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Tax resident of nowhere while staying in EU?

yngmind

yngmind

Mentor Group Lifetime
Apr 26, 2020
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#1
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I’m wondering if it’s actually legal to hold an EU passport/residency and still avoid becoming a tax resident in any one EU country by staying under the 183-day threshold. My idea is to split time between Spain, Italy, or Switzerland, and then spend around 60/90 days in the UAE or Cyprus to claim tax residency there.

I know that some countries can still consider you a tax resident if you have significant personal or economic ties—basically, the “center of vital interests” concept. But from what I’ve learned, there might be ways to get around this.

Is anyone here actually doing something like this? How are you handling potential double taxation issues, immigration rules, or banking requirements (like CRS/FATCA)? And how do you prove your “real” place of residence if you’re constantly bouncing from one country to another?
 
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#2
yngmind said:
I’m wondering if it’s actually legal to hold an EU passport/residency and still avoid becoming a tax resident in any one EU country by staying under the 183-day threshold. My idea is to split time between Spain, Italy, or Switzerland, and then spend around 90 days in the UAE or Cyprus to claim tax residency there.

I know that some countries can still consider you a tax resident if you have significant personal or economic ties—basically, the “center of vital interests” concept. But from what I’ve learned, there might be ways to structure your stays to get around this.

Is anyone here actually doing something like this? How are you handling potential double taxation issues, immigration rules, or banking requirements (like CRS/FATCA)? And how do you prove your “real” place of residence if you’re constantly bouncing from one country to another?
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I think it is possible, but it's just inconvenient to move from one country to another
 
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#3
yngmind said:
I’m wondering if it’s actually legal to hold an EU passport/residency and still avoid becoming a tax resident in any one EU country by staying under the 183-day threshold. My idea is to split time between Spain, Italy, or Switzerland, and then spend around 60/90 days in the UAE or Cyprus to claim tax residency there.
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Yes, it is possible and very convenient to live that way. You can even buy a house on the border between 2 countries to make things easier. You just spend one night on the French side and then move the bed over to the Swiss side in the morning. It is also very convenient for COVID measure evasion, drug trafficking etc.

https://www.nzz.ch/panorama/das-hot...-und-haelt-damit-ein-dorf-am-leben-ld.1834969

Just make sure to read the countires exact rules (30 days in Switzerland) and make sure to avoid any PE issues. Renting / staying at friend's places is easier for that.
 
#6
yngmind said:
I’m wondering if it’s actually legal to hold an EU passport/residency and still avoid becoming a tax resident in any one EU country by staying under the 183-day threshold. My idea is to split time between Spain, Italy, or Switzerland, and then spend around 60/90 days in the UAE or Cyprus to claim tax residency there.

I know that some countries can still consider you a tax resident if you have significant personal or economic ties—basically, the “center of vital interests” concept. But from what I’ve learned, there might be ways to get around this.

Is anyone here actually doing something like this? How are you handling potential double taxation issues, immigration rules, or banking requirements (like CRS/FATCA)? And how do you prove your “real” place of residence if you’re constantly bouncing from one country to another?
Click to expand...

You have to stay in the UAE for 183 days in order to become a tax resident there, not 90 days.
 
#7
daniels27 said:
Just make sure to read the countires exact rules (30 days in Switzerland)
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Switzerland has 30 days only if you have a local job with a Swiss work permit. Otherwise 90 consecutive days. Not sure what the rules are if you just do e.g. 60 days + 60 days with 4 months in between.

daniels27 said:
and make sure to avoid any PE issues.
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Probably quite low risk, unless you stay at the same place every time or have local customers.
 
#9
JustAnotherNomad said:
It's 90 days if you are a UAE residents and and it can even be less (center of vital interests). Don't spread misinformation.
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The same as with most countries. If you have lot of substance. Dont need to spend even 90 days. Jus important not to spend more time in some other country and trigger residence
 
#11
JohnnyDoe said:
You are playing with fire. Get a solid residence somewhere outside the EU (no tax heavens) and then you can try to be a ghost.
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?
Not sure how having EU or non-EU residency would make a difference.
OP already mentioned he would be considering doing the 60 days in Cyprus. 60 days in Cyprus and hopping around Europe the rest of the year, spending <90 days per year per country would be totally fine.
 
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#12
If you will have so called center of a vital interests in any of that countries, you will be cobsidered to be a tax resident there .

Rules about CoVI are very strict.

If you will own residenrial property in any of this countries, or you will have any rented more than occasionally, you will be a tax resident there.

To be living in EU and not become a tax resident requires a lot of planning.

If you will see a doctor in any of the countries more than occasionaly, you will be a tax resident there.

If you have a wife or any dependant child in any of that countries, you will be a tax residenr there.

If you will have a public health insurance 8n any of that countries, you will become a tax resident there.

Etc.

It is oossible to be tax resident nowhere in theory. It is extremely difficult in practise.
 
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#13
sknomad said:
If you will have so called center of a vital interests in any of that countries, you will be cobsidered to be a tax resident there .
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He has to check the rules for each country where he has ties/spends more than ~90 days per year, or returns frequently.
Even without CoVI, he can be liable for tax.

sknomad said:
If you will own residenrial property in any of this countries, or you will have any rented more than occasionally, you will be a tax resident there.
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Complete nonsense.

sknomad said:
To be living in EU and not become a tax resident requires a lot of planning.
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Not really.

sknomad said:
If you will see a doctor in any of the countries more than occasionaly, you will be a tax resident there.
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Complete nonsense. Switzerland even explicitly excludes visits for health reasons from tax residency.

sknomad said:
If you have a wife or any dependant child in any of that countries, you will be a tax residenr there.
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Nonsense.

sknomad said:
If you will have a public health insurance 8n any of that countries, you will become a tax resident there.
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Nonsense.

Not sure where you got all these ideas from, but you're very, very wrong.
I'm not saying there aren't countries that may have such rules, especially for citizens, but you can't just generalize this based on the rules of one country.
 
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#14
JustAnotherNomad said:
?
Not sure how having EU or non-EU residency would make a difference.
OP already mentioned he would be considering doing the 60 days in Cyprus. 60 days in Cyprus and hopping around Europe the rest of the year, spending <90 days per year per country would be totally fine.
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Don’t think EU tax authorities are lazy idiots.
Stay in EU and you can be assured that sooner or later some EU country will want to take your money. Then you can try to convince the judge that it is nonsense, assuming that you still have some unfrozen money to pay a lawyer.
 
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#15
sknomad said:
If you will own residenrial property in any of this countries, or you will have any rented more than occasionally, you will be a tax resident there.
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I don't agree with that. Many expats own residential properties in EU for Holiday etc. It just depends how much substance you have in your main country and do not overstay too much in one country

However, it can be more problematic if you have citizenship or especially residence in such country. In that case it's really risky.

Residency in most cases means you are tax resident. Citizenship does not, but if you are citizen of that country and own real estate, usually they can consider you tax resident
 
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#16
JohnnyDoe said:
Don’t think EU tax authorities are lazy idiots.
Stay in EU and you can be assured that sooner or later some EU country will want to take your money. Then you can try to convince the judge that it is nonsense, assuming that you still have some unfrozen money to pay a lawyer.
Click to expand...

So how does having a "solid residence somewhere outside the EU" fix that?
 
#17
One cant generalise across all EU countries like that. They all have different rules for what's considered in their tax net and different enforcement. Some countries mainly have plain days tests like Estonia or Ireland, others have significant ties like the nordics (excluding Norway that is outside the EU and have a brutal 3 year of taxation by citizenship), and yet others like the Netherlands and I think Germany that have what I call unclear ties that can be lots of stuff like a gym subscription, a car, a key to an apartment, doctor registration, a bank account, a golf club membership, etc.
Then we have Spain, France and Italy that have quite complicated rules around the concepts of center of vital interest, permanent abode, economic interests, professional activities.

So you can own a house in Ireland no problem, but you cant in Sweden at least if you have ever lived in it, because it would be a significant tie. And for other countries, yeah maybe you can own a house, if you make sure your centre of vital interest/permanent abode etc is elsewhere.

So it totally depends on which EU countries that you spend time in and have assets in, and also if you are a citizen of an EU country and have spent many years in that or another EU country - then you have to be particularly careful about that country.
 
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#18
In reality the person want to live in EU, but don't pay tax. It's playing with fire. Unless you have home/residence in Andorra/Monaco/San Marino/Switzerland (lump sum tax system) who are physically inside EU, being not part of EU.

I know many people in EU who have UAE, Cyprus, Malta etc. as primary residence, but it's playing with fire. As I understand OP don't want to live in UAE, but rather have fake UAE residence , but in reality live in continental part of EU

The problem is that if you get interested by some EU country about your residence, you will have hard time to prove UAE residence without showing flight tickets, etc. They will see that you don't live in UAE
 
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#19
Well, if the person spends like half the year in France and the other half in Germany, and have homes in both places, then he is playing with fire.

But if the person spends like 4 months in Ireland, 4 months in Estonia and the rest in the Czech Republic and the UAE, then it's no problem.
 
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#20
Konstanz said:
OP don't want to live in UAE, but rather have fake UAE residence , but in reality live in continental part of EU
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Fake residence = problem.
Are there workarounds? Yes. Are they legal? No. Do they work? If you are lucky.
There are fugitives who successfully manage to disappear and start a new life. Sometimes not too far from their original home.
Since OP most probably is not a fugitive, he should better think about how to setup a real residence somewhere and then travel as much as he wants. Spending 60/90 days in Cyprus or the UAE will not make that residence real in the eyes of the EU judge that will try his case.
Forget about rules, laws, and rights. They don’t exist to protect you and your interests. They exist to serve the state, which wants your money, and not only that.
 
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