If you want to start a PFA or SRL, you might need the help of an outside service. For SRLs, you need an accountant by law.
Now, a lot of people might use a lawyer to start a company. Last time I contacted a lawyer that specialises in helping expats, they wanted 1000 euros just to start the company. Yikes! If you have that kind of money, fine, but you still need an office address, accountant, and all kinds of other things that go along with running a business (including taxes that are specific to your industry).
Why online services?
There are Limitations of all three “online company founding services.” None of the three seem to help you to choose your area of expertise. What NACE code area is a filmmaker? A music instructor? A dance studio? If, like me, you do your own research on these anyway, you might find the answer more easily by just searching it up than by discussing it.
There also is allegedly, no room for negotiation in online founding services. As an expat, I like that. If there is a fixed price, I know that I am not being cheated. I like dealing with people, but I don’t like paying more than the other guy does for the same service. If I keep doing that, I have to charge more than the other guy, if I want to stay alive.
That said, times have changed. Despite the adverts by Keez and co, most accountants allow you to work completely online. (the ones that let you walk into the office also have online options).
Option 1 – traditional accountants
Yes now, most accountants subscribe to online services, or use third party software where clients (that’s you) can easily upload documents.
Most of these third party services are better than the services that the “online” accounting services provide. So you can do your accounting online with traditional, just as easily as you can with the so-called tech accounting startups.
But it was because a couple of accountants seemed to quote me higher prices than on their webpages that I decided to look at the automated services.
Solo
I will first cover Solo because it is the most limited service. The advantage of Solo is that it is simple. For one monthly payment, they allow you to do invoices that go toward a tax document and also create a declaration for any investments you might have overseas. This is the perfect choice for expats who work in only one field.
The disadvantages is that is it extremely limited. Even though I picked a broad field, as an artist-writer, there are still jobs that I cannot do with my solo PFA.
Another limitation is that your customers, if they are business customers, need to have Romanian business numbers. Therefore, it is not ideal for those who work online, or who sell their work abroad. (Digital nomads probably want another service.)
They do not give advice, and you might find yourself going to ANAF to file taxes anyway. Sure, you can download a declaratie unica from Solo, but is it worth the money? If your landlord doesn’t allow you to use the appartment as a sediul (head office) then Solo might be worth considering. But traditional accountants might be better.
Where it is ideal for is photographers who sell their work locally, uber drivers, food delivery, that kind of thing.
Let’s be honest, many traditional accountants will host your PFA for less.
89 ron a month (about 20 euros)
Keez
Limitations. Keez only allows 10 sub headings. That is ten times more than Solo, but Startco can allow more.
There are options, if you pay more, to have employees. (with Solo, you are a freelancer without employees). It is generally more expensive than solo and cheaper than StartCo. Keez also locks you in for two years, and the lock in extends for another year or two at a time.
And they might back charge you for times when you didn’t use them. Yes, if your firm is eight months old, they might charge you for the previous eight months. Be wary.
Startco
If you have fewer than 15 documents a months, and don’t pay VAT, it is actually the cheapest accounting service of the three, at 15 euro per month. For SRLs, however, the cheapest option is 50 euro for up to 15 documents, making it more expensive than Keez. 30 documents goes up to 80 euros per month, or 110 per month if you pay VAT. To me, that is a lot of money for an automated service. What do they do with each document, copy it out by hand and translate it into esperanto?
The biggest problem I had with Startco is that when I used them, they only registered the company director for a day. This caused a lot of problems when it came to opening a bank account. It was eventually fixed, but they should have someone double-checking for these kinds of things.
Conclusion
These tech accountants are basically just hype. The only advantage to using them is if you have a brand new company, a simple company, and are sure that local accountants are cheating you because you are a foreigner.