Germany vs United Kingdom
Side-by-side comparison of Germany and the United Kingdom for founders weighing an EU industrial base against a common-law jurisdiction outside the EU.
Side-by-side
| Taxation | Germany | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax | 30% | 25% |
| VAT | 19% | 20% |
| Dividend tax | 26.375% | 0% |
| Formation | Germany | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty (1–5) | 4 | 1 |
| Cost | 800 EUR | 50 GBP |
| Time | 21 days | 1 days |
| Banking & Payments | Germany | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Banking difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 3 |
| Stripe | Yes | Yes |
| PayPal | Yes | Yes |
| Wise | Yes | Yes |
| Operations | Germany | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting difficulty (1–5) | 4 | 2 |
| Payroll difficulty (1–5) | 4 | 2 |
| Compliance difficulty (1–5) | 4 | 2 |
| Market access | Germany | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| EU member | Yes | No |
| EEA member | Yes | No |
| Currency | EUR | GBP |
When Germany wins
- You need direct EU single-market access by default
- Your customer base is the German Mittelstand or German-speaking enterprise market
- You need proximity to deep European industrial supply chains and capital markets
When United Kingdom wins
- You want same-day Companies House incorporation at minimal cost
- Your profits stay below the £50,000 small-profits-rate threshold (19% UK rate)
- You want zero withholding tax on dividends paid to non-resident shareholders
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Sources
- Bundesministerium der Finanzen — Federal Ministry of Finance — Germany (accessed )
- HM Revenue & Customs — HM Revenue & Customs — UK Corporation Tax (accessed )
- OECD — OECD — economic and tax statistics (accessed )
- PricewaterhouseCoopers — PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (accessed )
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