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Low tax, low cost with good freedom setup: Romania vs Bulgaria is the final match?

as far as I understood from discussions with tax lawyers: rent contract and utility bills serve as proof that you are in the country. Ideally you have also regular withdrawals from a bank account (you could even ask someone to do those for you). Hence if nothing else points at you being somewhere else, that should suffice.
If I am moving to Romania,in addition to rent contract, utility bills, etc , if you are a single guy, it should be pretty easy to find a Romanian chick, give her a prepaid visa on your name and ask her to pay for her daily frappuccino with the card. Basically get receipts from every day life.
 
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If I am moving to Romania,in addition to rent contract, utility bills, etc , if you are a single guy, it should be pretty easy to find a Romanian chick, give her a prepaid visa on your name and ask her to pay for her daily frappuccino with the card. Basically get receipts from every day life.

"Oh, you only pay $5 a day with your card? What about your other expenses? Can you please show us your bank statement as well, where the credit card transactions are deducted?"
 
"Oh, you only pay $5 a day with your card? What about your other expenses? Can you please show us your bank statement as well, where the credit card transactions are deducted?"
the whole "the-tax-man-will-find you" is way overblown and I speak from experience. Yes, if you are stupid and keep property, wife and kids, a gym membership, your mobile phone, etc in your home country then you are low hanging fruit and they will catch you. If you do it properly and keep it sensible (and you don't even have to adhere to the 183+) rule then risk is very low. This is my experience as a citizen from a high-tax country.
 
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the whole "the-tax-man-will-find you" is way overblown and I speak from experience. Yes, if you are stupid and keep property, wife and kids, a gym membership, your mobile phone, etc in your home country then you are low hanging fruit and they will catch you. If you do it properly and keep it sensible (and you don't even have to adhere to the 183+) rule then risk is very low. This is my experience as a citizen from a high-tax country.
In your opinion if you just move to Romania, setup your company and get your residency, then you move somewhere else with the digital nomad visa, you will be fine with your own country? (Proving that you were abroad without renting a place in Romania, or you still need that rent?)
 
In your opinion if you just move to Romania, setup your company and get your residency, then you move somewhere else with the digital nomad visa, you will be fine with your own country? (Proving that you were abroad without renting a place in Romania, or you still need that rent?)
depends of the country you are leaving but in general substance is key. You will need a place anyway to register the Romanian company. Having a rental agreement, utility bills, etc goes a long way for proving substance. Like I said, keep it sensible. I have my company for 13 years and for periods up to 18 months I was not in my home country and technically my taxes should have been paid in the country I was really staying and working. The country where you pay your taxes usually does not care where you are because they get their money anyways and if you are staying under the radar in the destination country nobody knows. This is especially true if you stay within EU and even better Schengen. I have Romanian friends working in my field (IT consultancy) who have been doing this for 10+ years (Romanian company + tax residency) but working and basically living in Western-Europe without any issue.
 
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From personal experience. I lived in Malta and I am not built for island living, especially dusty Malta with a population of 450K one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Friendly people though. Andorra is a great place if you love the outdoors and have a family. Quality of life is good although finding good housing is getting more and more expensive. Surprisingly there is a good ex-pat community from all over the globe. Running and growing a business from this place has its challenges.

Romania vs Bulgaria. The micro company taxation makes Romania a lot more competitive.

A micro company in Romania has several limitations, one of them is that no more than 20% of revenue can come from consulting, and the company can't operate in capital markets. So the structure is only good if you're selling products.
 
programming, web design, writing, affiliate, advertising

Aren't all of those considered consulting?

Anyway I was just searching for a site where it was claimed it can't be used for any business providing services to companies and it's only good for selling products ... and I came across this where they claim the rule is now abolished, so any business can be a micro-enterprise now: http://www.nomoretax.eu/Tax-brochures/Romania.pdf

Is any of you Romanian or residing in Romania?
 
Aren't all of those considered consulting?

Anyway I was just searching for a site where it was claimed it can't be used for any business providing services to companies and it's only good for selling products ... and I came across this where they claim the rule is now abolished, so any business can be a micro-enterprise now: http://www.nomoretax.eu/Tax-brochures/Romania.pdf

Is any of you Romanian or residing in Romania?
No? Is a cook considered doing consulting?
Residing, it is true that rule does not exist anymore, in the beginning it was also just 500k.
3% till 1M or 1% if you hire yourself and pay ~460€ salary per month 180 or smth will be income tax on that
first 65K no vat
5% dividend tax on payout

Would not go with some "offshore" company providers, locally there are attorneys who'll do everything for you for much less €.
 
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No? Is a cook considered doing consulting?
Residing, it is true that rule does not exist anymore, in the beginning it was also just 500k.
3% till 1M or 1% if you hire yourself and pay ~460€ salary per month 180 or smth will be income tax on that
first 65K no vat
5% dividend tax on payout

Would not go with some "offshore" company providers, locally there are attorneys who'll do everything for you for much less €.

Yeah I meant only services that you can do remotely / online.

Thanks a lot! Good that there's no restriction on the type of activity.
 
Definitely local.
Honestly I can't recommend any, I just had one and a bad experience with that attorney, submitting some declarations way later then I asked him to, also lying to me about it.

Almost all of them speak good english so just try your luck and calling one or writing an email, google just the city you want to go and attorney/advocate.
Some are a bit shady they will create the company without you even entering Romania, nor giving him any power of attorney, nor requiring a translator to translate every document for you, nor ever going to a notary. Sounded to me a bit weird when he suggested me that, as anybody could send some random Passport to him and getting a real company registered without any other proof of identity. Downside of that is that you are limited to EMI's if you don't want to enter Romania.

There is an option to registering the company the first year on the attorney's address and doing a headquarter change after 1 year. Headquarter change might cost you 140€.
 
Definitely local.
Honestly I can't recommend any, I just had one and a bad experience with that attorney, submitting some declarations way later then I asked him to, also lying to me about it.

Almost all of them speak good english so just try your luck and calling one or writing an email, google just the city you want to go and attorney/advocate.
Some are a bit shady they will create the company without you even entering Romania, nor giving him any power of attorney, nor requiring a translator to translate every document for you, nor ever going to a notary. Sounded to me a bit weird when he suggested me that, as anybody could send some random Passport to him and getting a real company registered without any other proof of identity. Downside of that is that you are limited to EMI's if you don't want to enter Romania.

There is an option to registering the company the first year on the attorney's address and doing a headquarter change after 1 year. Headquarter change might cost you 140€.

It was probably a scam. Sounds like he wouldn't do anything legally binding, just send you some useless documents so you'd think it's real, and cash you for that.

Anyway, does the 5% withholding dividend tax apply also to non-residents? I read everywhere that it's just 5% but I watched a video by a Romanian consultancy where they claim it's 16% for non-residents. So which one is true?
 
It was probably a scam. Sounds like he wouldn't do anything legally binding, just send you some useless documents so you'd think it's real, and cash you for that.

Anyway, does the 5% withholding dividend tax apply also to non-residents? I read everywhere that it's just 5% but I watched a video by a Romanian consultancy where they claim it's 16% for non-residents. So which one is true?
No that was actually real, no scam. The risk is on him, attorneys can create companies and submit declarations in your name, without the requirement of a notary.

I don't know, I just know 5%. 16% just sounds like the normal business tax if you are not categorized as micro company.
 

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