Advice on where to form an LLC. US citizen living in Germany

Tax and legal
1

I am moving from a corporate job to that of a freelancer and looking for advice on how/where to setup an LLC. Some background info:

US citizen and will be living in Germany full time with my family
I will have clients in the US and Germany/EU. Work is in the design field, so no physical goods.
I will be the only employee, but I would like to sub-contract work to former colleagues in Asia for support in that region (I will bill for their hours and pay them directly)

Goals: Potentially lower tax liability

2

Hello!

Probably a GbR would be the right legal form for you, but it depends on various factors. Maybe this link will help: https://wwkn.de/en/about-german-legal-forms/german-private-partnership-gbr-german-commercial-partnership-ohg/

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3

Send me DM

4

Try ORA in the cook Islands. I can help too.

Moderator note: Email address removed. Please use the PM feature instead.

5

@keewilcox What setup did you go with in the end?

6

Living full-time in Germany with no business operations elsewhere (outsourcing a few tasks to freelancers doesn’t count), you’ll be better off just incorporating or working as a freelancer (freiberufler) in Germany.

Alternatively, you can use a US LLC if you’d like. Perhaps your US/international clients are more comfortable working with a US entity, but be careful how you structure the LLC to avoid complications in Germany. If you’re using a passthrough single-member US LLC, by structuring it correctly you can be taxed as a freelancer in Germany while getting the limited liability from operating through a LLC.

If you go that route, have a look at this article which describes how US LLCs are treated for tax purposes in Germany:

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