Where to start the next chapter of my life?

[Cloudbanck]

Hey guys,

Just signed up here, but I have been consulting the forum for the past few weeks.
It is a pleasure to meet all of you.

I'm a french IT freelancer (27 yo) and I'm looking for a country to start the next chapter of my life.
France is too much. I played the game and created a company there (which will be closed soon), paid the taxes, but it is too much for me.
I want to move on, go somewhere I can focus on my work without being heavily taxed. Currently, it is 30% on benefits plus a 30% flat tax on dividends.
A good move for me seems to be creating an Estonian company (through Xolo Leap) and moving elsewhere. Unlike France, Estonia does not tax company benefits, which means I can just focus on making money.

Right now, all I'm looking for is a country where taxes are less than 30% and where I can live on $3k~4k a month (before tax).
Somewhere I could live for an extended period of time, find a girl, buy an apartment, have a family.

A lot of you seems to have more experience than me.
Where would you guys go? What would you recommend me to do?

No-go list:
- Estonia -> 20% income tax + 30% social tax (which are useless if you are not a PR)
- Malta + Cyprus -> Went in both as a tourist. I don't think I could live there.
- Dubai -> A bit too expensive

Why-not list:
- Malaysia: 28% tax for my income, still a burden, but the cost of living is low. (Perhaps I could cheat a bit and treat rent as a business expense)

PS: I don't really care about the weather, but I do care about the quality of life.

Ok, how about Côte d'Ivoire ? Does not de facto tax income from outside Côte d'Ivoire. And tax on a local business (if you want one) is a few percent of turnover.

In Abidjan you have many of the shops and amenities you have in France, like Carrefour, Auchan, Decathlon, Paul, Eric Kayser etc.

With 4k EUR a month you are in the top 1% in Côte d'Ivoire and can have stuff like live in maids, chauffeur, personal trainer, chef.

 

[Giorgio1023]

Georgia Virtual Zone company + tax residency in Estonia (0 days presence required) = total tax 5% (only on distributed profits)

This is an interesting opportunity. Have been lurking here for two weeks trying to find a solution and reading up on every country Canada has a tax treaty with . If I was to add one more country into the mix (Canada) would the 5% pass-through again? So landed $ at the Canadian Parent Co is 5%.

View Treaty - Canada.ca

www.treaty-accord.gc.ca

We have a tax treaty with Estonia but not Georgia. I overlooked Estonia as I was told the 20% CIT is automatic on dividend distribution so in my case it would be 20% +5% WHT to get the $ back to Canada as dividends and using the "exempt surplus" qualification.

As long as income from the foreign affiliate Co owned by the Canada Hold Co is deemed active business income you can bring dividends into Canada from the foreign Co Tax free. Just the WHT and CIT from the foreign company/country needs to be paid.

I like this setup because it would allow me to run an e-commerce business in Georgia but create stability and use the tax treaty with Estonia. Do you think it would be 5%+5% =10 though because of the 5% Double Tax Treaty between Georgia and Estonia and then the 5% WHT Treaty between Estonia and Canada?

My alternative is to just do a Romanian Company and have the 3% Tax up to 500k EUR and then the 5% WHT on dividends between Romania and Canada.

Products will be shipped from China to USA/Canada directly. I'm not ready nor can I leave Canada right now (other business obligations).

So I have been heavily reading on CFC and our Tax Treaties. From what I understand the Dividend and "exempt surplus" with active business income from a foreign affiliate Co owned by the Canada Hold Co is the key.

Really appreciate you taking the time to read all this and offering your valuable knowledge. I've had a few sleepless nights running all this info through ChatGPT and getting into the weeds of deep Canada tax info lol.

 

[Don]

This is an interesting opportunity. Have been lurking here for two weeks trying to find a solution and reading up on every country Canada has a tax treaty with . If I was to add one more country into the mix (Canada) would the 5% pass-through again? So landed $ at the Canadian Parent Co is 5%.

View Treaty - Canada.ca

www.treaty-accord.gc.ca

We have a tax treaty with Estonia but not Georgia. I overlooked Estonia as I was told the 20% CIT is automatic on dividend distribution so in my case it would be 20% +5% WHT to get the $ back to Canada as dividends and using the "exempt surplus" qualification.

As long as income from the foreign affiliate Co owned by the Canada Hold Co is deemed active business income you can bring dividends into Canada from the foreign Co Tax free. Just the WHT and CIT from the foreign company/country needs to be paid.

I like this setup because it would allow me to run an e-commerce business in Georgia but create stability and use the tax treaty with Estonia. Do you think it would be 5%+5% =10 though because of the 5% Double Tax Treaty between Georgia and Estonia and then the 5% WHT Treaty between Estonia and Canada?

My alternative is to just do a Romanian Company and have the 3% Tax up to 500k EUR and then the 5% WHT on dividends between Romania and Canada.

Products will be shipped from China to USA/Canada directly. I'm not ready nor can I leave Canada right now (other business obligations).

So I have been heavily reading on CFC and our Tax Treaties. From what I understand the Dividend and "exempt surplus" with active business income from a foreign affiliate Co owned by the Canada Hold Co is the key.

Really appreciate you taking the time to read all this and offering your valuable knowledge. I've had a few sleepless nights running all this info through ChatGPT and getting into the weeds of deep Canada tax info lol.

Better not use ChatGPT in this context. It will most likely just confuse you.
Tax implications can be different depending on where you are resident and if you use holding structures in between.
My point remains that it could be overall 5% structure.
If you use an Estonian holding you can benefit from participation exemption / 0% wht, to pass on dividends to Canada.

Dividends received from foreign companies in which the Estonian company has at least a 10% shareholding, provided that either the underlying profits have been subject to foreign tax or foreign income tax was withheld from dividends received are redistributable tax free

 

[JimBeam]

How much monthly do you make from it?
What are expectations for the future?
What city/part of the France are you from?
Do you speak any foreign languages?
Where are your clients?
Looking to stay in Europe or going outside will do?
Do you hold any significant assets in France or have savings, investments etc?

In general countries like Bulgaria and Romania are good places in EU to setup a company and relocate to looking cost wise.
Cyprus and Malta are also interesting but may be costly and not sure if suited to everyone.
If you're looking for a place near the sea, maybe Montenegro would be interesting to you.