Getting the Bulgarian residency

[zenou]

Hello Guys,

I'm new here. Nice to meet you all.
Small introduction, I'm a French citizen trying to move to Bulgaria to enjoy the 10% flat tax on pretty much everything and especially the one that interest me the most : the capital gain.
I am financially self-sufficient and I was wondering if some of you know a way to enjoy the Bulgarians taxes without having to actually work.
Two ideas have comes to my mind :

1. umbrella company (or wage portage).
2. setting up a small business for myself.

What do you guys thinking ?

Thank you in advance
Ben

 

[myhand]

enjoy the Bulgarians taxes without having to actually work.

Why would you pay taxes if you don't work?

 

[zenou]

Why would you pay taxes if you don't work?

I have some cryptocurrency assets that I would love to cash out

 

[Dubsize]

Why would you pay taxes if you don't work?

As he said, he has capital gains... you pay tax on it. It's a passive income even if you don't actually work for it.

 

[Dubsize]

I have some cryptocurrency assets that I would love to cash out

Are you really planning on living in Bulgaria ? Did you ever visited this country?

 

[zenou]

As he said, he has capital gains... you pay tax on it. It's a passive income even if you don't actually work for it.

indeed, but I was wondering about having to prove my right to stay on the Bulgarians ground ?
In my opinion I can't just go there and cash out to enjoy the 10% taxes, you know what I mean ?

 

[myhand]

capital gains involving crypto?

When you have earned money outside of a country and bring it into a new one then usually you don't have to pay tax on that money. Sure if you keep profitting on it you will have to pay tax in the "new country" i.e. Bulgaria so you may just pay the 10% tax rate you mentioned.

Anyway, if you have som cash consult a local tax consultant in Bulgaria he may easely help you to structure something that will work for you. I believe this country is easy to navigate through the tax park if you have the right people by hand!

 

[zenou]

Are you really planning on living in Bulgaria ? Did you ever visited this country?

Yes I planned to live there for few year

capital gains involving crypto?

Yes, and anyway, taxes in Bulgaria are quite easy thanks to the flat tax. If I'm right it's 10% for almost everything excepted dividends which are 5% and self-employment around 14%

capital gains involving crypto?

When you have earned money outside of a country and bring it into a new one then usually you don't have to pay tax on that money. Sure if you keep profitting on it you will have to pay tax in the "new country" i.e. Bulgaria so you may just pay the 10% tax rate you mentioned.

Anyway, if you have som cash consult a local tax consultant in Bulgaria he may easely help you to structure something that will work for you. I believe this country is easy to navigate through the tax park if you have the right people by hand!

Sounds good !

 

[Dubsize]

Yes, and anyway, taxes in Bulgaria are quite easy thanks to the flat tax. If I'm right it's 10% for almost everything excepted dividends which are 5% and self-employment around 14%

yes you are 100% correct

 

[zenou]

Thank you for your answers guys ! I appreciate

Do by any chances someone know about a package for incorporate a company or an umbrella company based in Bulgaria ?

I've been looking around and found Bulgaria - No More Tax which are a pretty interesting one (for the incorporation) but don't know about their professionalism and reputation.

 

[Dubsize]

Thank you for your answers guys ! I appreciate

Do by any chances someone know about a package for incorporate a company or an umbrella company based in Bulgaria ?

I've been looking around and found Bulgaria - No More Tax which are a pretty interesting one (for the incorporation) but don't know about their professionalism and reputation.

Bulgaria is within E.U, I would not use a service provider to inc a company there.
Just get in touch with a Bulgarian accountant/CPA that can open for you the company and that will also take care of your tax return, fillings etc...

 

[Martin Everson]

Are you really planning on living in Bulgaria ? Did you ever visited this country?

Sorry this made me laugh....

 

[David97255]

Maybe i don't understand and i m not a good travel agency concerning Bulgaria.
But why you don't cash out your crypto and live where you want, heard that winter is hard in Bulgaria....

 

[Dubsize]

Sorry this made me laugh....

haha why?

 

[zenou]

Bulgaria is within E.U, I would not use a service provider to inc a company there.
Just get in touch with a Bulgarian accountant/CPA that can open for you the company and that will also take care of your tax return, fillings etc...

Thanks for the advice, I'm gonna dig on this side !

 

[zenou]

Maybe i don't understand and i m not a good travel agency concerning Bulgaria.
But why you don't cash out your crypto and live where you want, heard that winter is hard in Bulgaria....

Haha indeed winter are quite harsh but cold never bothered me anyway #frozen, on the other side I can always traveling easily

 

[Martin Everson]

haha why?

Let me just say on my first and only visit to Bulgaria I was left with one question in mind. Who on earth was responsible for signing off on letting this place join the EU.

 

[OTR365]

Hi Zenou,

I lived one year in Sofia a few years back. The immigration unit is a bit of a mess, the clerks being old women who mostly don't understand English. You should count on visiting there at least three times in order to get your residency card. Anyway, it can be done without the help of an attorney. Do this before three-month mark.

IMO, the country is not as bad as some here claim, but then again, one man's ceiling is other man's floor. The Balkans winter is mild and relatively sunny. Bulgarian food is nothing to write home about, so I predict you'd be buying your groceries from a local Carrefour. Internet is faster & cheaper than almost anywhere else in the EU. Sofia's metro system is great, buses mostly suck and the car traffic is somewhat suicidal. I did not have a car, but it is perhaps the cheapest place in EU to own a car (low insurance fees etc.).

I got a legitimate reason (work), but I doubt Bulgaria makes it too hard for you to stay. On the Black Sea coast, Russians & Ukrainians own tens of thousands of holiday apartments, which is one way to get a long-term residency. Buying an apartment in Sofia might be a decent investment (the Black Sea coast is a different market with different rules). Bulgaria in on a pipeline for joining the euro, which could boost investments and asset prices.

A bigger issue might be finding a bitcoin-friendly bank, if your intention is to cash out your coins. For example, I've read Raiffeisen Bank is hostile to bitcoin.

There are other options besides Bulgaria. For example, Philippines and Thailand - probably also Cambodia - do not tax foreign income. Cyprus does not tax capital gains, and they speak decent English. On the outskirts of Europe, Georgian Republic is very low bureaucracy, low tax, and they beat Bulgaria in both the nature's beauty and food.

I'm in somewhat similar situation as you, and I've chosen to become a resident in Cyprus, while doing my banking outside the EU.

 

[zenou]

Hi Zenou,

I lived one year in Sofia a few years back. The immigration unit is a bit of a mess, the clerks being old women who mostly don't understand English. You should count on visiting there at least three times in order to get your residency card. Anyway, it can be done without the help of an attorney. Do this before three-month mark.

IMO, the country is not as bad as some here claim, but then again, one man's ceiling is other man's floor. The Balkans winter is mild and relatively sunny. Bulgarian food is nothing to write home about, so I predict you'd be buying your groceries from a local Carrefour. Internet is faster & cheaper than almost anywhere else in the EU. Sofia's metro system is great, buses mostly suck and the car traffic is somewhat suicidal. I did not have a car, but it is perhaps the cheapest place in EU to own a car (low insurance fees etc.).

I got a legitimate reason (work), but I doubt Bulgaria makes it too hard for you to stay. On the Black Sea coast, Russians & Ukrainians own tens of thousands of holiday apartments, which is one way to get a long-term residency. Buying an apartment in Sofia might be a decent investment (the Black Sea coast is a different market with different rules). Bulgaria in on a pipeline for joining the euro, which could boost investments and asset prices.

A bigger issue might be finding a bitcoin-friendly bank, if your intention is to cash out your coins. For example, I've read Raiffeisen Bank is hostile to bitcoin.

There are other options besides Bulgaria. For example, Philippines and Thailand - probably also Cambodia - do not tax foreign income. Cyprus does not tax capital gains, and they speak decent English. On the outskirts of Europe, Georgian Republic is very low bureaucracy, low tax, and they beat Bulgaria in both the nature's beauty and food.

I'm in somewhat similar situation as you, and I've chosen to become a resident in Cyprus, while doing my banking outside the EU.

Thank you for all those informations !

Regarding the bank account I found a really efficient service Altcoinomy . They're based in Switzerland, basically they draft a kyc for you and find you a swiss bank account to cash out crypto with zero issues. They charge 1% for every cash out (only crypto cash out other operations are not subject to charges).

I've read a bit about Cyprus, correct me if I'm wrong but the tax on capital gain doesn't seems so attractive unless you're using a dividend company or a specific configuration ? May I ask you where outside the EU is your bank ?

 

[OTR365]

Thank you for that info. I did not know about this Swiss service. It could be very useful.

Outside the EU, I have bank accounts in Georgia and Cambodia. My bank in Georgia seems to be OK with withdrawing cryptos. I had to fill out an AML questionnaire, though. I've transferred there a few 10s of thousands from a crypto exchange. I don't know what would happen if I transferred e.g. 500K or a million. The good thing about Georgia is, they're not part of the automatic information exchange. The bad thing is, they're not part of eurozone, so money transfers need to be bank wires with correnpondence banks (= somewhat costly). Their debit/credit cards work fine and without extra cost, so I pay all my personal expenses from my Georgian EUR/USD/GEL account.

I'm not an expert on Cyprus, although I live here at the moment. I am planning to become a resident, but might just as well hit the road, and get back to this next spring. They way I understand, here I could just declare my personal bitcoin income as capital gains, which would be tax free. The law seems to require me to have that income audited, though.

My long term plan is to be resident in a country that does not tax foreign income, and establish an offshore company where I'll move most of my capital. Then I'll just pay myself dividens. Cyprus seems to fit the bill, but certainly there are other options as well.