Where to Incorporate

What this tool does

Remote founders are sold a tidy story: open a company somewhere light-touch, run it from your laptop, pay less. The reality in 2026 is messier. This comparator lines up the three structures people actually ask about — an Estonia e-Residency OÜ, a UK private limited company, and a US LLC — and scores each on what really matters day to day: setup cost, ongoing admin, how realistically a non-resident can bank it, and how exposed it is to the tightening substance rules. It then names the most defensible starting point for your specific residency, revenue and client base.

How to use it

Set three things: where you are tax resident, roughly how much you bill in a year, and where most of your clients sit. The table re-ranks instantly and highlights the best-fit structure, while the result card explains why and flags the one risk that overrides almost everything else. Treat the numbers as relative estimates — they are there to sharpen the question, not to quote you a price or promise an outcome.

The 2026 substance question you cannot skip

The single most important shift behind this tool is the move toward an “economic reality” test. A company registered abroad but with no office, no staff and no real decision-making there can be taxed where it is genuinely managed — which, for a one-person business, is usually wherever you happen to be sitting. EU and OECD work, from the Unshell debate to place-of-effective-management guidance, all points the same direction. That is why the comparator weights substance risk so heavily, and why every recommendation here ends at a qualified adviser rather than a registration form.