What's the best country in Europe to relocate with lowest possible tax?

[aage]

I have been considering many places with good infrastructure, mainstream tax rates and good schools for the kids.

So far I concluded Switzerland, UK and Germany, however, no of them look like to really be good in tax optimizing and things sounds to be even worse in the near future!

Where is paradise?

 

[Gravity]

It depends on quite a few factors. What tax are we talking about? What's your business model? How much money per year are we talking about?

 

[marioIT]

What's the best country in Europe to relocate with lowest possible tax?​

So far I concluded Germany

FFS
Monaco, Switzerland, Malta(meh infrastructure), eastern Europe (e.g. Budapest, Prague) depending on money, personal taste and requirements...
also the non-domiciled regimes but you don't say your net worth...

 

[aage]

What tax are we talking about?

Today I pay 45% including health care and everything else, I would like to get below that, far below.

Net profits before taxes per annum 250K euro

occupation: web developer, self employed run everything through a UK Ltd right now.

Monaco, Switzerland, Malta(meh infrastructure)

Switzerland was already on my list, reading all the threads for instant from @Martin Everson let me believe it is not worth it unless you have millions.

Monaco,

Sounds not too bad, but I believe you need a lot of money to enter the borders.

 

[Silvio]

if cost of living is important for you and you want minimal tax: Cyprus or Malta

 

[Sols]

Monaco is only viable if you have at least a few million.

A lot depends on how your income is earned and set up, but Malta, Cyprus, Portugal, and Ireland are the top contenders if you combine taxation, costs of living, standards of living, and how it is to fit in as a foreigner/expat.

 

[kranj99]

Monaco is not feasible without being of very high net worth. A few million won't cut it there. I mean for those of modest means, just the property rental prices alone would negate any tax benefit. Switzerland is not so attractive in the sense that what you get in return for your taxes in other countries are paid for out of pocket in Switzerland. So while you'll still be a bit better off being in Switzerland than say the neighboring countries, you won't be that much better off. That said Switzerland does offer an excellent quality of life, so that alone may make it worth it. Oddly enough high-tax countries like France, Belgium etc. offer some interesting tax credits and write-off possibilities and a lot of generous deductions and other subsidies. Neither country's tax systems are transparent though, so you need to dig around a bit. But those high headline tax rates you often see reported can be largely avoided, assuming you are doing something entreprenurial and not dependent on salaried employment. Also if you need to raise funds for a new venture, I'd say both countries have decent enough investor networks and so getting access to risk capital is sometimes easier in such high tax countries. Depends really on your future objectives and what you want to achieve.

 

[EliasIT]

Out of personal interest, Switzerland, Cyprus, Malta are the best countries of your choice guys ?

@aage do you want to keep your UK LTD or setup a new company in the country you at the end will choose?

 

[Gravity]

Are you planning on actually relocating or a more risky setup? Monaco is not a viable option if your income is around 250k. Stay away from Germany, you won't have any fun there. Switzerland could be an option. Cyprus and Malta are always options and Eastern Europe has a few countries that aren't too bad - but I personally wouldn't want to live there.

Outside of Europe you could consider the UAE / Dubai. It all depends on your preferences where you want to live.

 

[CyprusLawyer101]

Malta, Cyprus, Portugal in terms of tax benefits

 

[Marzio]

good schools for the kids.

All replies in this thread starts with taxation rate in mind while i think the priority should be quality education for kids.

You can then add the taxation layer on top of best education systems map and voilà you have the best country where to settle.

Guess what? It's Switzerland.

Yes it could be expensive depending on which canton you will chose but safety, quality of education and taxation levels could be unparalelled compared to near nations.

 

[JohnLocke]

It is a good way to look at it, personally I have been looking into Switzerland and the UK earlier but never really took this forward.

Maybe you have a tax map we can put on top of this

 

[CyprusLawyer101]

All replies in this thread starts with taxation rate in mind while i think the priority should be quality education for kids.

You can then add the taxation layer on top of best education systems map and voilà you have the best country where to settle.

Guess what? It's Switzerland.

Yes it could be expensive depending on which canton you will chose but safety, quality of education and taxation levels could be unparalelled compared to near nations.

This is a valid approach. In spite of my profession, taxation rates wouldnt be anywhere near the top of my list, if I was to relocate.

 

[Marzio]

Maybe you have a tax map we can put on top of this

You can put any map you want really.

I'm a huge fan of being able to see things visually, it is immediately clear which is the right path based on personal criteria.

For example you can overlay EU corporate taxes

And indivdual taxes

And consumption taxes

And property taxes

And capital gain taxes

Unfortunately for us Malta, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Romania and Bulgaria are left out in this map so some of potentially interesting jurisdictions are not present.

You can also overlay a crime rate map or weather map if weather is something important to you.

Then it's only about becoming clear about what your priorities are.

 

[JohnLocke]

Thank you very much for posting all this, there are for a few hours of reading here

 

[BlueMist]

You are looking for holy grail in Europe that doesn't exist. Malta is a great place for young singles or couples, not for families with kids. There is lack of good private school choices. You need a holding company that will add up €4-5k per year in order to pay effective 5%, this is on top of your Malta company annual fees and on top of your personal taxed salary whatever it will be. Their tax refund system is a joke, yes it works but it takes time. In theory they are supposed to give you back 6/7 in 14 days, in practice I got mine this year after 9 months (!) due to apparent backlog in the authorities.

Just screw freezing cold Europe - even in Malta (it winds from all directions) 45% of €250.000 = €112,500 = AED 467,000 (at present rates).

4 beds villa with private chilled and heated pool and real green grass year round AED 250.000-300,000
water, electricity, internet bills = AED 60,000-70,000
Very good UK primary schools for one kid AED 60,000-70,000

So for your 45% taxes you can have fairly luxury living.
Welcome to Dubai. Let the kids have a nice childhood lol. If you want them to freeze in Europe, send them to college later on like most expat parents here. At least they will have a warm memories

 

[Tamarind]

250K annual income is good for a Eastern Europe life, not UK, Swiss or Germany.

 

[erni]

250K annual income is good for a Eastern Europe life, not UK, Swiss or Germany.

how much do you make in profits to make it in Switzerland or Germany ?

 

[wojtem]

I have been considering many places with good infrastructure, mainstream tax rates and good schools for the kids.

So far I concluded Switzerland, UK and Germany, however, no of them look like to really be good in tax optimizing and things sounds to be even worse in the near future!

Where is paradise?

What about Bulgaria? 10% flat tax on business and personal tax

 

[Mr Gus]

I think Portugal already falls of the list because you have active income, so not low tax. Switzerland can be somehow low tax if you relocate to certain cantons, Bulgaria is 7.5% tax so also not bad, i don't know about life in these countries except for Malta..

Malta might be worth looking into, 5% effective tax, private schools for kids (in English), cost of living is low, low crime rate, great climate, and very polite and friendly locals in general. Property can vary in terms of cost if you are looking for a luxury villa or apartment it starts from 2500eur a month. Downsides are it is very bureaucratic like pretty much all countries, infrastructure is horrible, there is not public transport except for busses which are never on time and take very long to get you from one place to another, so you definitely need a car, also it's full of tourists it's pretty quiet now because of COVID but without COVID it's full of people everywhere, even without the tourists it's full of people actually, so if you are looking to find some quite and peace I am not sure you can find it on Malta.