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Low tax, low cost with good freedom setup: Romania vs Bulgaria is the final match?

Best practice (but probably not needed anyway) would be also keeping all receipts of your daily life, as well as flight tickets.
if you get into troubles and you don't do that the first 3 years you can risk that you will be taxed twice and even get fines.
 
Guys, you all have some very nice setups but I dont see anyone mentioning VAT. What do you do to avoid it? You cross the turnover barrier and you are VAT registered. Then the tax bill increases A LOT.
 
I wouldn't really live there, but to be safe from my home country at least I would rent an apartment and live between different countries and move every 2/3 months (my home country 4/5 months, Spain/Portugal 2/3 months, somewhere else the rest of the time).

In that case, why not stay within the Schengen area? Especially if you're "only" making about 100k per year?
Czechia, Lithuania, Estonia, Portugal (NHR), possibly certain areas of Switzerland, ...
You'd be looking at 10-20% tax or so and you could move freely in Europe.
 
In that case, why not stay within the Schengen area? Especially if you're "only" making about 100k per year?
Czechia, Lithuania, Estonia, Portugal (NHR), possibly certain areas of Switzerland, ...
You'd be looking at 10-20% tax or so and you could move freely in Europe.
Anyway the idea is to setup the company in Romania and then relocate somewhere else, like in Greece or Croatia with the Digital Nomad Visa, or Malta or Portugal. I don't know much about Chzechia. It's really tax convenient?

Now the turnover is still under 100k, but I wanna scale my business... and hopefully bring it to new highs asap
 
Do you think they will register every movement in and out the borders? even by car?

We're talking about different things here:
Will Bulgaria/Romania care if you've been out of the country for some time?
No, why would they? They will be happy you're paying your taxes there. The only exception to this could be if there is some investigation by your home country. Maybe it could be a bit more difficult to get a tax residency certificate if you've been out of the country a lot, but if you have your "main home" in the country, I think it should be possible.

But now let's think about your home country (Italy?): Say you spend 3-4 months every year in Italy and Italy wants to see proof that you have actually spent a lot of time in Bulgaria/Romania.
They can ask for proof, even if you have a tax residency certificate. First of all, how will you provide such proof?
Even if you could provide some receipts, they can probably check in the Schengen border database when you entered and left the Schengen area. Will they do it? No idea, I would guess it would require a bigger investigation. But if they see that you have spent 10 months per year in the Schengen area (in other words, not in Romania/Bulgaria), good luck.

So if you really want to spend a lot of time in the Schengen area, you will be better off with a Schengen tax residency.
 
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We're talking about different things here:
Will Bulgaria/Romania care if you've been out of the country for some time?
No, why would they? They will be happy you're paying your taxes there. The only exception to this could be if there is some investigation by your home country. Maybe it could be a bit more difficult to get a tax residency certificate if you've been out of the country a lot, but if you have your "main home" in the country, I think it should be possible.

But now let's think about your home country (Italy?): Say you spend 3-4 months every year in Italy and Italy wants to see proof that you have actually spent a lot of time in Bulgaria/Romania.
They can ask for proof, even if you have a tax residency certificate. First of all, how will you provide such proof?
Even if you could provide some receipts, they can probably check in the Schengen border database when you entered and left the Schengen area. Will they do it? No idea, I would guess it would require a bigger investigation. But if they see that you have spent 10 months per year in the Schengen area (in other words, not in Romania/Bulgaria), good luck.

So if you really want to spend a lot of time in the Schengen area, you will be better off with a Schengen tax residency.
Well if I spent in the schengen area but I still have proof I was living not in my home country it will be a problem?

(example i rent an apartment in Slovenia for 2 months and another one in canary islands for other 2 months)

Also if I have a rental contract on my name in the country of residence, I'm fine with any proof about that, or they can still ever tell me that something is wrong cuz I wasn't there for 6 months a year?

The rental contract is enough or you should also proof you paid for it?
 
That depends on your home country.
Some countries are satisfied if you can show that you have simply cut all ties with your home country: no rented apartment, no real estate, no close family (wife/kids), no investments, (almost) no time spent in the country etc.
Countries from that category would be the UK or Germany, as far as I know.

Other countries also want to see proof that you have actually moved permanently: documents that you have rented a place in a new country, proof that you spent a lot of time there (utility bills, receipts, flight tickets, ...).
Otherwise they say you should still pay tax in your home country since you're just "traveling" and have not really left for good. Countries from that category would be Australia or Portugal, as far as I know.

Put yourself in the position of the tax inspector from your home country (Italy?):
Some guy tells you: "I have moved to Romania, I no longer want to pay tax here."
"Ok, please show us some documents that you have actually moved to Romania"
"Here's my rental contract"
"Ok, that's fine, but we need some proper proof that you actually live there, then I will delete you from our database of tax slaves"
"Errrr... Well, I actually only spent 5 days there since I moved"
"What do you mean? You just said you have moved there? Why didn't you spend time there"
"I spent 1 month in Italy, then 2 months Slovenia, then 2 months Spain, then I spent 5 days in Romania, then 2 weeks in Croatia, then another 2 weeks in Italy"

Now compare this case with an Italian engineer, living in Italy, with clients from all across Europe:

"I spent 1 month in Italy, then 2 months in Slovenia, then 2 months in Spain. A bit of it was for work, a bit of it was a vacation. Then I spent 5 days working in Romania and then 2 weeks' vacation in Croatia, before returning to Italy."

The latter person should clearly pay their taxes in Italy. But are you really that different from that person? That is what the tax authorities might wonder.
They might take the position that your center of life is still in Italy, especially if you keep returning to Italy every few weeks/months and spend only very little time in what you claim to be your new home.
It would probably be a different story if you could show that you spent 4-5 months in Romania (or at least outside the Schengen area), that you only spent 2-3 weeks in total in Italy and that you were traveling the rest of the time.
(They probably wouldn't be able to see if you were actually in Romania, just whether your were in the Schengen area or not.)
It would probably also be a different story if you said you have moved to Spain and they see that you have indeed spent more time in Spain than in Italy. But spending more time everywhere else than in what you claim is your new home? Maybe even more time in your home country? That sounds very strange...
But I have no idea how strict the rules of your home country are and how motivated the tax authorities are to look closer into a case like yours.
Maybe they would only ask to see the Romanian rental contract and be happy. Maybe they would only ask for a tax residency certificate and be happy. Or maybe they would want to see a complete list of how many days you spent in which country, for the whole year. Or maybe they would pull Schengen immigration data to see if you're telling the truth.

If you want to get a proper answer, you should talk to a tax lawyer from your home country and ask how it's handled in practice.
 
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That depends on your home country.
Some countries are satisfied if you can show that you have simply cut all ties with your home country: no rented apartment, no real estate, no close family (wife/kids), no investments, (almost) no time spent in the country etc.
Countries from that category would be the UK or Germany, as far as I know.

Other countries also want to see proof that you have actually moved permanently: documents that you have rented a place in a new country, proof that you spent a lot of time there (utility bills, receipts, flight tickets, ...).
Otherwise they say you should still pay tax in your home country since you're just "traveling" and have not really left for good. Countries from that category would be Australia or Portugal, as far as I know.

Put yourself in the position of the tax inspector from your home country (Italy?):
Some guy tells you: "I have moved to Romania, I no longer want to pay tax here."
"Ok, please show us some documents that you have actually moved to Romania"
"Here's my rental contract"
"Ok, that's fine, but we need some proper proof that you actually live there, then I will delete you from our database of tax slaves"
"Errrr... Well, I actually only spent 5 days there since I moved"
"What do you mean? You just said you have moved there? Why didn't you spend time there"
"I spent 1 month in Italy, then 2 months Slovenia, then 2 months Spain, then I spent 5 days in Romania, then 2 weeks in Croatia, then another 2 weeks in Italy"

Now compare this case with an Italian engineer, living in Italy, with clients from all across Europe:

"I spent 1 month in Italy, then 2 months in Slovenia, then 2 months in Spain. A bit of it was for work, a bit of it was a vacation. Then I spent 5 days working in Romania and then 2 weeks' vacation in Croatia, before returning to Italy."

The latter person should clearly pay their taxes in Italy. But are you really that different from that person? That is what the tax authorities might wonder.
They might take the position that your center of life is still in Italy, especially if you keep returning to Italy every few weeks/months and spend only very little time in what you claim to be your new home.
It would probably be a different story if you could show that you spent 4-5 months in Romania (or at least outside the Schengen area), that you only spent 2-3 weeks in total in Italy and that you were traveling the rest of the time.
(They probably wouldn't be able to see if you were actually in Romania, just whether your were in the Schengen area or not.)
It would probably also be a different story if you said you have moved to Spain and they see that you have indeed spent more time in Spain than in Italy. But spending more time everywhere else than in what you claim is your new home? Maybe even more time in your home country? That sounds very strange...
But I have no idea how strict the rules of your home country are and how motivated the tax authorities are to look closer into a case like yours.
Maybe they would only ask to see the Romanian rental contract and be happy. Maybe they would only ask for a tax residency certificate and be happy. Or maybe they would want to see a complete list of how many days you spent in which country, for the whole year. Or maybe they would pull Schengen immigration data to see if you're telling the truth.

If you want to get a proper answer, you should talk to a tax lawyer from your home country and ask how it's handled in practice.
Thank you for sharing these thoughs :)
 
At the end of the day, it all depends on the rules of your home country. The UK for example has very simple rules. But most other countries have very vague rules and they can count "temporary absence" (=vacation) as days spent in the country.
For example, you spend Monday to Friday in your home country, but you travel to different countries for the weekends: Be prepared that they will count the weekends as if you had stayed in your home country, etc.
You should really talk to a tax lawyer from your home country to get a reliable answer.
 
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At the end of the day, it all depends on the rules of your home country. The UK for example has very simple rules. But most other countries have very vague rules and they can count "temporary absence" (=vacation) as days spent in the country.
For example, you spend Monday to Friday in your home country, but you travel to different countries for the weekends: Be prepared that they will count the weekends as if you had stayed in your home country, etc.
You should really talk to a tax lawyer from your home country to get a reliable answer.
they know less than you and me believe me.

Italy is so fucked up. A lot of rules, made exactly with the goal to don't let you understand clearly and commit mistakes and get fined.

I hope I will do the right things
 
Bulgaria: Difficult times ahead!
With a total shift in political powers this weekend it seems that 12 years of thoughtful economic policies and relative stability are coming to an abrupt end.
It would not surprise me if Bulgaria becomes the next tax trap in the EU. damn_(
 
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Communist party?
No, its an upspring party with no real program. Its leader (Mr. Slavi Trifonov) is the former front of punk band Ku Ku rof/%bor&%# .
However, the problem is not so much the above fact. It is more about his party (ITN) not having a majority and him refusing to enter into any form of coalition. If he continues his stance it means that new elections are inevitable.
Should that happen chances are that instead of him winning again, a coalition out of Socialists, the Turkish Ethnic party and others (mostly left-leaning parties) will take over. And a participation of Socialists would be the immediate end of current thoughtful economic policies and reasonable taxes.
 
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