Choosing a country to move to as an entrepreneur: what actually matters

Lists of low-tax countries are easy to find and of little use on their own. For an entrepreneur, the question is how a particular country will tax your particular income: salary from your company, dividends, gains on shares you already own, rent from property back home. Two countries with similar headline rates can produce very different results once those details are applied, and a special regime that looks generous can exclude the one type of income you care about.

How residence is acquired

Each country sets its own test. Many use a day count, often 183 days in a year, alongside tests based on a permanent home, the centre of your family or economic life, or registration with the authorities. Some make you resident from the day you arrive; others only from the following tax year. Holding a residence permit is a separate matter from being tax resident. You can hold a permit and remain tax resident somewhere else, and you can become tax resident without intending to.

Leaving matters as much as arriving. Your current country may keep treating you as resident if you keep a home or family there, and some countries charge an exit tax on substantial shareholdings when you go. Where two countries both claim you, a double tax treaty, if one exists, decides through tie-breaker tests: permanent home first, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality.

How foreign income is taxed

Most countries tax residents on their worldwide income. A few tax only income arising locally, or tax foreign income only when it is brought in. Several have special regimes for people who become resident after a period abroad. They change often, and the conditions matter more than the headline.

• Italy offers new residents the option of paying a fixed annual amount in place of Italian tax on foreign income, for a limited number of years. The amount has been raised more than once, and certain foreign gains are excluded in the early years.
• Cyprus has a non-domiciled status that exempts most dividends and interest from its special defence contribution for a long period, while ordinary income tax still applies to other income.
• Greece has a regime that replaces tax on foreign income with a fixed annual payment, conditional on a substantial investment in Greece.
• Switzerland allows lump-sum taxation, based on living expenses, for foreign nationals who do not work in Switzerland. Some cantons have abolished it.
• The UAE does not levy personal income tax on most individual income. It does have corporate tax, and its own conditions for issuing a tax residence certificate.
• Portugal's non-habitual resident regime closed to new applicants and was replaced by a narrower regime aimed at specific professions and activities.
• The UK replaced the remittance basis in April 2025 with a four-year exemption for foreign income and gains for people arriving after ten years of non-residence.

Amounts, durations and qualifying conditions for all of these should be checked at the time you plan the move. Several have been tightened in recent years, and some apply only if you apply within a deadline after arrival.

What else to weigh

Social security, inheritance and gift tax, wealth tax where it exists, the treaty network with the countries your income comes from, and the treatment of your company if you run it from the new country all belong in the comparison. So do schools, healthcare, banking and the practical cost of living, because a move that the family does not sustain tends to unravel the tax position too.

Before you move

• List your income and assets by type and country, and test each against the new country's rules and any special regime.
• Confirm how and when you cease to be resident where you are now, and whether an exit charge applies.
• Check the deadline and conditions for any regime you intend to claim.
• Decide where your company will be managed after the move.
• Plan the timing of any sale, dividend or bonus around the change of residence.

If you are comparing countries, call us before you sign a lease or apply for a permit. The first 30-minute consultation is free, your dedicated consultant is available 24/7, and every request is answered within 24 hours.

General information, not advice. Tax rules change and depend on your facts. Greyridge Global coordinates and delivers cross-border tax and corporate work through appropriately licensed professionals in each jurisdiction. Legal, tax, immigration, fiduciary, and regulated services are provided by qualified advisors engaged for your matter. Nothing on this page is tax or legal advice.