also buy fax machine, dozen ring binders, and paper shredder before you start that business

Also:

- A printer (the most important equipment of any German startup founder)

- Envelopes for letters

- A stamp with your company name (some companies and agencies you deal with require you to stamp things, because a stamp obviously proves, beyond any doubt, that you are acting on behalf of your company, because obviously no one would be able to create a similar stamp with your company's name on it, right)

- A virtual office address at a coworking space (because you're receiving physical mail, and also there are weird tax reasons not to register your company at your home address)

- A mail-scanning service (because you don't want to walk to the coworking space every few days to pick up your physical mail)

- A mail-forwarding service (so that the mail gets forwarded from your virtual office address, which now has exactly no purpose at all, to your mail-scanning service)

▲

bluecalm 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

A good one! I remember I needed a stamp when I started a business in Poland as well! I've never used it and never was asked to so I guess the regulations no longer apply.

Poland is pretty good at digitalizing bureaucracy as well. You can do most things online including talking to the tax office and solving problems with your tax declarations.

Taxes are reasonable but I am still bitter about cap gain tax as it's a form of a wealth tax for someone that invest in equities - at some point moving to more tax friendly jurisdiction saves enough that you can fund your comfortable life and save 100% of your income.

I also think tax burden is going to increase significantly there in coming years.

▲

djoldman 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Given that this kind of thing seems to be widely reported, are there any significant efforts to reduce the friction all this causes?

	▲	olieidel 6 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Pretty much all political parties loudly announce that they'll reduce bureaucracy, but, judging by the outcomes, not much has happened so far. That being said, it's probably overly simplistic to blame political parties for this - there's a lot of e.g. county/state-level bureaucracy in Germany which gets in the way of making any sort of constructive changes. It's a bit like blaming the CEO of a bloated company for not making it "agile" in a short period of time. Sure, leadership is important, but the reality is, it's.. complicated.
	▲	ExoticPearTree 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> Pretty much all political parties loudly announce that they'll reduce bureaucracy, but, judging by the outcomes, not much has happened so far. I do not believe that this will be possible in our lifetimes. Germany cannot function without a very high degree of bureaucracy. It's like asking fish to breathe out of water.

▲

em-bee 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

for comparison in china stamps completely replace the signature. but then, digital signatures that are not cryptograpically signed are no better.

▲

isoprophlex 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

And the right color pen. God forbid you fill in an official form in the wrong color pen.

▲

lifestyleguru 6 days ago | parent [-]

I would think it's a joke but once literally had an office clerk in Germany scratching with fingernail my signature to check whether it's by pen and in the right color.

▲

knallfrosch 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

Signatures that can be erased easily aren't a great fit for a legally binding document.

For more information, you can check whether the ink complies with DIN ISO 12757-2 and/or read up on "Dokumentenechtheit" [1]

[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokumentenechtheit (It hasn't been translated to other languages yet.)

	▲	lifestyleguru a day ago \| parent [-]
		Apparently my every signature ever has been ISO compliant without me even knowing about that norm.

▲

petre 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

There's a reason why Kafka wrote his novels in German.

▲

woodson 6 days ago | parent [-]

Because he was German Bohemian? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudeten_Germans#Austria-Hungar...)

▲

_zoltan_ 6 days ago | parent [-]

no, because bureaucrazy in Germany is rampart.

▲

throwawayoldie 6 days ago | parent [-]

He didn't live in Germany.

▲

imp0cat 6 days ago | parent [-]

He actually lived in Berlin for a few years before he died. But you're right, he spent most of his life in Prague. However, his native language was German.

Certainly an interesting man. I highly recommend checking some of his work (ie. The Metamorphosis).

	▲	petre 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Actually The Trial more closely resembles what the OP went through.