Lowest taxes possible (EU citizen - going out of the EU)

[Conversion]

I just registered and started to read all the conversations here, interesting stuff. I thought about opening up this topic because after a few searches, it's hard for me to find something regarding my situation.

Where I'm from
I'm an EU citizen by birth, have my passport from my EU country, and I'm currently in a eastern Europe country (not my passport country) to open up my company.
I'm in the process of opening up my company, but before I do that and potentially waste time, money and energy with govs and banks, it would be great to have an opinion from you.

I already consulted 5 different accountants here where I'm at this time, so I'm pretty much covered here. What I'm trying to understand, are possible solutions beyond the damn EU.

Fiscal residence and Covid
I still have to get rid of my fiscal residence in my home country. Couldn't do this during last year due to damn covid lockdowns, I was literally locked down in my own country of birth (I often travel outside my country and rarely come back, max 1 month per year). This year I'll stay for the majority of my time (I think 9 months, but I'm flexible!) here so I can at least move my fiscal residency in a more decently taxed country.


However since I can constantly travel, I'm open to establish my self pretty much anywhere, far from the EU, ideally in the Americas since most of my clients are from there.
I make roughly $45000 usd per year at the moment, with a good change of almost doubling this in 2022.

I tried to contact many professional on tax planning without much success, who can I consult for this? Anyone trustworthy? What would you do in my position if you're open to go everywhere?

My only limit is my income, I can't really stay too much in Dubai or similar, cause they're expensive for me at this moment, I have to admit that.

I don't snob boring countries, if I just need to sacrifice a few months of 1 year. Being in a boring place it's a good excuse to focus on work for me. Besides that, even now I'm not exactly in New York, I'm already in an average boring city.

What would you do? My aim, either now or in the next years, is to plan and aim for 0% taxes. I'd rather invest my money in different ways like ETFs and pay a private insurance/pension fund, while I keep travelling, instead of gifting money to govs.


Thanks!

 

[xiaojieting2]

I guess you have a good point, however I don't know which is the right way to act

 

[Konstanz]

45k per year is not that amount worth structuring.. maybe some eastern European company with lower tax is enough

 

[Sols]

Even after you double it, 90,000 USD/year is a nice income (especially in eastern Europe) but not enough for any sophisticated tax planning. You need to be looking at 10x or 100x that for the costs of advanced structures to be worthwhile.

Without a higher income or wealth, you won't qualify for entrepreneur or personal wealth based residence permits in most places, or if you do the costs will take up a significant portion of your income.

In your case, relocating to a lower-tax jurisdiction such as Cyprus or Malta would probably have the easiest and most meaningful impact. It won't be zero tax and costs will be relatively high at first, but it's an easy step you can take as an EU citizen to lower your tax burden long-term.

But chances are you will get the most value out of your investment if you stay put and focus on growing your business. You can make exit plan preparations now but it's too early to make a move, at least to outside EU.

 

[Conversion]

Thank you guys, I really appreciate the advice. Makes sense, I'll stick around and start to learn more about this stuff around here, but I see what you mean. I feared that offshore requires more income to work

 

[gmbh]

Without a higher income or wealth, you won't qualify for entrepreneur or personal wealth based residence permits in most places, or if you do the costs will take up a significant portion of your income.

Can you please elaborate what you mean with this? Places with zero income tax like Bahames or Berumda?

 

[Sols]

Can you please elaborate what you mean with this? Places with zero income tax like Bahames or Berumda?

Exactly, there are schemes like that here and there if you look around.

I believe Cayman Islands have something nowadays as well. Panama has its friendly nations visa scheme which also comes with a hefty but reasonable pricetag (IIRC, it's 10,000 USD).

 

[Runway]

In your case it would be sufficient for you to move your residence to a country that only taxes domestic income, then it doesn't really matter if you keep your company in the UK, SG or elsewhere.
Georgia is not a fancy destination but it's cheap and doesn't tax foreign income, EU citizens are allowed to stay visa-free for 1 year. Depending on your current EU country of residence, you may or may not have as issue as you will not be able to get a proof of tax residence from Georgia

 

[freegeek]

have you looked at Romania with its micro company? 1% turnover tax, pay yourself the minimum salary to qualify for the 1% (total salary cost around 500 usd / month). 5% dividend tax to take revenue out of the company

 

[lavel]

have you looked at Romania with its micro company?

really, would you like to live in Romania?

 

[countryfree]

I lived in Bucharest for a while. It's a much better place to live than Paris or London. I hope to go back there sometimes next year.

 

[JohnLocke]

I lived in Bucharest for a while. It's a much better place to live than Paris or London. I hope to go back there sometimes next year.

How is it better, please elaborate?

 

[polonieth]

How is it better, please elaborate?

Pretty much 99% of cities in Europe are better than London.

Bucharest is far safer, less 'diversity', less knife crime, less drugs, less trash, less homelessness, cheaper.

Even at billionaire status, what is there in London? Yes, there are some exclusive venues, nice restaurants, cool bars, but you still have to navigate through a war zone to really get to any of them.

If you only ever look upwards, some of the buildings are great, lots of quaint little streets, markets etc. Not bad for a weekend But as a place to live? Nah.

 

[Jonathan169]

I lived in Bucharest for a while. It's a much better place to live than Paris or London. I hope to go back there sometimes next year.

I totally agree. London is what exactly...pigeon, infested, bad food, terrible beer, cold people, colder streets, trick-a-treat nation. LOL, I prefer Moscow to London tbh., the normal Russians, can't beat them. I remember I used to get a kilo of blue cavier for $20....yep...a kilo, when you know people in Azer life is simple.

 

[Marshal]

Agree with the above said about Bucharest. Between Paris, London and Bucharest I would choose to live in Bucharest. Especially after all the chaos that happened lately across France. Paris and London are great for holidays, but not for residence. Overall Eastern Europe now is a much better place to live than big cities in Western Europe. Prague, Krakow, Budapest and Tallinn is just an example. But of course everyone has their own preferences