Hey guys,
I really appreciate that a helpful and honest forum like this one exists. I've been reading through several threads the last couple days and decided to share an idea how managing business (and the utility bill situation) could work as a non-resident.
First of all with non-resident I mean not being a tax resident of any country (less than 183 days, no ties, nothing), just a perpetual traveler. And yes, I know getting a tax residency via simply-non-dom in Cyprus or any other territorial taxation country like Panama would make things much easier, especially when it comes to potential utility bill problems with banks and your corporation.
In my opinion midterm a solid tax residency, especially if you are making good money with your business and have growing assets is mandatory for everyone. But what if you are single online-entrepreneur that is not generating 5-digits amounts yet every month, doesn't want to pay the high social insurance costs in his high taxation home country (that you can't benefit from, cause you're traveling around most of the time) and doesn't want to commit to a new tax residency yet? It might be nice to check out a few (territorial taxation) countries before deciding plus you don't need to spend 183 days (or Cyprus 60 days) there yet and rent or buy a flat. What if you like Nicaragua better than Panama? Or the Philippines? Would've been a pitty to have invested 5K for Panamas Friendly Nations Visa in that case.
In that case traveling around for 2-3 years to see a view places and working remote before deciding for a new 'tax home' would be quite nice. But how could that work in times of CRS and every institution asking for utility bills? As I really would like to do that, here is an early concept how this might work, using my case as an example:
I've quit my job and make <1,5K per month with affiliate websites and some coaching (my clients would be fine with non-deductable invoices), everything legal, business will grow and I have solid savings. Country of residence is Germany.
The concept
While still resident of home country (and have utility bills):
1. Register an offshore corp e.g. in Belize or St. Kitts and Nevis
2. Open corporate fintech account at mistertango. Also open a few personal accounts (monese and viabuy open personal accounts without address proof btw) as backups. Maybe open some more german banks (in case one finds out I'm not a resident anymore and wants to close the account, just in case)
3. Get main assets out of resident country banks (just in case). Open personal account in Georgia (TBC Bank just wants to see Passport and asks for adress without utility bill) and at Europac.
4. Deregister -properly- in resident country, no mistakes here, no ties, stick to laws like 183days and no more than 3 month visits at once.
After deregistration:
5. Companies and clients send money to mistertango or several personal accounts (most banks would close personal accounts if used for business, but with lets say just one not too high payment every month per fintech, I don't think anyone would care. What do you think? This would be an alternative if something would'nt work out with mistertango or any other fintech for a corporate account
6. Don't tell any bank I'm deregistered and get a bank reference letters every year with my former adress on it as proof of adress e.g. for my offshore corporation
Still open questions:
-Which offshore corp is the least demanding when it comes to yearly proof of residence? privacy-solutions.com told me Belize would accept a bank letter with adress as proof of adress. Is that true? Are there maybe better options?
-CRS: What will happen if every of my banks, fintechs and corporations send out yearly data about me to my former tax office? Would the tax office more or less ignore this as long there are no big amounts involved as I am not a resident anymore?
-CRS 2: What if I would ask a friend in another country XY to pay his internet bill? That would generate an utility bill. What do you think would happen if XY gets all this data every year? How would country XY react? From a logical point I would guess they would be confused and do nothing
-Another idea: What do you think about doing business just in ones name without corporation? In that case - what to write in the legal text/terms/policy on websites? A lot of countries require an adress here.
I would highly appreciate opinions and critics to this 'concept' to see if there would be a realistic chance with this or if I have any major mistakes built in somewhere that would make everything obsolete.
Btw: If anyone has questions about permanent residency in Panama and its Friendly Nations Visa, I am currently writing a very detailed blog post about this - ask me anything.
I really appreciate that a helpful and honest forum like this one exists. I've been reading through several threads the last couple days and decided to share an idea how managing business (and the utility bill situation) could work as a non-resident.
First of all with non-resident I mean not being a tax resident of any country (less than 183 days, no ties, nothing), just a perpetual traveler. And yes, I know getting a tax residency via simply-non-dom in Cyprus or any other territorial taxation country like Panama would make things much easier, especially when it comes to potential utility bill problems with banks and your corporation.
In my opinion midterm a solid tax residency, especially if you are making good money with your business and have growing assets is mandatory for everyone. But what if you are single online-entrepreneur that is not generating 5-digits amounts yet every month, doesn't want to pay the high social insurance costs in his high taxation home country (that you can't benefit from, cause you're traveling around most of the time) and doesn't want to commit to a new tax residency yet? It might be nice to check out a few (territorial taxation) countries before deciding plus you don't need to spend 183 days (or Cyprus 60 days) there yet and rent or buy a flat. What if you like Nicaragua better than Panama? Or the Philippines? Would've been a pitty to have invested 5K for Panamas Friendly Nations Visa in that case.
In that case traveling around for 2-3 years to see a view places and working remote before deciding for a new 'tax home' would be quite nice. But how could that work in times of CRS and every institution asking for utility bills? As I really would like to do that, here is an early concept how this might work, using my case as an example:
I've quit my job and make <1,5K per month with affiliate websites and some coaching (my clients would be fine with non-deductable invoices), everything legal, business will grow and I have solid savings. Country of residence is Germany.
The concept
While still resident of home country (and have utility bills):
1. Register an offshore corp e.g. in Belize or St. Kitts and Nevis
2. Open corporate fintech account at mistertango. Also open a few personal accounts (monese and viabuy open personal accounts without address proof btw) as backups. Maybe open some more german banks (in case one finds out I'm not a resident anymore and wants to close the account, just in case)
3. Get main assets out of resident country banks (just in case). Open personal account in Georgia (TBC Bank just wants to see Passport and asks for adress without utility bill) and at Europac.
4. Deregister -properly- in resident country, no mistakes here, no ties, stick to laws like 183days and no more than 3 month visits at once.
After deregistration:
5. Companies and clients send money to mistertango or several personal accounts (most banks would close personal accounts if used for business, but with lets say just one not too high payment every month per fintech, I don't think anyone would care. What do you think? This would be an alternative if something would'nt work out with mistertango or any other fintech for a corporate account
6. Don't tell any bank I'm deregistered and get a bank reference letters every year with my former adress on it as proof of adress e.g. for my offshore corporation
Still open questions:
-Which offshore corp is the least demanding when it comes to yearly proof of residence? privacy-solutions.com told me Belize would accept a bank letter with adress as proof of adress. Is that true? Are there maybe better options?
-CRS: What will happen if every of my banks, fintechs and corporations send out yearly data about me to my former tax office? Would the tax office more or less ignore this as long there are no big amounts involved as I am not a resident anymore?
-CRS 2: What if I would ask a friend in another country XY to pay his internet bill? That would generate an utility bill. What do you think would happen if XY gets all this data every year? How would country XY react? From a logical point I would guess they would be confused and do nothing
-Another idea: What do you think about doing business just in ones name without corporation? In that case - what to write in the legal text/terms/policy on websites? A lot of countries require an adress here.
I would highly appreciate opinions and critics to this 'concept' to see if there would be a realistic chance with this or if I have any major mistakes built in somewhere that would make everything obsolete.
Btw: If anyone has questions about permanent residency in Panama and its Friendly Nations Visa, I am currently writing a very detailed blog post about this - ask me anything.
