Move, residency, company and easy life

[MattI]

Hi all.
I am new to the forum, and to be brutally honest starting to have a headache. I don't want to complicate my life anymore.
I want to move to a new country, pay my taxes legally (just want this things nicely done and optimized for once in my life), open a company offering sports services (might also do others as IT Consultation/Special support) with up to 100-150kEUR per year income, and have a stress free life. I am currently based in Malta, here for over 10 years, but origins are from another EU country. I want to live an easier life, not worrying about how to pay my taxes, contributions and this might be the opposite, since I want to run a business. The more I read about freelancing and self employment, the less I liked it. Thus, company it is. And I want to operate this 70% myself, 30% would be outsourced assistance, just to make sure things are legal and legit.
I am reading all this tax residency, personal residency, domicile, etc. and... since English is not my native language, but C2 proficient, my brain is having a meltdown processing all this info and translating it so that I can truly understand it in all essence.

I am technically not looking for off-shore solutions. I just want to stop the complications and maybe everything what I am reading and understanding is just a blur on my end.
As a person who is used to work 9-5 (more like double that in most cases), I am getting tired of it. I have a simple niche solution, which I am working on and can live on nicely. My only problem is I don't want to pay a lot of taxes, as I am only starting out as a new business owner in such sense. Most of my savings would go to build my own housing, or something in this sense... to obtain the residence in a country of my preference (lots of sun, near the sea, easy life)... I thought it might be this island, but I started to dislike it.

I am hearing, reading lots of beautiful things about Portugal and NHR.
I am also willing to buy land in Portugal. Since winter is something I miss, Andorra was also in the picture... and yet, I am not sure I would be able to cope with dual-triple national legislations, taxes and everything on top. I was checking on Malta's companies, but the frank truth is the way people work here is just not working well with me.
Also, unless it can be a foreigner who would reside in Malta, to just have a title of a director? To buy property or land became silly expensive.
I found also that not huge fan of Italian work, what else is there? Greece? Georgia?
I am also talking with Estonia, but they seem to also have a strange hidden taxation perhaps as per some articles online.
I would not consider to move or live outside of Europe, as that would defeat the purpose of my business idea.
Some articles online are mentioning to run an American LLC.
I am looking also into Montenegro, Bulgaria or any country having the sea.
I am hoping to get some clarity from experts commenting here, before I go with the most clear image to a professional accountant or tax advisor.

I want to travel most of the year, like 3-4 months each country, in some cases it might be more.
So, my first and foremost question to everyone based and running companies in Europe is:
Which country's taxes for personal and business purposes are the ones worth noting?
Or, in case of Portugal, what would the end tax and all other contributions be, once NHR is applied? Maybe someone can share an example for 50k income.
Can a person be NHR as initially an employee for a remote-first company and then changing to his/her own business company? Or, is that even relevant?
And, are these taxes, contributions hard or easy to manage, calculate for the specific country?

Let's start with an example:
What are the initial costs of opening business? Portugal, Malta, Andorra, Estonia, Greece? (you name the country)
What is the initial bureaucracy time-wise? One month? Four months?
Who needs to be hired or employed? A director, an accountant, a representative, secretary?


If this is the wrong forum, you are kindly asked to write me privately and nudge me in the right direction, deleting this thread.
If I could afford legal advise, tax advise with the current situation I'd not be online doing researches for such queries. I keep being told such things cost 100+ per hour. Wrong or not?

 

[Don]

What are the initial costs of opening business? Portugal, Malta, Andorra, Estonia, Greece? (you name the country)
Generally speaking, yearly costs are around 5k +- 1-2k.

What is the initial bureaucracy time-wise? One month? Four months?
It depends, the biggest headache is changing your personal residency, which can take months depending on the approach.

Who needs to be hired or employed? A director, an accountant, a representative, secretary?
Generally, you would need to appoint a nominee director (& secretary in some jurisdictions)

I am here to promote Estonia, Georgia & Cyprus as these are jurisdictions I know the most about, and have a relevant business interest with.
Feel free to pm me, I can drop you a summary of the most relevant information regarding these jurisdictions.

 

[MattI]

What are the initial costs of opening business? Portugal, Malta, Andorra, Estonia, Greece? (you name the country)
Generally speaking, yearly costs are around 5k +- 1-2k.

What is the initial bureaucracy time-wise? One month? Four months?
It depends, the biggest headache is changing your personal residency, which can take months depending on the approach.

Who needs to be hired or employed? A director, an accountant, a representative, secretary?
Generally, you would need to appoint a nominee director (& secretary in some jurisdictions)

I am here to promote Estonia, Georgia & Cyprus as these are jurisdictions I know the most about, and have a relevant business interest with.
Feel free to pm me, I can drop you a summary of the most relevant information regarding these jurisdictions.

Thank you. For everyone to benefit, may I very kindly ask of you to give some explanation , answer to my queries about Cyprus. I forgot about the nearby island.

 

[Don]

Companies incorporated in Cyprus can benefit from the following:

• No withholding tax on dividends, interest and royalties
• No capital gains tax on the sale of securities
• 12.5% Corporation Tax is one of the lowest in Europe
• Intellectual Property Regime allowing effective 2.5% Corporation Tax rate

Main tax benefits of residing in Cyprus:

• No taxation of dividends and interest for non-domiciled tax residents - for 17 years of the residency (exemption from Special Defence Contribution which is a local withholding tax on passive income for domiciled tax residents);
• No Personal Income Tax for income below 19 500 EUR gross per year (once reached, then 20-35% depending on the level of income);
• No capital gains tax on sale of securities (selling shares, stocks, various financial instruments);
• Various deductions when receiving personal income (e.g. from employment);
• No tax on the sale of security tokens;
• Possibility of tax-free tokenization of individuals & businesses

An individual obtaining the tax residency of Cyprus should have in mind both local and international requirements related to tax residency. A careful study of the Double Tax Treaty is often needed in order to establish the tax residency of a person relocating to Cyprus. In cases where no Double Tax Treaty between Cyprus and the previous country of residence exists, domestic legislation of that country shall be considered.

How to become a tax resident of Cyprus:

• residing in the territory of Cyprus for at least 60 days in a tax year;
• not spending more than a sum of 183 days in any other jurisdiction within a tax year;
• not being a resident for tax purposes of another jurisdiction within the same tax year;
• carrying on a business / being employed / holding an office in Cyprus during the tax year;
• maintaining a permanent home in Cyprus (owned or rented).

All the above conditions have to be fulfilled in order to use the 60-day rule of tax residency. An alternative to the above is spending more than 183 days per calendar year in Cyprus.

 

[Fred]

Dubai Company, Residence and Bank Accounts.

Safes you all the headache you have with the bureaucracy in all the EU countries.

You can even travel around the whole year just make sure to be at least 2 days per year in the UAE to keep your residence visa active and therefore your bank accounts that are opened with the residence visa.

 

[MattI]

I am guessing there are a few who reside or have companies in Portugal , Andorra or Greece? :/

 

[sharey]

Maldives might be an option i could give some more information

 

[bbb77]

What are the initial costs of opening business? Portugal, Malta, Andorra, Estonia, Greece? (you name the country)
Generally speaking, yearly costs are around 5k +- 1-2k.

What is the initial bureaucracy time-wise? One month? Four months?
It depends, the biggest headache is changing your personal residency, which can take months depending on the approach.

Who needs to be hired or employed? A director, an accountant, a representative, secretary?
Generally, you would need to appoint a nominee director (& secretary in some jurisdictions)

I am here to promote Estonia, Georgia & Cyprus as these are jurisdictions I know the most about, and have a relevant business interest with.
Feel free to pm me, I can drop you a summary of the most relevant information regarding these jurisdictions.

Hi Don, can you pm me with the info you have on Cyprus and Estonia? Many thanks

 

[ilpablo]

@MattI
Depending on what type of services you want to offer through your company and how you want to do it, I might have a suitable solution for you in either Romania or Bulgaria, for opening a company, without necessarily establishing residency there.
You said that you intend to offer sports services and IT Consultation. Could you elaborate about this?

Hi Meliss, where would you live if you open a company in Romania or Bulgaria?

If your residence is in another country, you have probably to add more costs to create substance locally in your country of company incorporation

 

[Meliss]

@MattI
I would live in a country that has a treaty for the avoidance of double taxation with Romania and/or Bulgaria, if I don't want to live neither in Romania nor Bulgaria.
It's not about creating substance mainly, it's about what kind of services the company offers, and how they are performed.
The costs are not higher than what Don said for the other countries, on the contrary, they could be lower.
Apart from taxation, other advantages are that the set up and establishing residency (in case is desired) are fast and they won't restrict your time of staying in other places/countries.