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Comment by ahmed546 | Hacker News Reader

How much can you reduce the taxes? They're like 50% above 70k, which you easily reach with a SaaS business or something.

I heard about Romania through Andrew Tate. Always thought it was a shithole.

Why did you end up deciding to stay in the Netherlands? Although our country will always have a special place in my heart, it does not have a lot to offer regarding for example nature. We also have a housing crisis right now.

Did you look into whether or not you'd need to learn a new language?

(cuz I'm not sure if that's required in our industry)

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Dude, I think you really need to talk to a professional tax consultant and ask them about it. There are so many tax optimization schemes... I think you will be amazed at the opportunities that exist :-) "Where do I want to live?" and "In what jurisdiction do I need to register my business to maximize profit from my operations?" are two very different questions.

Yeah, but the optimization is limited and I was asking what I could be expecting.

There definitely are quite a lot of people that do move to Romania, Dubai etc.

Probably 'cause they're not satisfied with the amount optimized.

No offense man, but imo, you have a lot of incorrect assumptions just because you are inexperienced in the topic. People live in Romania and Dubai for very different reasons. You can run a very profitable business and pay very little income tax anywhere, and have personal real estate, cars, investments, etc, registered to business entities worldwide. This is not a "pay 40% income tax or leave" situation as you think it is. And moving to Romania, believe me you will encounter other issues with running a business there. (I live in the Balkans.) Good luck.

Why would people move to Romania if not for taxes? It's basically third world.

What you're saying sounds too good to be true. If it was like that nobody would pay tax and the government wouldn't be able to fund basically anything.

What would these issues be if you mind elaborating?

Business opportunities in energy, mining and manufacturing sector, extremely cheap land and it's basically third world - some people like that and for some it means additional business opportunities.

Employees can't do the tax optimization described above, but as a business you have much more options. This is the distinction basically - there are many people who want to be employed and don't want to move. Business is a legal person separate from you, it can exist anywhere you choose.

Can a freelancer optimize his taxes to the same extent as a small business owner?

Why would people want to be employed in a country like the Netherlands?

It's not like the US with crazy expensive healthcare, heck it's free over here.

No, freelancers don't have the same options. Self employment is generally tied to your personal tax residency.

Well not everyone is a software engineer who can create products from thin air while sitting on the toilet. Some people like the stability etc.

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