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Most tax efficient residence in EU: Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus?

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arrange monthly cc spending within the country with receipts
You mean in general to be safe in any country or do you say that based on experience in Cyprus? I mean do they really check CreditCard payments and ask for receipts in Cyprus?

@Dasilva I don't know personally but from what I read getting these 0% exemptions is not easy and even then you need to reinvest the taxes you saved:
The enterprise should be established and operate in regions with a high unemployment rate (25% higher than average in the country);
The enterprise should perform manufacturing activities;
The enterprise should employ at least 10 persons from an area with a high unemployment rate;
At least 50 % of employees should be engaged in manufacturing activities;
30% of staff should be the residents of a region with a high unemployment rate;
The remitted corporate tax should be reinvested in the same area within 4 years;
The enterprise should continue manufacturing activities for at least 5 years after receiving the tax exemption.
Source: Bulgaria invites investors with 0% corporate tax
 
You mean in general to be safe in any country or do you say that based on experience in Cyprus? I mean do they really check CreditCard payments and ask for receipts in Cyprus?

Depends on your home country, they can ask you to prove that you live in the new country for at least 183 days per year. Normal things to use as evidence are CC-statements, rental contract, utility bills, flights.

Worth to mention that most people never hear a thing after leaving their country.
 
@Dandyline Thanks. OK, now I understood. You mean proofs for your home country.
I agree. I think this will be very individual depending on home/destination, whether you have a successful business at the time you leave, double tax treaties,...

May I ask did you live / incorporate in Cyprus / Bulgaria? Or which location did you choose?
 
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If you stay within Schengen, Bulgaria is good. You can cash out from 20-30k/month as salary with low tax, don't have to wait for yearly dividends. Easy to maintain tax residency without staying in the country (with the correct setup).

If you want to stay outside of Schengen, Cyprus is good, travel in and out through North Cyprus while it looks like your inside the country. You can take a shareholder loan for 9% interest and then clear it against dividends.

No matter what, always make sure to have the correct setup (yearly rental contract, utilities, arrange monthly cc spending within the country with receipts).
The plan was to live un-notice no register for 1-3yr . .i got EU passport, i have disability pension so its taxed alrdy as my only income. . so i dont need a new tax id etc. . .
Why i dont want to reg into the new country is that i have debt collectors huting me from my native EU country so i want to lay low in etc RO or BG. . .
 
The plan was to live un-notice no register for 1-3yr . .i got EU passport, i have disability pension so its taxed alrdy as my only income. . so i dont need a new tax id etc. . .
Why i dont want to reg into the new country is that i have debt collectors huting me from my native EU country so i want to lay low in etc RO or BG. . .
You can easily do this in Bulgaria. More people from the EU move there without registering, and live there for many years, at least up until a few years ago.

As long as it’s just debt collectors, it’s fine. You should know that Bulgarian police frequently check the identities of people on the streets. This has happened to me three times in about a year.
 
You should know that Bulgarian police frequently check the identities of people on the streets. This has happened to me three times in about a year.
They just stop you and ask for your IDs?
What do you tell them? That you live here or you're just a tourist/visiting family or friends there?
 
They just stop you and ask for your IDs?
What do you tell them? That you live here or you're just a tourist/visiting family or friends there?
Yes ask for passport or id and what I was doing here. Several times in traffic, but not because of driving. In the city center. 1x was standing next to my car. Local license plate, normal car. Maybe as a foreigner you attract attention quickly. In any case, they were not suspicious situations.

I had a registration and such of residence/id card , but I do know of people without registration who simply said they were staying in a house. No idea what exactly they are checking.
 
You can easily do this in Bulgaria. More people from the EU move there without registering, and live there for many years, at least up until a few years ago.

As long as it’s just debt collectors, it’s fine. You should know that Bulgarian police frequently check the identities of people on the streets. This has happened to me three times in about a year.

Okey great. . . just want to protect my tax resident in Asia, as i dont want ot reg me in EU... and some debts in other EU coutries so dont want my native country to know where im staying. . .. .. so you think BG better bet then RO if want to stay low.
 
Okey great. . . just want to protect my tax resident in Asia, as i dont want ot reg me in EU... and some debts in other EU coutries so dont want my native country to know where im staying. . .. .. so you think BG better bet then RO if want to stay low.
I don’t know about Romania. I think BG is still ok for this. Some houses there even haven’t an address so you can’t register yourself here. I was offered to register myself in my accountant address because the house that I had rented didn’t had an address. It’s no problem to live in such houses.

I don’t know how this situation is now. This is for houses outside the city center.
 
@Marketint
The id checks sound weird...would be interesting why they do that.
You said you had a residency in BG. Did you run a business and how was your experience? I'm considering BG and Cyprus.
If you like city life, don't go to Cyprus. Comparing to any big Bulgarian city it's just boring. To be frank I disliked Cyprus almost from the start. Never wanted to return.

As to ID checks. I have been to Bulgaria a couple of times recently and apart from the airport and a hotel, no one else wanted to see my ID. Even though police cars can be seen frequently, no one bothered me. Maybe he just looks too different from an average Bulgarian ns2
 
@Marketint
The id checks sound weird...would be interesting why they do that.
You said you had a residency in BG. Did you run a business and how was your experience? I'm considering BG and Cyprus.
Yes, I owned a business in Bulgaria. It was very easy. I paid a local accountant to handle everything for me, including setting up a bank account and obtaining a residence card, all for a few hundred euros.

Accounting is slightly more expensive since it requires monthly submissions. Please be aware of the bureaucracy involved. Some examples: Transferring ownership of a car takes a day, and it's the same for a scooter.

They are generally easygoing people, though.

As to ID checks. I have been to Bulgaria a couple of times recently and apart from the airport and a hotel, no one else wanted to see my ID. Even though police cars can be seen frequently, no one bothered me. Maybe he just looks too different from an average Bulgarian ns2
Maybe I was just unlucky. I have more of a western European/Scandinavian look.
 
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If you like city life, don't go to Cyprus. Comparing to any big Bulgarian city it's just boring. To be frank I disliked Cyprus almost from the start. Never wanted to return.
Thanks for sharing. Yes, Cyprus is really small - the whole island has less citizens than Sofia alone. But I'm not sure how long I'd stay actually. Planning is to stay only for 2-3 months per year so for city life I could go elsewhere and stay in "winter" in Cyprus at ~15°. In that case ease of doing business / costs / bureaucracy / reputation / ...could be more relevant. And Cyprus seems to be surprisingly expensive and complicated.

May I ask where you decided to move?

Yes, I owned a business in Bulgaria. It was very easy. I paid a local accountant to handle everything for me, including setting up a bank account and obtaining a residence card, all for a few hundred euros.
Thanks! I got a few quotes and prices don't seem to have changed much. Its all quite reasonable, especially when compared to Cyprus where lawyers charge 150-300€ for VAT registration alone. Only difference seems to be in banking. I was told it became quite difficult to open a business bank account.

You write "owned", why did you leave and if you allow me to ask: Where did you go?
 
Thanks! I got a few quotes and prices don't seem to have changed much. Its all quite reasonable, especially when compared to Cyprus where lawyers charge 150-300€ for VAT registration alone. Only difference seems to be in banking. I was told it became quite difficult to open a business bank account.

You write "owned", why did you leave and if you allow me to ask: Where did you go?
Yes it’s much cheaper in Bulgaria. I needed a kind of import number for a webshop and a lawyer drive to me from Sofia to Varna and fixed it for me for 500 euro or something .

Actually I really didn’t want to leave Bulgaria at that time but I didn’t move alone there and i was in a complicated situation. Because of circumstances I moved temporarily to Western Europe and later out of Europe. I know western immigrants that live happy in Bulgaria for very long time.

And banking is easy if you have residency and EU passport. Just hire locals to help you that didn’t target foreigners on internet.

I think it’s still a great country to live a long as the didn’t raise their taxes. Especially for Europeans it’s easy to move their.
 
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Yes it’s much cheaper in Bulgaria. I needed a kind of import number for a webshop and a lawyer drive to me from Sofia to Varna and fixed it for me for 500 euro or something .

Actually I really didn’t want to leave Bulgaria at that time but I didn’t move alone there and i was in a complicated situation. Because of circumstances I moved temporarily to Western Europe and later out of Europe. I know western immigrants that live happy in Bulgaria for very long time.

And banking is easy if you have residency and EU passport. Just hire locals to help you that didn’t target foreigners on internet.

I think it’s still a great country to live a long as the didn’t raise their taxes. Especially for Europeans it’s easy to move their.
With certain businesses, you can even get zero tax setup in Bulgaria. (ok, still employment taxes and potentially VAT)

Estonian residency + Estonian company with a branch office in Bulgaria can be a valid zero tax structure:
1) on the Estonian level, there is no tax before profit distribution and no WHT, and combined with Estonian tax residency, the total tax is 0% if redistributing branch profits to yourself
2) Bulgarian branch - profit tax is by default 10%, but if you form the branch in an area with high unemployment (applies to Roughly 2/3 of the country), you could get a 100% exemption from CIT. It applies to taxable persons who carry out production activities.

If a municipality is no longer included in the list as a result of increased employment, the taxable person can retain the right to tax relief for a period of 5 years from the year in which the municipality was excluded from the list.
 
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Estonian residency + Estonian company with a branch office in Bulgaria can be a valid zero tax structure:
1) on the Estonian level, there is no tax before profit distribution and no WHT, and combined with Estonian tax residency, the total tax is 0% if redistributing branch profits to yourself
2) Bulgarian branch - profit tax is by default 10%, but if you form the branch in an area with high unemployment (applies to Roughly 2/3 of the country), you could get a 100% exemption from CIT. It applies to taxable persons who carry out production activities.
1) Honestly I never understood the advantage of Estonia. Its tax free but only until you distribute profits, isn't it? When paid out you pay 20% or am I wrong?
2) From what I understood there are quite some obligations to benefit from this tax excempt. And even then from what I read you have to invest the saved taxes back into production.
 
but if you form the branch in an area with high unemployment (applies to Roughly 2/3 of the country), you could get a 100% exemption from CIT

Didn't know about that opportunty!

What's the requirements to fall under the 4% tax rate, as far as I remember there are some?

75K investment in fixed assets on smaller islands + 3 people employed

100K investment in fixed asset on bigger islands + 5 people employed
 
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What's the requirements to fall under the 4% tax rate, as far as I remember there are some?
For the 5% tax rate on Madeira, the requirement is a 75,000 investment in Madeira, and employing one Madeira resident (which could be yourself, if you become a Madeira resident).
 
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