We have an UG for that. A GmbH is simply the wrong legal form for that sort of thing. You can create an UG with a single Euro on the bank account (and then immediately go bankrupt once you need to pay the notary).
No we don't. UG is still a GmbH bureaucratic monster which a bit less start capital. You still need to follow all taxation rules like GmbH, which costs you few more thousands per year (Bilanzeirung, Steuerberater, Abschluss, ...) just to be legaly compliant.
American LLC taxation is as simple as or even simpler than Anlage EÜR. And you don't need a tax advisor to do it.
UG forces you to pay 3-4.000€ per year on tax compliance. LLC costs 200-300$.
> Not sure you are arguing in good faith.
You are the one completely ignoring the running costs of UG (the same or bigger than GmbH) just to make UG look better than it really is. Now, please tell who is not arguing in good faith?
> UG forces you to pay 3-4.000€ per year on tax compliance.
Even in if that was true, the 25k€ difference remains (since the tax overhead is identical). Hardly what people would consider "a bit". Let's say the start capital is 3k€ for the UG and respectively 28k€ for the GmbH. That's almost a magnitude difference. And usually taxes become a challenge only when there is anything to tax or book. Are you "forced" to have a Steuerberater without revenue?
I am not even defending the situation. Just calling out your characterization.
> I was arguing that the cost of running a “cheap” UG is closer to the cost of running GmbH than running a LLC.
Then maybe you should have said that instead of talking about start capital... The mere difference between UG and GmbH is the start capital, so what's your expectation?
You don't need money for the UG either. You might need money for operating expenses later etc, but that's not what OP complained about and should be similar for an LLC. (Depending on type of business, location etc)
American LLC taxation is as simple as or even simpler than Anlage EÜR. And you don't need a tax advisor to do it.