Estonia is a small country in the Baltic Sea region of Northern Europe with a population of 1.3 million and a GDP of $23 billion, accounting for about 10% of Apple's annual revenue. 
One of the benefits of setting up a company in Estonia is that there is no corporate tax on the funds remaining within the company.
Estonia has rapidly adopted a digital economy since gaining independence from Russia in 1991. It established online voting in 2007, provides many government services online, provides medical records and prescriptions online, and has a fiber broadband network with average speeds on par with South Korea.
Perhaps the most radical move by the Estonian government was the introduction of the e-Residency program in 2014, which allowed anyone from around the world to become a virtual citizen and set up and run a business in Estonia.
To apply for e-Residency, simply fill out an online form, upload a copy of your passport and a photo, and pay a €100 fee. The application process takes approximately four weeks, during which time a police background check will be conducted. Once approved, you will need to go to a collection point (usually an Estonian embassy) and collect a smart card loaded with a digital certificate representing your e-resident's digital identity.
All e-residents are given an official email address @eesti.ee and can use one of the many services to open a company or bank account in the country. However, the bank requires account openers to visit Estonia. Please open an account at least once. One of the benefits of setting up a company in Estonia is that there is no corporate tax on the funds remaining within the company.
Since its establishment, 17,000 e-Residencies have been approved, with the majority coming from Finland, Russia, and the United States. With e-Residents he created 1,380 new companies. Most of them are in the technology field, but also cover a wide range of other activities. Since the vote to leave the EU, there has been increased UK interest in Estonia's e-residence rights as a way to maintain its ability to operate within the economy.
The goal is to have 10 million e-residents by 2025, and while there is still some way to go to reach that number, the concept will encourage visitors from other countries to learn about the program. continues continuously.
Following the same principles as cloud computing and cloud data storage, the idea of a “cloud country” resonates with all kinds of possibilities. First of all, we accept that as far as our lives on the Internet are concerned, the concept of nationality has little meaning, since we have access to almost every service in the world and can interact with anyone at any time. Masu. For example, physical restrictions imposed by geography, such as content licensing, can be circumvented by connecting to any country using a VPN.
The Internet is creating a global community organized around shared interests and ideals rather than physical location.
Once your business is online, you can operate around the world with relative ease, transparently handling different currencies and different tax requirements. Even language is no longer a barrier as services like Google Translate become increasingly fluent.
The Internet and social networks have created and facilitated global communities organized by common interests and ideals, rather than by physical location, which is the primary driver of national identity.
Just as Amazon did with computing technology, Estonia brought government services online and made excess capacity available to others outside the country. Although the benefits and services provided to e-residents have not expanded, it is only a matter of time as e-residents contribute more income to the country. An e-Residency does not give the holder any additional rights to enter the country or her EU, but at least given that business travel may be required, the e-Residency does not give the holder any additional rights to enter the country or her EU. It makes sense to provide access to travel freely within the country. european union.
To research this article, I applied for an Estonian e-Residency at the Slush Startup Festival in Helsinki in November 2016. Once approved, I had to travel from Perth to the Estonian embassy in Canberra, Australia, to receive my identity card. I'm alive. Walking through the Australian forests on a hot day was a far cry from the sub-zero temperatures of Helsinki. After returning home, thankfully my e-Residency moved online.
Reprinted from Mercator.net.
