Where would you incorporate in 2021?

You incorporate in the country in which you live 183 days per year (or more). It's simple.

If you live more than 183 days in country X, but you incorporate in country Y, you'll have a hard time explaning it to the tax authorities.

Pre-investment, you should basically balance the administrative hassle and financial burden of incorporating in the US - specifically, Delaware with the decreased friction of fundraising for a US topco.

Cons of DE:

  - US lawyers are the worst both in terms of quality and cost 
  - You may need local sub to employ you
  - If you're not in the US you may struggle to open a bank account etc in your local jurisdiction

Pros of DE:

  - Everyone knows how to invest in a DE C-Corp no matter how early stage
  - Many tax advantages for investors can be maintained (e.g. EIS for UK taxpayers)
  - Lots of nice tooling for doing company secretarial stuff (e.g. Carta)

Once you have enough cash not to worry too much about the odd moderately expensive and opaque advisory bill for something you never knew you needed, the US looks more and more attractive strategically. To the extent that some people think there shouldn't even be a debate (e.g. https://medium.com/angularventures/us-incorporation-just-do-...)

(Source: founder of UK startup with US sub, acquired by US company)

If you want venture financing. Delaware C Corp. Don't even think of anything else. Use Stripe Atlas. But that's not most businesses.

If you don't live in a country with CFC rules (not the US) why not Panama? Uses the US dollar and has no taxes on foreign source income. Dividends from companies that earned foreign source income are taxed at 5%. Strong financial services sector that can wire and receive money anywhere in USD.

If you optionally put the company inside a personal foundation you get incredibly strong protection from lawsuits, inheritance taxes, and even divorce.

There is no support from major US payment companies like stripe. So you'll need to handle payments through a foreign company or through a local bank which offers the service (expect to pay more than stripe). I setup an integration over a decade ago (with Multibank), it wasn't too bad, and I'm sure it has improved since then.

Where I live, so that I can be a part of and give back to the community that hosts me. Hopefully that doesn't come off snarky, but I mean it sincerely. Most of my clients are also online, in fact most are from the US and I am not. Our countries have a fair tax treaty, so that's never been an issue.

Exceptions I am sure exist where your home doesn't play very nicely and so taking your business elsewhere is fair.

I am thinking between Estonia with their e-residency program or Portugal with their 0% tax for the first 10 years. (Non-US and Non-EU resident)

Wyoming, Nevada, South Dakota, or Delaware.

Wherever you want to see your tax dollars converted into public works.

For US Citizens, it's hard to argue against Puerto Rico. Great tax benefits for product companies and service companies. Catch is you have to move to PR, but it's a beautiful island so why not.

This question is so vague I can't imagine there is a reasonable answer to it.

If you are a one person shop I imagine I'd incorporate in my own country under the assumption it would make the paperwork easier.

It's insightful to see how many comments are about avoiding tax. Companies with an anti-society, screw-the-poor, not-my-problem attitude are exactly the kind of companies that make the world a worse place for everyone - except shareholders and (sometimes) paying customers.

Tax is part of participation in democratic societies, intentionally avoiding it is immoral if you also enjoy the benefits of the same democratic system.

Dubai is a pretty easy option. Friendly tax regime, convenient location, good infrastructure.

I've seen this exact thread before, with the same comments (from different users) a day or two ago.

Possible bot/spam/GPT-3?