Best combination of high quality of life, entrepreneurial freedom and low taxes

[FixieHartmann]

I am currently in the process of evaluating different jurisdictions for setting up a new home base as I am tired of constantly traveling.

My background:
- EU passport
- self-employed
- six-figure income per year
- young / healthy / no dependents
- no tax residency at the moment

What I am looking for
- no small islands / dictatorships / Islamic countries (so no Bahamas, Cayman, Dubai etc.)
- highly developed country, stability and safety
- subtropical / tropical climate (e.g. > 20°C daily temperatures the entire year)
- it is possible to live close to a 1M+ city
- English speaking preferred
- you can blend in as white European
- entrepreneurial and personal freedom
- generally a high quality of life
- low taxes

In the future I plan to regularly start new tech companies and I am generally looking for a very predictive and stable personal and company tax setup without any gray areas or ambiguities.

After traveling to most parts of the world and doing a ton of research it seems that the most suitable option for me is the US, especially Florida as:

- it has the climate that I am looking for
- you can live close to an exciting city (Miami)
- not an island
- highly developed / you have all the first-world amenities
- close to Europe to visit family
- mix of English / Spanish speaking
- easy to blend in as European
- even if you make $500k / year in long-term capital gains the tax rate is below 20% (2020-21 Capital Gains Tax Rates and Calculator - NerdWallet)
- 6th easiest country to do business (Ease of doing business index - Wikipedia)
- high reputation jurisdiction

The only other option that I consider is Singapore, however
- it is very hard to get a residence permit
- the weather is quite awful (far more hot and humid and 30% less sunshine than Florida)
- very high cost of living

On the plus side it has territorial taxation, is safer and closer to Asian countries.

What are you thoughts? Any downsides that I don't see? Would you generally agree? Any other countries that would fit well?

 

[manukahoney]

Portugal maybe?
Somewhere not far from Lisbon.

Israel if you have jewish roots.

Both options offer 10 years non-domicile taxation (so no taxes on foreign income).

Gibraltar is OK tax and climate wise, but soooo boring.

UK and Ireland can offer even better terms, but the climate is not for everyone.

 

[FixieHartmann]

Portugal maybe?
Somewhere not far from Lisbon.

Israel if you have jewish roots.

Both options offer 10 years non-domicile taxation (so no taxes on foreign income).

Gibraltar is OK tax and climate wise, but soooo boring.

UK and Ireland can offer even better terms, but the climate is not for everyone.

I looked into Portugal but I don’t speak Portuguese and it is too cold for my taste. Also the NHR system is quite complex in terms of taxation.

I don’t think I have Jewish roots.

Yes, Gibraltar would be too boring and UK / Ireland also are far to cold

 

[manukahoney]

Monaco? Ticks every box, might be a bit expensive.
Cyprus is an island, yet it's well connected to EU airports and IT crowd is there.

Italy and Greece are OK, but taxes are very high (despite having an option to not pay tax on foreign income for a fixed annual fee) and both are not really entrepreneur-friendly.

 

[FixieHartmann]

I appreciate the suggestions, however they don't fit at all to what I am looking for.

Monaco
- daily highs are below 20° for 6 months a year (Monaco - Wikipedia)
- no big city

Cyprus
- island
- no big cities
- not English speaking
- too cold, 4 months a year below 20° (Climate of Cyprus - Wikipedia

Italy / Greece
- not English
- high taxes
- not friendly for entrepreneurs
- also far too cold

Again, appreciate the help but these suggestions feel quite random and not really connected to what I describe as what I am looking for in the initial post.

 

[Mr Gus]

Monaco? Ticks every box, might be a bit expensive.
Cyprus is an island, yet it's well connected to EU airports and IT crowd is there.

Italy and Greece are OK, but taxes are very high (despite having an option to not pay tax on foreign income for a fixed annual fee) and both are not really entrepreneur-friendly.

You can get massive reduction in income tax up to 90% in Italy if you locate to less developed parts (basically the south and Sardinia). Depending on where you locate you could locate close to Rome (not in Rome) and in Naples. Greece also has a 50% reduction in income tax. I believe the Greece reduction is 7 years and the Italian one 3 or 4 years.

Obviously you could also go for the lump sum tax of 100K in Italy, but the reduction in income tax probably is more interesting in your situation, also Montenegro and Georgia might be worth looking at.

Now these countries don't tick all of your options but trust me there is no place that will tick all of your boxes, all low tax countries or countries with low tax incentives have downsides. You will have to make sacrifices when moving to a low tax country.

 

[JackAlabama]

I am currently in the process of evaluating different jurisdictions for setting up a new home base as I am tired of constantly traveling.

My background:
- EU passport
- self-employed
- six-figure income per year
- young / healthy / no dependents
- no tax residency at the moment

What I am looking for
- no small islands / dictatorships / Islamic countries (so no Bahamas, Cayman, Dubai etc.)
- highly developed country, stability and safety
- subtropical / tropical climate (e.g. > 20°C daily temperatures the entire year)
- it is possible to live close to a 1M+ city
- English speaking preferred
- you can blend in as white European
- entrepreneurial and personal freedom
- generally a high quality of life
- low taxes

In the future I plan to regularly start new tech companies and I am generally looking for a very predictive and stable personal and company tax setup without any gray areas or ambiguities.

After traveling to most parts of the world and doing a ton of research it seems that the most suitable option for me is the US, especially Florida as:

- it has the climate that I am looking for
- you can live close to an exciting city (Miami)
- not an island
- highly developed / you have all the first-world amenities
- close to Europe to visit family
- mix of English / Spanish speaking
- easy to blend in as European
- even if you make $500k / year in long-term capital gains the tax rate is below 20% (2020-21 Capital Gains Tax Rates and Calculator - NerdWallet)
- 6th easiest country to do business (Ease of doing business index - Wikipedia)
- high reputation jurisdiction

The only other option that I consider is Singapore, however
- it is very hard to get a residence permit
- the weather is quite awful (far more hot and humid and 30% less sunshine than Florida)
- very high cost of living

On the plus side it has territorial taxation, is safer and closer to Asian countries.

What are you thoughts? Any downsides that I don't see? Would you generally agree? Any other countries that would fit well?

We are all looking for Shangrila, let me know when you found it Looking myself and have not found it.

Singapore is quite a harsh dictatorship and as it looks these days, it is also becoming a health dictatorship on top. Its dubbed as disneyland with the death penalty. And you state you do not want to live in dictatorships, so that would exclude Singapore.
Id say you can live in Singapore relatively cheaply if you want and the local areas are an interesting blend of several Asian cultures like Malay, Hokkien, Indian etc.
What cuts heavily in your budget there is car ownership, smoking and drinking.
The weather is indeed awful, it is not the heat but the humidity which will kill you. For eu folks it is much easier to cope with 50deg dry climate than *only* 30 degrees but with 100% humidity.
Said that, KL (Malaysia) can tick many of your boxes, but then it is Islamic, but you will not notice that so much there in KL upscale area. But they got rid of MM2H visa last year.

 

[void]

English speaking country, your climate requirements and low taxes are very restrictive together

Mauritius has many ticks in your list...

but a 100% compliant country doesn't exists I'm afraid

Spanish language is super easy to learn and will give you few more options

 

[Mr Gus]

You could also split your time between two countries to counter the less weather in Europe for example..

 

[JackAlabama]

English speaking country, your climate requirements and low taxes are very restrictive together

Mauritius has many ticks in your list...

but a 100% compliant country doesn't exists I'm afraid

Spanish language is super easy to learn and will give you few more options

Mauritius is very remote, closed since over a year, had lock downs again. Plus its an island and you especially blend in well as White European

 

[manukahoney]

Sorry if that wasn't helpful, I didn't realise Mediterranean climate was too cold for you. Also every other place will probably be too far from EU.

As wie7se mentioned, there is no ideal country that has everything.

Miami ticks almost all the boxes except
- climate - it's really rainy. Expect up to 120+ days of rain there.
- taxes - it's US, so you'll have to pay taxes on all your global income

However you will have an easy access to VC capital and a pool of potential partners/employees, so that might compensate for taxes.

 

[uplana]

If I would make such a decision to relocate to get such conditions I would stay out of the EU, check on what conditions I can relocate and what taxes apply so what the living standard is there.

When all comes to all, Switzerland, UK, Cyprus and even some of the banana islands will suite many if you make sufficient with money.

 

[void]

combination of two countries close to each other can give you what you're looking for

putting aside that you can't find the country that has it all it's would be also great the diversification

 

[kkein]

perhaps you should consider dubai as non-dom, and spend the rest of the year in a country that checks the rest of the ticks minus the taxes

 

[FixieHartmann]

We are all looking for Shangrila, let me know when you found it Looking myself and have not found it.

Singapore is quite a harsh dictatorship and as it looks these days, it is also becoming a health dictatorship on top. Its dubbed as disneyland with the death penalty. And you state you do not want to live in dictatorships, so that would exclude Singapore.
Id say you can live in Singapore relatively cheaply if you want and the local areas are an interesting blend of several Asian cultures like Malay, Hokkien, Indian etc.
What cuts heavily in your budget there is car ownership, smoking and drinking.
The weather is indeed awful, it is not the heat but the humidity which will kill you. For eu folks it is much easier to cope with 50deg dry climate than *only* 30 degrees but with 100% humidity.
Said that, KL (Malaysia) can tick many of your boxes, but then it is Islamic, but you will not notice that so much there in KL upscale area. But they got rid of MM2H visa last year.

Interesting, I knew that Singapore is quite strict when it comes to politics but I haven't seen anyone calling it a dictatorship. Yet, looking at Capital punishment in Singapore - Wikipedia I think I tend to agree with you that it doesn't square well with my expectations of personal freedom

I actually forgot to mention that I also consider Malaysia, however I think all in all it is not developed enough for me outside of KL. The HDI is actually lower than the Bahams which I found to be quite underdeveloped outside of the hotel areas (List of countries by Human Development Index - Wikipedia).

 

[FixieHartmann]

You could also split your time between two countries to counter the less weather in Europe for example..

I am actually considering this as well - doing something like Florida / Caribbean in winter and Med in summer, however I am not right enough for such a setup (yet, hopefully ).

 

[FixieHartmann]

Mauritius is very remote, closed since over a year, had lock downs again. Plus its an island and you especially blend in well as White European

I actually looked into Mauritius because of their digital nomad visa but decided against it because
- it is an island
- very remote
- apparently they have a rampant street dog problem and I love animals

 

[FixieHartmann]

Sorry if that wasn't helpful, I didn't realise Mediterranean climate was too cold for you. Also every other place will probably be too far from EU.

As wie7se mentioned, there is no ideal country that has everything.

Miami ticks almost all the boxes except
- climate - it's really rainy. Expect up to 120+ days of rain there.
- taxes - it's US, so you'll have to pay taxes on all your global income

However you will have an easy access to VC capital and a pool of potential partners/employees, so that might compensate for taxes.

Jeah, that is exactly what I was thinking. US / Miami is definitely not perfect, but under my (arguably very specific) criteria seems to be the best match. I actually don't mind rain too much as long as it is warm and I love the palm trees and generally lush foliage.

Taxes are of course not optimal in the US, but after spending some extended time in places where my tax rate would be 0% I decided that I rather pay around 20% and live somewhere nice than the other way round.

I am also not keen on traveling all the time anymore to maintain a PT lifestyle.

 

[FixieHartmann]

perhaps you should consider dubai as non-dom, and spend the rest of the year in a country that checks the rest of the ticks minus the taxes

I don't think such a setup would necessarily work in the long-term if the country that I spend most of my time in is a highly developed first-world country. Sooner or later the tax authorities would (justifiably) question my tax residency in Dubai and come after me.

Living in a first-world country and having active income combined with shares in multiple companies together with a highly questionable tax residency is a recipe for disaster which I would definitely want to avoid.

 

[Sols]

An exact match to what you're looking for doesn't exist. You have to back down on some of your requirements. And maybe focus less on Wikipedia data points and spend some time in places before ruling them out.

Why are you looking at HDI? If you're rich enough, you can get all the amenities you're used to pretty much anywhere. What's considered rich enough depends on where you're going, and what you expect.

Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Costa Rica, Panama, and even Uruguay tick a lot of your boxes if you just approach them creatively.

As for big city where you can fit in as a European, you are missing out on some exciting places if you dismiss them because they don't have at least 1,000,000 inhabitants. A lot of countries don't have cities like that, yet still have plenty of activity from the local economy, expats, and tourism.