Belarus as an option for no CRS and the OECD convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters

[Revoltec]

I want to start by saying that I am really trying to do everything legal but I also value my privacy. The point here is not to evade taxes but to take advantage of the possibility of better privacy.

Belarus has been discussed in another thread regarding investing. But, I wanted to bring Belarus as an option of a country to move to. There has been a lot of talks about CRS, but as important can the "OECD mutual administrative assistance in tax matters" be. Through the OECD convention your assets can get seized across borders and there is also something called "spontaneous exchange of information" which can be more dangerous than CRS because the tax authorities notify on specific cases. Additionally, there are no CFC rules in Belarus and tax on capital gains is 13%. Crypto is tax free if domestic exchanges are used.

Is this an opportunity to achieve high privacy? Is there anything besides CRC and the OECD convention that one should have in mind in order to achieve privacy from other countries? I know this doesn't protect you from Belarus being able to have insight but I would rather be exposed to one country than all OECD countries.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

I believe it is a good option, I see no flaws in your reasoning.
However, obtaining a permanent residence permit seems more difficult than in Russia.

 

[Revoltec]

I believe it is a good option, I see no flaws in your reasoning.
However, obtaining a permanent residence permit seems more difficult than in Russia.

True, although I heard that it is possible to get residence permit by buying property for $30k-50k and having an attractive western passport. It is not an official program, but there was a guy on Youtube claiming that this is how it works in practice and I have seen other sources on it as well.

However, I just checked some tax treaties with Belarus and some of them have provisions on exchange of information. So there can be an exchange of information through tax treaties as well. This makes it less attractive for me personally, but might still work for other.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

True, although I heard that it is possible to get residence permit by buying property for $30k-50k and having an attractive western passport. It is not an official program, but there was a guy on Youtube claiming that this is how it works in practice and I have seen other sources on it as well.

Stay away from any “non official” residence or citizenship program.

 

[Revoltec]

Stay away from any “non official” residence or citizenship program.

It seems like this is official, just not specifically made for buying real estate but more broad.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

It seems like this is official, just not specifically made for buying real estate but more broad.

Any reference to the law?

 

[Revoltec]

Any reference to the law?

This is a link to the law in Russian: https://zakony-by.com/zakon_rb_o_pr...annyh_grazhdan_i_lits_bez_grazhdanstva/48.htm

It says that it is given to people that own "residental premises" but limited to one year. It is not stated how much money you need to spend, it is considered on a case by case basis and which city you are moving to.

In practice, it was much easier to do that a few years ago. They accepted any kind of housing, just that you had running water. Now they are more selective, prefering people with western passports and spending 30-50k in the bigger cities.

Keep in mind that having a residence permit in Belarus automatically makes you a tax resident, as long as you cannot provide a tax residency certificate from another country (new law).

 

[JohnnyDoe]

This is a link to the law in Russian: https://zakony-by.com/zakon_rb_o_pr...annyh_grazhdan_i_lits_bez_grazhdanstva/48.htm

It says that it is given to people that own "residental premises" but limited to one year. It is not stated how much money you need to spend, it is considered on a case by case basis and which city you are moving to.

In practice, it was much easier to do that a few years ago. They accepted any kind of housing, just that you had running water. Now they are more selective, prefering people with western passports and spending 30-50k in the bigger cities.

Keep in mind that having a residence permit in Belarus automatically makes you a tax resident, as long as you cannot provide a tax residency certificate from another country (new law).

Ok this is the standard law, as I said it is not as easy as in Russia to obtain a permanent permit, which you can apply for after 8 months of temporary residence, by taking an exam on the language and history of the country.

 

[Revoltec]

Ok this is the standard law, as I said it is not as easy as in Russia to obtain a permanent permit, which you can apply for after 8 months of temporary residence, by taking an exam on the language and history of the country.

Yes, permanent residence is harder to get. I think one need to stay for 5 years on a temporary or something similar.

However, Russia does have CFC rules (quite aggressive) and is part of the CRS and OECD Convention.