This article, like much of what I write, does not apply to American and Eritrean citizens. In this particular case, it is because these jurisdictions are unique in that they (may) tax non-resident citizens, according to a 2011 report by E&Y.
hiya,
may I ask how do the tx office believe me that I do travelling? do they ask a report from border agency? in Europe, there is no need to passport get stamped in travelling in Schengen. Do anyone knows that, normally do they check this or not? I mean just normally not when they get suspect to someone that don't pay full tx ;)
If I say to bank that I'm tx resident of UAE or list of countries you mentioned above, how back accept this in normal cases? what proof they ask and what is the trick to waive the proof?
thnx
Hi there! The requirements for becoming a non-resident where you currently reside varies from country to country. What country's tax office are you referring to?
Hi, UK one. I heard residency should be less than 3 months to be non tx resident in UK. Also II indicate that I'm travelling in Schengen, whileo my UK passport will not stamped in borders, how tx office will believe me? what is the trick for making them believe?
If I say to bank that I'm tx resident of UAE or list of countries you mentioned above or any 0 tx on foreign income country, how bank accept this in normal cases? what proof they ask and what is the trick to waive the proof? Do they send my proof for verification in normal cases?
If I indicate that I'm permanent traveler to bank or any company that I'm doing business with,(if my business is remote and from laptop only), I suspect that as I'm tx resident nowhere, so they exchange my income data with my country of nationality, where I'm holding passport with?
one of my friends has similar case but her birth location is different from country that she is holding passport with(country of nationality is UK again), and her birth location is not in Europe. What happen in her case? in similar circumstance above that I mentioned, is she most possibly reported to country of nationality, if she indicate to banks and companies that do business with, that her domicile location in nowhere and she is permanent traveler?
(in above, all business done offshore and independent from country of nationality, in these case UK)
How can I change my domicile country as individual? by ANY undiscovered trick in normal circumstances, for banks and companies I do business with?
If I state my address for most of banks in country of nationality/passport, one address inside country, and for one or two banks, outside of country, can the banks or credit agencies find me that I stated two different address and report me to investigative authorities?
e.g. for someone in the UK, when she is on Electoral roll (for vote), the credit agencies will find her name and address from these searches, and if she indicate a address outside of country for a specific bank, can they find out? is this depend of bank? I mean if its a foreign bank in the UK, can they still find out that you indicating them address different that what is in your credit file?
Great Read. Thanks for putting all that info together in an easy to digest post.
If you live as a PT for a few years building up wealth in a country like Panama with no tax on foreign income, can you then take that money back to your home country (New Zealand in my case) without paying any additional tax after a few years if you decided to move back? And on that note, would you be required to file Tax Returns each year your away from NZ stating your earnings or would the home country not need to know where the money come from while you were gone for 2 - 10 years?
Hi TK, thanks for an exceptional article here.
I really need to fix my residence situation and have been looking at some options. I will live there for at least half of the year and travel for the rest of my time.
Do you have any experience with Andorra? I’ve been reading about it (Andorra’s Residency Requirements & Rules | Andorra Guides) and though not as easy as some countries (like Panama), it’s still achievable for me. It seems the lifestyle might be a good fit for me too.
If you have explored there or know of anyone who has please let me know. I’d like to learn more.
Hi @nonresident
I live in Andorra. I’m an active resident which requires one to incorporate a company and spend 183 days per year there. Nowadays you also need to make a 15,000 Euro deposit into a government bond.
The whole process is surprisingly straightforward and quick. I’d budget around 3 months to set things up.
It seems you’ve found my website - it’s been funded by some local businesses which is why you’ll see their ads. I have sought out actual genuine, helpful people who aren’t in business to rip you off as I had a few challenges finding people I could trust when settling into Andorra.
Anyway, these are probably good article for you to get a feel for the place/system:
I’ll try and check back in again soon if you or anyone has other questions.
Thanks for sharing these Jase.
Active residence seems very good. I read on another website that you need to spend almost all of your time there otherwise they won’t renew it but your site says 6 months a year.
Is it definitely 6 months?
Yes - 183 days. You can view the law here but it’s in docx format: BOPA
(I assume you can’t read Catalan - just copy/paste the contents into Google Translate)
Let me share my experiences. I’ve been a PT for the past 10 years at least. I am European but have lived and worked all the world. From a European perspective it is quite easy to be a PT. First I renounced my official residence in my home country linked to my passport. They have a rule that if you leave the country for more than 6 months you HAVE to renounce your residence. You can still keep a postal address for example at your parents home. I did this after I graduated from university and left the country. So that was step 1 - disconnect fiscal ties with your home country. In my case if I didn’t renounce my residency in my home country I would have to continue to pay for monthly healthcare which is mandatory and very expensive 150/200 EUR a month plus if I were be working abroad I would have to see if my home country has a double agreement with the country I at the time was working otherwise I end up paying double taxes. Now within Europe I have lived/worked in the UK & Spain and lived only in France and Portugal most recently. Abroad I have lived in Asian countries a lot. Tax wise I declare only if I have earned an income and often I leave the country to stay below the 183 days threshold. There is nothing illegal about that. It does makes declaring taxes more complicated if you do not know what you are doing and often times the tax offices have no clue themselves how to deal with PT/digital nomads or freelance expats like me. Besides you really think they would go after someone who doesn’t earn a lot. They want the big millionairs the super rich. Also I believe I am free to go where I want to be. If at that time I will be working in a country then I declare taxes where I am treated the best which means receiving discount or other benefits like in Hong Kong. If you have high savings I would recommend choosing a residency that is stable. I became a Non Habitual Resident in Portugal and bought and sold me main property. The scheme comes with a reasonable tax benefit for 10 years. However, Portugal is extremely bureaucratic and often they do not know what they are doing. It takes uber long to get things done. But within Europe they are quite in unique and many wealthy investors have moved their income to Portugal.
Hi there,
have you got a little bit more info of how you went about it? NHR residence in Portugal. I am also looking also into the option of setting myself up in Portugal.
Have you been using local help as in an accountant or similar?
I might have a problem with some of my income coming from so called tax havens and would need some help looking into all options to avoid the 35% rate.
Thanks
Hi @tkrunning thanks so much for this incredible resource. 
I might have an opportunity of starting a tech salary position in a company that is almost completely remote. So much of what I am reading seems to apply to entrepreneurs or businessmen.
I’m a 
/ 
dual 
holder living in Berlin. Hypothetically, with the PT concept, my plan after reading on this topic for the last few days would be sometime in the next year:
I’d welcome feedback from you or others on such a hypothetical plan. 
One area that seems particularly unclear is what is the preferred way to continue long term investing in ETF’s that you reduce capital gains taxes later in life?
Currently I’m holding Vanguard all world in a German bank and would ideally like to continue growing that 
.
Thanks in advance! 