Hey all,
I want to setup a clean and scalable business and tax structure (company and personal) so I can focus on building my business and not changing my setup every few years and wasting time on that.
I understand that "long term" doesn't exist but at least something that will work for the next 2-3 years.
Facts:
Goals:
Options I've Considered:
CYPRUS
Company - CY Company that holds shares in all other brands/companies. Establish decent substance there, office, hire some folks etc.
Each Brand would have its own separate entity owned by this CY company. It can be either another CY company, or US LLC, Estonian OU depending on the market and needs.
Tax Residency - Cyprus with non-dom obviously makes sense in this case. Stay 60-180+ days each year.
Pros:
+ On paper tax situation looks great. Max 15% or so if trading, dividends free, cap gains free etc. (does it work in practice?)
+ Easy and nice to spend time there even year round
+ OK banking options outside of CY (at least Wise is supported)
+ 60 days rule for tax residency
Cons:
- It's EU with all the BS that comes with it
- It was just removed from gray-list so could go back on it
- Freedom (covid lockdowns, safe pass etc)
- Red tape
- Abysmal local banks
Dubai / UAE
Company - Similar setup like above but Dubai FZ company with subsidiaries either another FZ company, LLC etc. Office, personal apartment, maybe hire a few folks.
Tax Residency - This is questionable for UAE, I doubt I can spend 6+ months there. 90-120 days would be fine.
I know some of you mentioned 3 months is OK and I don't really spend time in high tax countries and I'm not a citizen of one, but maybe foreign banks will dislike the lack of filing and tax certificates.
Pros:
+ 0% an obvious one
+ Less red tape than CY,Malta and similar lower tax EU options
+ Nice to spend time in winter
+ Decent local banking options
Cons:
- Can't live there year round
- Probably going to get sqeezed more by Eutaxnazi crew because of 0% and lack of audits
- Conspicuous tax evasion and money laundering place - Would it cause more difficult KYC in foreign banks and immigration because of no tax filings?
- 6+ months for tax residency
I'd love to hear your thoughts, experience and suggestions on Cyprus vs UAE and if you have any other options I haven't considered it would be nice to hear about it.
Thanks
JD
I want to setup a clean and scalable business and tax structure (company and personal) so I can focus on building my business and not changing my setup every few years and wasting time on that.
I understand that "long term" doesn't exist but at least something that will work for the next 2-3 years.
Facts:
- - Citizenship: Non-EU (East Europe)
- - Residency - TBD (nomad)
- - Got a family (can't go just anywhere)
- - Business Type - Media, SaaS, Ecom etc
Goals:
- Easy to scale company structure (say I had 10 ecom/saas brands, I'd probably prefer to have 10 separate entities to isolate them, right? So probably lower overhead on fees/upkeep would be useful)
- Tax up to 15-20% total (corp+personal combined)
- Don't want to chase any short term loopholes - This takes up a lot of headspace and takes months to adapt when it stops working.
- Family friendly (if we need to spend more than 2-6+ months)
- Setup that won't go to s**t next year (obviously nobody can know this but you probably know what I mean. Imagine the headache of having 10 brands and needing to change the structure on all of them, new bank accounts etc).
- Backup banking options - in most cases I just use Wise for day to day but it would be nice to have backup either in local banks or somewhere else.
Options I've Considered:
CYPRUS
Company - CY Company that holds shares in all other brands/companies. Establish decent substance there, office, hire some folks etc.
Each Brand would have its own separate entity owned by this CY company. It can be either another CY company, or US LLC, Estonian OU depending on the market and needs.
Tax Residency - Cyprus with non-dom obviously makes sense in this case. Stay 60-180+ days each year.
Pros:
+ On paper tax situation looks great. Max 15% or so if trading, dividends free, cap gains free etc. (does it work in practice?)
+ Easy and nice to spend time there even year round
+ OK banking options outside of CY (at least Wise is supported)
+ 60 days rule for tax residency
Cons:
- It's EU with all the BS that comes with it
- It was just removed from gray-list so could go back on it
- Freedom (covid lockdowns, safe pass etc)
- Red tape
- Abysmal local banks
Dubai / UAE
Company - Similar setup like above but Dubai FZ company with subsidiaries either another FZ company, LLC etc. Office, personal apartment, maybe hire a few folks.
Tax Residency - This is questionable for UAE, I doubt I can spend 6+ months there. 90-120 days would be fine.
I know some of you mentioned 3 months is OK and I don't really spend time in high tax countries and I'm not a citizen of one, but maybe foreign banks will dislike the lack of filing and tax certificates.
Pros:
+ 0% an obvious one
+ Less red tape than CY,Malta and similar lower tax EU options
+ Nice to spend time in winter
+ Decent local banking options
Cons:
- Can't live there year round
- Probably going to get sqeezed more by Eutaxnazi crew because of 0% and lack of audits
- Conspicuous tax evasion and money laundering place - Would it cause more difficult KYC in foreign banks and immigration because of no tax filings?
- 6+ months for tax residency
I'd love to hear your thoughts, experience and suggestions on Cyprus vs UAE and if you have any other options I haven't considered it would be nice to hear about it.
Thanks
JD
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