few
years back, I believe because his bilingual (German &
English) wife was going to run it in Germany, & she had
studied German not English business administration. so the
German system would be more familiar. I
have never heard of any of us doing a rigorous cost / benefit
comparison of which is / was best (& the balance may
change with time ).
A MECC member here in Germany has heard for
GmbH you also have to pay "Sozialversicherung". Wouldn't
surprise me.
Resident Directors
UK Ltd.: One is required to have a UK resident
Director, (might be problematic: relatives &/or friends
may get tired & be less keen to continue).
German Gmbh I don't know. Do you know ?
Austrian Gmbh I don't know. Do you know ? (~
1.5hrs down motorway from Munich, also speak German)
UK Ltd: Who Does The Books ?
If the UK Inland
Revenue agree you'r a simple company , well behaved
& mainly / or better solely trading abroad, they're
usually prepared to waive their right to demand a UK Chartered Accountant
certified annual tax return, at which point the small
accountant down the road (or your business savvy relative /
friends or you yourself ) can do the books, & it's
cheaper to run.
Ltd.:A German accountant might advise against: he
might see no revenue for himself in a UK accounted company
? Though I suppose if he & his book keeper are
comfortable also working in English, & if the UK Inland Revenue
doesn't require a UK
Chartered Accountant & if you happen to think your
German personal accountant is good value for money I guess
he could prepare it for you.
Requirement To Register Foreign Operation
My German steuer- beraters told me if a
foreign ie British etc company, has a director resident in
Germany, then it has a German base & must register its
operation here too (that doesn't mean form a Gmbh too, but
does mean filling out forms in German). However that might
be avoidable, legally or otherwise, I wouldn't know. I did know an outfit in North Munich
that 10 years ago, had apparently been trading for years
unregistered. How close to the wind they sailed I can only
guess, but the man in charge was a nasty character I have
reason to distrust.
Join Free & Learn
Join our MECC
mail list & Stammtisch to exchange info. We have at
least:
- Two German nationals who run German GmbHs,
- A Brit with a UK Ltd,
- An Irishman with a German GmbH,
- An Irishman who ran a Ltd in Eire (Eire of course
being similar legal system to UK, but independent of UK
since early 20th century,
- A Brit who has recent knowledge on sole trading
including supply of hardware (& Manufacturing tax.
- An Austrian & at least one American who may have
varied perspectives on personal tax issues.
- Sundry others whose tech. & company knowledge
you'll never know unless you come join
us
Language & Bureaucracy
- A British company can be formed to run in English or
Welsh language.
- I imagine an Irish company can
run in English or Irish.
- I imagine a German company just
runs in German language.
- Not heard of anything European yet, in regard to
company formation, it's probably some decades yet before
that'll be possible.
- Perhaps a UK company may be less bloated & loaded
with bureaucracy & tax/income prediction rules etc
than a German one ? Perception of that may depend on
ones' nationality & upbringing, or on the facts ? ;-)
I know no one who has personal comparative experience of
running one of each. I'd be interested
to hear.
Annual Fees
-
Filing Fees
Look it up yourself
- UK
Companies House
They do a nice series of free plain simple english
booklets, well worth reading. Authoritative too,
unlike both information I've put on this page or
Germans put on German language pages about British
companies, any of which might be wrong.
- Germany ? Someone send me a
URL please
- Accountancy Fees: How long is a piece of
string ? ie may depend on turnover & transactions. UK
accountants used to be damn expensive, more so than
German, surprisingly, (surprising as contractors used to
earn more in Germany than Britain, & Germans
generally charge higher service fees in general than
Brits (eg house sale in UK: 2.5 to 3% seller only,
against several percent each side in Germany, one of many
service fee examples).
- Beware International accountants: The person
you talk to may just be an accountant of nationally
limited experience, working for an prestigious
internationally known group of accountants, thus more
expensive for no real benefit. Very different from
someone who actually personally understands 2 tax systems
that would be worth paying more for.
A renowned accountancy firm I know
of were expensive & useless when I talked to them in '85 / '86 or so. They
just kept telling me they could
find out about UK & get back to me (read: establish a business relationship
with me & start billing
heavily) , & I kept answering that would be a waste
of time as I already knew whatever
in UK, or my father did, who was a businessman. & I already had a German steuer- berater,
so that I did Not want them to do any research for me,
all I was looking for from this international firm, was
indication of pre-knowledge of Both German & UK
systems, prior to decision to purchase a little advice on
cross border tax optimisation. They were thus no damn
use, but wrote me a big hourly bill
for first lengthy introductory meeting, despite I'd kept
trying to cut them short, & told them repeatedly that
this was just an initial first meeting to see if they
could be of use to me, & I
would only engage them if they would be of use. - Hence
Beware !
- Beware also any German firm, particularly German
lawyers, where the secretary shoves a form under your
nose to sign (in German of course) authorising their firm
to do christ knows what on your behalf, (including by
implication billing you), before you ever meet her boss
to decide if he's the right person for your business.
It's just another tedious off putting part of German
business life. Refuse until you met your lawyer. Just as
he'd refuse until after he'd met his computer consultant
! (No apology for the `he' & `she' BTW: It Could be
the other way round, but I've never yet met a male
secretary in a female lawyers office, though they
doubtless exist other places).
Tax Prediction
In Germany (a GmbH owner reports):
The Finanzamt will
use your annual tax declaration to estimate your
turnover/income for the following year, and then ask
advance payment for the expected taxes. ... The amount is
split into smaller (usually quarterly) parts. ... If you
have a very good year, and the following year is not as
good, the estimates are too high. But in this case you
can ask for reduction, and from what I've seen myself and
what I heard from others this has never been a problem.
One does not need to predict future income for either a
German or UK company. In UK one can pay tax at end of year,
after you know what you've earned (or more accurately, what
you've invoiced for, (so you might not want to invoice near
end of year if customer's wont likely pay till next year).
Credibility & Capitalisation
This section to be split into 2: Formal Capitalisation
Liability & Practical Credibility
Some say a German GmbH has more credence, with an initial
capitalisation of 25,000 Euro,
there's some partial truth to that, but perhaps less than
some believe: Initial UK capitalisation can be as little
as 2 or 3 pounds, with liability I
recall to pay 100 pound minimum though, if things go
belly up (&/or maybe requirement to hold a meeting to
authorise extension of share holding capital beyond 100).
(I can't remember exactly, it's been a _long_ time )
Truth doesn't matter here as much as what people
believe. A GmbH (even if run by a single person) is
sometimes more trustworthy than a bigger company which is
not a GmbH or AG.
I'd heard that in Germany the 25,000
Euro can on occasion, after the initial showing to
register, be rapidly removed again. (Perhaps by
discovering or doing work to merit consultancy or other
bills to pay I had guessed. ). I had also heard that you
only maybe need show half ? &/or can borrow some from
bank. This seemed to have been rather garbled/
misinformed/ or possibly from dodgy backgrounds, where
perhaps things may not have run correctly.
Two owners of different GmbHs wrote to MECC mail list in
2004:
- Borrowing for the capital is not
legal, especially not from a bank.
- You don't have to keep the
``Grundkapital'' (minimum 25,000
Euro) locked up in a bank account, it can also be
invested in company assets. But if the
sum of assets and money drops below the registered
amount of the GmbH, the company is required to file
bankruptcy ... otherwise, this is a criminal offence
and the limitation of liability is void.
Not every AG has to be publicly traded,
there is also the ``Ich AG'' which is supposed to be
manageable even for individuals or small companies
(I've never researched about that topic, though).
Many people in both Britain & Germany give Ltd
& Gmbh undue credence. Some of those may include
people we know: technologically clever employee engineers
in major engineering firms, but folks who may not know
much about business law. As consultants, perhaps we don't
want to scare customers, so should just leave perceptions
undisturbed, but in reality small firms can be less safe
than individuals, or partnerships. Remember exactly what
the titles Ltd & Gmbh says: A small(*) firm who have
Legally Limited Their Liability to pay their creditors if
they screw up badly ! (*) Usually small, but not
necessarily: a stock exchange listed firm such as Plc
must however have much greater minimal capitalisation
& live to much more stringent accountancy standards
etc. An AG = AktienGesellschaft = firm with shares
(though it might be just an "Ich AG" - I don't know
anything about them. Ask the Arbeitsamt
Often enough if I trouble to
explain about `Ltd' & `GmbH' properly to someone,
customer or otherwise, their whole financial perception
changes, & they're quite grateful, & more relaxed
dealing with smaller companies, or individuals, once they
know you'r stable & not going away.
As a creditor, you'r sometime safer trusting an
unlimited liability person or partnership if some have
got personal assets &/or capital: there if something
goes wrong, if it's eg an unlimited partnership, &
one screws up really badly, you can sue 'em all into
bankruptcy, & collect the assets. I knew a German girl whose father was an
architect: I think the fellow
architect of her father was the one who'd screwed up
somehow, but her father ended up losing their house,
worth far more than some paltry 25,000
Euro capitalised GmbH. A one or two man firm can thus
be of far more worth than a `real' company ! Ask yourself
what your assets are worth: got a nice car ? a part paid
flat or house ? Then you as a sole trader can be
considered more financially stable than some Ltd or GmbH.
This reality is proven by the fact that that banks (at
least in Britain, don't know about Germany) try to make
loans to companies, secured on personal guarantees from
the company directors. Ditto for UK landlords seeking
security for leasing properties for start up computer
companies. ( People tried that one on me back in 1983 for
a new company start up - No Way ! ) German Situation on
that I don't know. Do you know ?
Directors of UK Ltd companies are increasingly being
burdened by new laws, with personal responsibilities they
cannot shirk & palm off on the company. Can't
remember them all, but some are eg a Director responsible
for poor safety when someone gets injured, can be
personally liable, (financially &/or tossed in jail!)
not just the Ltd financial liability as in old days. I
guess German law may be evolving in same direction ? So
far so good, but I think it goes a lot further. Read the
leaflet called (from memory) "Responsibilities of
Directors" from UK Companies House
German situation ? I don't know. Do you know ?
Tax Balancing
Load balancing: UK personal tax is to April ( 4/7th ? ).
German is 31 Dec. Both a UK Ltd & a German GmbH can
choose when it's tax year date is. Then there's the
question of whether tax is due on invoice being issued or
money being received. used to be different between
Germany & UK. Find out what it is currently &
tell me please. Deft balancing of
income between years to achieve uniform rather than peak
personal tax rate any year may be possible. Not that I ever tried, but if you'r good with
admin, & prediction, & can tear yourself away
from the technology, maybe you can
Rating Agencies
A Gmbh owner wrote:
Many (especially bigger) customers don't want to deal
with individuals, but only with "real" companies, i. e.
a GmbH or similar. They get their information from
several independent channels - like data collected by
credit agency like Creditreform, Dun & Bradstreet
(sooner or later you will need to register with
D&B to get your DUNS number - at least if you ever
want to deal with companies like Siemens etc.). They
told me you cannot get any contracts any more without
being registered with their "click2procure" system. and
the first thing you need for registration is your DUNS
number.
( Try via US Securities
& Exchange Commission to find other reference
agencies such as Duns )
If your customers find that you are a German who is
running a Ltd.
Maybe they'll think less of you ( `Sinking Ship' syndrome ? ;-) ... or
they'll be impressed by your international financial
prowess ? Or they'll think you modern, more European
& flexible, non national- blinkered ? Probably a mix
of various reactions. ... But you don't _have_ to tell
them.:
Exchange rate:
You can have a Euro dominated banka account in UK. (
Since '86 or earlier (OK, was DM then). Be warned: UK Inland
Revenue will charge you corporate tax in Pounds
Sterling, you'r gonna have fun with those exchange rates
! ... & which date does the rate apply ? that becomes
of great importance if there's a currency rate lurch that
year. I think it may be on the
final day of the Co Ltd tax year, but I'm not at all
sure, ask your accountant, please tell me if you know !
Financial Immunity &/or lack thereof: Personal,
Directors, & Corporate
Certainly one has to consider not just any financial
immunity that English company law may or may not give you
as a service provider, &/or directors in UK, but also
what the local German law might be able to get you for
personally ... so to be sure: talk to 2 lawyers: one Brit
& one German if you can afford to ;-) & then
there's the ever increasing European laws: get a 3rd
lawyer ? ;-) who knows what's at Brussels/ Strasbourg
& the products of the tower of Babel (how many
official languages are they burdened with now, & just
what backlog do they have translating ?!) ;-)
Freelancers are _still_ seeing a rotten economy at
2004.06, that the German politicians seem to be still
making no realistic effort to fix (eg they could reduce
bureaucracy, rules & stupid medieval based guild type
restrictions, not waste time passing ever more expansive
& dubious ecology laws, & they could stop wasting
time fighting over the balance of taxes between federal
& Lander - & instead devote time to devising
measures to expand the economy, not fight over a
shrinking tax income !) The electoral slogan "It's the
economy. Stupid!" never seems to have sunk in to the
consciousness of politicians here. Does it give us
satisfaction to know the economy is currently in charge
of a chancellor who apparently finds time to sue in court
about some allegation whether he does or does not use
hair dye ... ?! A pity he can't fix the economy. Perhaps
we need a shortish dose of Margaret Thatcher type radical
reform, to shake up the complacent system, (even if it
then needs a further shake up later to repair collateral
damage ;-). Freelancers (often working through small
companies) care more than most how well an economy is
run, - we experience any down turn first. Any stability /
growth is currently coming from USA & Britain etc,
not from recessive mismanaged complacent Germany, the so
called (& falsely labelled) locomotive of European
industry, now well of the rails
Perhaps we need an `Anglo Saxon' (as French politician
Chirac would condemn it), less regulated economy, to fix
the mess. So why do I stay ? The great Munich beer
gardens & proximity to Alps & lakes. Cycle track
on a river & a big park through the middle of the
city, & wide circle of friends. The economy itself
though is good reason to leave. It's screwed. It began
with Kohl's
Unification Bungle (justified by the
Constitution apparently, that we had to be one unitary
state of German speaking happy taxpayers, though they
could have changed the constitution instead, after all,
Germany's only been a state for a mere 150 years,
Nothing compared to France Spain UK; Austria speaks
German but isn't German, & USA & Australia
aren't ruled from London)
& we had the the obvious
Big Lie "It won't cost you anything, self
financing", which lots were amazingly gullible enough
to believe at the time, I recall... After which came
Solidaritaet Zuschlag, & East German high
unemployment) ,
Then we had
The Big Move They'd had about 40 years to settle
into Bonn, build a federal government infrastructure
there, with much government work out sourced to the
Lander. Then they forced near all employees to move to
Berlin, which many didn't want to do, & ran up a
horrendous taxpayers bill for new buildings etc. (&
of course created a new over pressured central city
like London: too big, centre of everything, nothing
diversified, & of course reinstating the Berlin -
proud capital of a large state sort of structure that
worried some who remembered their history, but perhaps
didn't care to articulate their thoughts. Not a problem
currently, but an un-necessary, disruptive, insensitive
& wasteful move.
When was the last time German politicians scrapped some
laws, instead of heaping on more junk ? Politicians have
talked tax reform for years, TV news was full of little
else for years, but the Germans didn't discuss Business
reform & relief from restrictive legislation.
The German people proved they can work hard post 2nd
world war, reconstructing, but how can they work hard
now, limited by more rules at every turn ? I see little
hope of liberalisation for this rather sclerotic society
except from Europe, forced down from above. eg
European Court
05/11/2002 Judgement/Urteil C-208/00 Überseering BV
(Netherlands) Versus/gegen Nordic Construction Company
Baumanagement GmbH (NCC)
Language of the case: German.
(My summary: companies formed legally elsewhere within
the EU have legal substance overall in EU, & can't
be ignored (& can't be refused permission (as non
existent) to sue others etc).
I got the dates of the case from here
go-limited.de, where it says Bundesgerichtshof
confirmed it 13.03.2003 Search further if you
want
Monty Python's quote: "_Nobody_ _expects_ the Spanish
Inquisition ! " Neither will you expect it when if you'r
not damn careful how your structure your consultancy
business, any hint of Manufacturing tax type business
could bring you big trouble !
Manufacturing tax (& the German guilds system etc)
can be the kiss of death to setting up new businesses.
Gewerbe-steuer may make sense to narrow minded Germans or
Brits who've gone native in Germany, but to this author,
it's just another stupid tax that deters German industry.
I've had ideas for several ventures I wouldn't pursue for
fear of getting drawn into the cesspit of more German
bureaucracy. I make every effort to avoid the entire
German civil service, (except tax dept, gotta' pay them).
The Kreiswerwaltungs were bloody un-civil & did their
very best to obstruct my European Union rights to a
residents permit way back. I won't waste my time with
them. A burden the Germans have that kill & inhibits
new industry & / or moves it off shore.
The German Guilds System
Perhaps the worst aspect of German business. Seems little
changed from medieval practice to me. An obsession with
paper qualifications rather than skills. Much work you
still can't do without a "Meister-Brief" I've known a
British builder who had to leave Germany, 'cos though hew
was fully skilled, he couldn't trade alone, & had to
pass hsi work through a `Meister' who was signing off,
& creaming the profit. Chimney sweeps run a closed
shop, legally maintained. Don't do anything with a
soldering iron unless you'r qualified ! The IHK =
Industry & Handels Kammer provide some potentially
useful & interesting services, but be careful what
you tell them: if membership was truly optional, that
would be just fine, but it's not as I've heard it, if
you'r in certain lines of work, there's obligation to
join so I'm told, in certain circumstances. I'd be very
glad to be categorically told by IHK that there's never
in an case obligation to join, but I have been repeatedly
told by locals that's not the case. All this closed shop
national Meister rubbish is probably in breach of the
treaty of Rome's freedom to move & work etc, but that
needs court enforcement, & lawyers aren't cheap. Fact
is you don't meet half the obstructions to work in the
UK, that you meet in Germany.
Wholesale purchase often needs Handels Register
Many firms won't sell you to unless you'r registered in
Germany. In Britain the usual attitude is: "If you want
wholesale prices, we have minimum order quantities." but
UK suppliers aren't stupid enough to simply refuse to
sell. I've seen this obstruction from a Disc driver
vendor in Soest (DM 3500 order refused) & Large food
shops like Metro in Munich, who from 1985 to 2004
inclusive have consistently refused to sell from their
large warehouse type outlets, unless you provide paper
proof eg from the Finanzamt of being in formally
registered business, (forget foreign = European
documentation (Again !) If you just have say a few
thousand Euro on you , see a good deal, & want to buy
it here & sell it elsewhere in Europe: forget it - no
German papers - no sale !
Retail purchase can be easier in other countries.
Even shop assistants get 2 years training (when you go
shopping ask yourself what some spent 2 years learning
;-) Certainly back in the late 80's in Munich "Kunde
(=Customer)" certainly used to all too often seem an
epithet, though it's got better & I've probably got
more used to dealing with locals their way ;-) They
finally got credit cards here, but only about 2 decades
after Britain. They finally let their shops open a little
longer on Saturday, but only 2 decades after Britain,
& still nowhere near as long. Tottenham Court Road
London is open to sell electronics Saturday afternoon. PC
shops near Schiller Strasse
Munich closed, Not to sell computers Saturday afternoons.
Partly German laws, partly German habits.
Working Hours - Inland
- I've been chased out of work in Munich, because the
boss didn't want our mixed teams of employees &
freelancers being seen to work too long. If you work too
many hours in a week, you (employee) can be prosecuted by
the German state, & so can your boss.
- I've known technologists officially check out with
their time card, then sneak back into work, so it won't
be on the books.
- I've known employees who would have been genuinely
happy to work a bit longer to get a job done, but who
went home because they didn't want to be fined, be
hassled by management for working too long, & nor did
they want the risk of being uninsured if an accident
happened while working on company premises.
Working Hours - Attempt To Cripple Other Countries
Germany was for a decade aggrieved that the UK allowed
companies to employ people for a few more hours a week.
They've long considered it gave the UK an unfair
competitive edge. Perhaps it was an edge, but it was a
national choice, & Germany seemed to ignore the
consideration that while their economy was doing worse,
perhaps `unfair competition' wasn't the reason, &
perhaps they would have been better studying &
emulating successful economies, & being grateful to
have adjacent trading nations still doing well, to help
also trade with & keep some adjacent German companies
going. Instead, national jealousy, not envy seemed to
rule among the politicians, & there were numerous
German efforts to convince the Brits (& some others )
direct, or to force them through European co-ersion, to
reduce their working hours too, supposedly on the grounds
that Germany couldn't afford to give it's workers better
conditions if the British were prepared to work harder.
PS Just weekend of 2004.06.26 there's been an
announcement that some Siemens workers with the reluctant
agreement of their union are now going back up to a 40
hour week (from about 37 or so) with no increase in pay !
One extreme to the other !
UK: Building Use Planning Restrictions
UK used to have archaic planning laws. You were either a
business, or a residence. Couldn't be both. Laws
pre-dating a silent computer & silent laser printer !
Don't know current UK law, but I think there's still a
problem there. The one example I can recall where the
German system seemed more flexible (OK I don't know
formal German law on that either, but I know what I see
in practice).
Links.
Disclaimer.
This author & MECC
in general are not lawyers nor accountants. We are
technologists. Some of the above opinion may be plain wrong
or outdated. If you want authoritative opinion go pay a
professional accountant or lawyer etc, or even ask the tax
office (free), apparently they're quite friendly in both
countries I've heard, & if you ask before you do
something rather than after, you can ask in all innocence
There's also books on setting up
UK companies. They cost a few pounds in any UK book shop (or
try the Internet). Private Eye magazine use
to carry ads for setting up cheap companies, ... &
funnily enough often on the same page, ads for vanity book
publishing ?!
This is a new page, still rough, may not be accurate,
& I
encourage factual corrections, Thanks. For anyone
wondering: I like Germany, but find German bureaucracy
inhibits new business.
Professional Indemnity Insurance = Vermogungs- haftpflicht-
versicherung.
The 25,000 Euro Stamm- Kapital was announced
as reduced to 10K on Deutschland Funk, Fri 29th April 2005 Not
immediate, but With effect from 1.1.2006. Also level of
capitalisation to be shown on letters. Source: BMJ (Bundes
Ministerium der Justiz), PM (Presse Mit- Teilung ?). v.
29.04.2005 (photocopy from a friend)
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