Where to start the next chapter of my life?

[breakpris]

Hey guys,

Just signed up here, but I have been consulting the forum for the past few weeks.
It is a pleasure to meet all of you.

I'm a french IT freelancer (27 yo) and I'm looking for a country to start the next chapter of my life.
France is too much. I played the game and created a company there (which will be closed soon), paid the taxes, but it is too much for me.
I want to move on, go somewhere I can focus on my work without being heavily taxed. Currently, it is 30% on benefits plus a 30% flat tax on dividends.
A good move for me seems to be creating an Estonian company (through Xolo Leap) and moving elsewhere. Unlike France, Estonia does not tax company benefits, which means I can just focus on making money.

Right now, all I'm looking for is a country where taxes are less than 30% and where I can live on $3k~4k a month (before tax).
Somewhere I could live for an extended period of time, find a girl, buy an apartment, have a family.

A lot of you seems to have more experience than me.
Where would you guys go? What would you recommend me to do?

No-go list:
- Estonia -> 20% income tax + 30% social tax (which are useless if you are not a PR)
- Malta + Cyprus -> Went in both as a tourist. I don't think I could live there.
- Dubai -> A bit too expensive

Why-not list:
- Malaysia: 28% tax for my income, still a burden, but the cost of living is low. (Perhaps I could cheat a bit and treat rent as a business expense)

PS: I don't really care about the weather, but I do care about the quality of life.

 

[newguyhere]

30% social tax in Estonia? What if you run a company? For example in nearby Latvia you can pay just 20% CIT from your profits + some social contributions from a small salary and that's it. Dividends are tax free.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Why not French Polynesia?

 

[breakpris]

Thanks for your answers!

30% social tax in Estonia? What if you run a company? For example in nearby Latvia you can pay just 20% CIT from your profits + some social contributions from a small salary and that's it. Dividends are tax free.

Dividends is 20%, salary is 20% + 33% social tax (source). But one pre-condition for dividends is to also pay yourself an salary.
I will have a look at Latvia, but I'm afraid it is similar.

Why not French Polynesia?

It is really isolated, I don't think I could live there.

 

[Marzio]

If you want to stay in EU then Polish IP Box is an amazing opportunity both for taxation and lifestyle.

 

[Don]

Georgia Virtual Zone company + tax residency in Estonia (0 days presence required) = total tax 5% (only on distributed profits)

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Thanks for your answers!

Dividends is 20%, salary is 20% + 33% social tax (source). But one pre-condition for dividends is to also pay yourself an salary.
I will have a look at Latvia, but I'm afraid it is similar.


It is really isolated, I don't think I could live there.

The world is full of countries where taxes are max 30%. For example Geneva or Vaud. If you make enough money you can also consider a flat tax country.

 

[breakpris]

Thanks again for your answers!

If you want to stay in EU then Polish IP Box is an amazing opportunity both for taxation and lifestyle.

I did not know about that! It looks really promising.

Georgia Virtual Zone company + tax residency in Estonia (0 days presence required) = total tax 5% (only on distributed profits)

Can you really have tax residency in Estonia without living there? I never heard of this while doing research.

The world is full of countries where taxes are max 30%. For example Geneva or Vaud. If you make enough money you can also consider a flat tax country.

Sadly Switzerland is really expensive, with 3~4k a month you are poor there.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Sadly Switzerland is really expensive, with 3~4k a month you are poor there.

I was suggesting French speaking places that you might not consider boring. Probably with that income every other French speaking country applies a taxation below 30%. If language is not an issue, you can choose to move almost anywhere, including the USA for example. Go to Florida or Texas and you should pay 22%.

 

[Don]

I was suggesting French speaking places that you might not consider boring. Probably with that income every other French speaking country applies a taxation below 30%. If language is not an issue, you can choose to move almost anywhere, including the USA for example. Go to Florida or Texas and you should pay 22%.

Georgia is not a French-speaking country but there are an estimate of 18,000 French speakers (0.5% of the population) in Georgia and the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili lived in France and is fluent in French.

Georgia is an observer member of the International French-speaking Organisation (OIF) as the Georgian intelligentsia sustained close relations with France and the French language since 1460.

For someone making 4k/month, Georgian sole proprietorship could be decent option with 1% turnover based tax.

Can you really have tax residency in Estonia without living there? I never heard of this while doing research.

Indeed, in some EU jurisdictions merely registering residence triggers tax residence.

 

[SasuT]

Andorra.
10% CIT
0% dividend.
2 hours away from Toulouse (for example).

If I'm not mistaken.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

There is a large French community in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

 

[alexandermass]

Romania
3% turnover tax for IT companies.
8% personal tax.
It's EU, decent weather, safe.
You'd live okay on 3-4k.

 

[scooterguy]

Yeah, Romania might be what OP is looking for.

You can live very well on 2k actually, unless you're in Bucharest.

Also, you can make that corporate tax 1% if you are a micro company with less than 500k EUR income.

Somewhere I could live for an extended period of time, find a girl, buy an apartment, have a family.

After all of that, you'll realize French taxes were not so bad after all!

 

[BlackJack]

You're so young...why not just "jump the fence"?
Surely out of EU\UK\US\AUSTRALIA ...etc you'll find more women for family projects for sure. Problem would be for all the rest (language, find a job...last but not least citizenship..)!
But I strongly believe that building a second life in a less (by now) polluted environment would be only postponing same result in perspective...

 

[kilor]

- Dubai -> A bit too expensive

you may make more money, nothing is more nice than Dubai when it comes to privacy and freedom. If you're not into some sort of crap.

 

[Cavaliere]

you may make more money, nothing is more nice than Dubai when it comes to privacy and freedom. If you're not into some sort of crap.

Dubai and privacy is an oxymoron.

 

[Don]

Dubai and privacy is an oxymoron.

Indeed you always have to disclose UBO-s to the government in UAE

 

[Cavaliere]

Indeed you always have to disclose UBO-s to the government in UAE

And it goes way further, if you have the money and connections to work with the government there, you can do anything you want basically. It's a surveillance state with poor checks and balances. Everything is for sale.

 

[BlackJack]

And it goes way further, if you have the money and connections to work with the government there, you can do anything you want basically. It's a surveillance state with poor checks and balances. Everything is for sale.

That's true for every country.