Best tropical place to live?
- Thread starter JustAnotherNomad
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No CFC rules. Please read non dom company. Company has to be established outside of Malta and you are good.
Malta has CFC rules:
1. if Maltese resident holds a direct or indirect participation of more than 50% of the voting rights, or owns directly or indirectly more than 50% of the capital or is entitled to receive more than 50% of the profits of that entity, and
2. the actual corporate tax paid by the entity is lower than the difference between the tax that would have been charged on the entity under the Income Tax Acts and the actual foreign corporate tax paid
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/malta/corporate/group-taxation
Pwc also quotes the following :
'CFCs whose profits fall within certain minimum thresholds are excluded from the application of this regulation.'
Please find the link from the income tax agency of Malta on taxation of companies incorporated outside malta. Paragraph no. 3 to be precise.
https://cfr.gov.mt/en/inlandrevenue/corporatetax/Pages/Corporate-Tax.aspx
In any case who cares about CFC rules in Malta if you use a resident non domiciled company 🙂
CFC rules apply to non resident companies, that's the trick that almost no one here gests (beside @A1988 obviously).
It also states, if a company is incorporated outside malta and income is not arising in Malta then there is no tax to be paid in malta.
Noted for Oman.
For Malta:
- It was 50 years ago, things are stable since. There is British and US military base on the island
- True
- True but fairly irrelevant as there is a sea in between
- Yes, but AFAIK there were no terrorist attacks in Cyprus
- True
- Can you provide what's better in Malta in greater detail
- Not sure about that as in Malta the standard CIT rate is 35%. You can lower it to 5% but then you need to pay 35% anyways and then wait I think for two years to get the 30% refund. Something like that as I can recall. Also, they want to end this scheme.
- Found it in your other posts - will take a better look at this
- Yes, but I think you have to pay 5,000 EUR minimum tax per year
- True
Anyways, IMO Malta is more cosmopolitan than Cyprus, much better connected, English is an official language (where on Cyprus just many people speak it but it's not official), its much closer to Europe and much better connected (thanks to Wizz and Ryan you can travel cheaply to many EU destinations) and in general, plane tickets are generally cheaper, it's close to Sicily/Italy and this is a great plus for me personally. I personally prefer Maltese vibe more than Cyprus.
On the bad side Malta is much smaller than Cyprus, less green, more expensive, dirtier in general (trash all over the place, rats, king-size cockroaches, noise pollution in some areas). It's also becoming overcrowded (in Cyprus people just buy property but don't live - and it's not the case with Malta) and the construction is wild, traffic jams, issues with power cuts (it's fun when you have no electricity and it's 45C outside - it happened this summer). Their residency program is more expensive than on Cyprus.
Last edited: Jan 25, 2025
No, you can reduce it to 5% outright with the right structure (I believe you need a holding company for this).
Also check out the discussion here:
[COLOR=#b388ff] J [/COLOR]
Thread 'Best management location for US LLC'
Jan 23, 2025It seems like US LLCs (and similar entities with no clear corporate tax residency) can be problematic.
This can cause problems like:
* The tax authority in the member's residency country could claim there is a PE / it is managed from there
* For payments to such an entity, the tax authority in the payer's country could claim it is transparent and the payment should be treated as a payment to the member (in his country of tax residency), or it could be treated as non-deductible due to unclear tax residency status
I would guess that these issues can be avoided by having a director in a...
- JustAnotherNomad
- Replies: 131
- Forum: Tax, Accounting, Licensing & Legal
Might be better to continue this discussion there.
I can't believe UAE keeps being brought up. What part of UAE is tropical? Is it this arid sand dune? Or this other arid sand dune? And then Cyprus, Malta... Are maps illegal where you live?
Not a bad place to be, though, at least short term.
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This is the probably the answer to your question.
Cyprus isn't tropical. However, it ticks a lot of boxes around quality of life, cost of living, and taxation. But compared to its peers (in EU/EEA and comparable regions) it has terrible infrastructure, bad healthcare, poor educational facilities, and climate change is probably going to turn Cyprus into a desert over the next decades. Water supply is a concern and the government is unfit to handle any kind of serious disaster.
Not a bad place to be, though, at least short term.
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This is the probably the answer to your question.
I would say that living conditions are fairly better: it's a much bigger place (3rd biggest island in the Mediterranean and it's 30 times bigger than Malta), it's cleaner, it has nicer beaches, it even has a mountain with some nature (it's about 1900m high and even has a ski center), it's a bit cheaper and it's less crowded and probably a bit safer. Does it have it's own set of issues - yes of course. It's not ideal by any means.
Also, I think that it's easier to do business from Cyprus as things are more straight forward and you don't need any complex company structures. If you form a company there - you'll pay 12.5% CIT tax and 0% tax on dividends and as a non-dom you'll have 0% tax on capital gains. If you can do IP box you can even lower CIT to 2.5% Again, this may work for some but may not work for someone else (and Malta might be a better choice for some - everyone's situation is different). I think Cyprus is ideal for people living of their capital returns - so that makes it a good place to "retire". Also, a minimum 60 days stay for tax residency is a plus for some people.
Last edited: Jan 25, 2025
Can we also have a cost comparison for everything between malta and cyprus cost of living,quality of living,how easy to setup,visas available.How costly or easy to get the residency by investment etc here.
I would argue living conditions are better in Malta, there are mountains in the north, there is gozo and comino as well. Then there is st julians and paceville and then marsaskala in the south which is more laid back and has mansions.
Sorry but Malta is way safer than Cyprus, we don't have immigrants from Lebanon, Palestine, Tommy robinson or Israel coming here to create more problems, by the way being in schengen as well doesn't change the fact that you will be asked to open your bags whether coming from sicily or anywhere from Europe or outside.
Again, I would argue Cyprus is easier to do business than Malta? Malta has lower taxes than Cyprus whether trading income or IP box, Malta has better IP box than Cyprus, in malta you can almost deduct 95% plus total expenditure to total income, there is a complex calculation but in the end you pay less. Also the non dom is unlimited not like Cyprus which is 17 years, it's decent but Malta is still better since we are drawing a comparison here.
I agree, Cyprus is more suited for retired people with no drive left or ambition lol. Malta is more lively, buzzing closer to Europe and much better place to run your offshore companies, with NO CFC issues if company is categorised as non domicile. Also, English being an official language of Malta is a big plus whereas Cyprus has Turkish and Greek. Malta is also in schengen area plus from a geopolitical standpoint is a much better place to be than Cyprus which can be bombed or invaded any moment, maybe it won't but the risk is far greater if war breaks out. I also think Malta has better air connectivity than Cyprus, another plus point.
Malta also has a special residency where you pay 15k and you can spend 1 day in a year and you are good, its elective residency, it's a hidden secret, so Malta bears Cyprus here as well.
To be honest with you, I see Cyprus being more heavily marketed than Malta , as the saying goes if the product needs to be sold and marketed then maybe it's not that good lol.
Last edited: Jan 26, 2025
I would argue living conditions are better in Malta, there are mountains in the north, there is good and comino as well. Then there is st julians and paceville and then marsaskala in the south which is more laid back and has mansions.
Sorry but Malta is way safer than Cyprus, we don't have immigrants from Lebanon, Palestine, Tommy robinson or Israel coming here to create more problems, by the way being in schengen as well doesn't change the fact that you will be asked to open your bags whether coming from sicily or anywhere from Europe or outside.
Again, I would argue Cyprus is easier to do business than Malta? Malta has lower taxes than Cyprus whether trading income or IP box, Malta has better IP box than Cyprus, in malta you can almost deduct 95% plus total expenditure to total income, there is a complex calculation but in the end you pay less. Also the non dom is unlimited not like Cyprus which is 17 years, it's decent but Malta is still better since we are drawing a comparison here.
I agree, Cyprus is more suited for retired people with no drive left or ambition lol. Malta is more lively, buzzing closer to Europe and much better place to run your offshore companies, with NO CFC issues if company is categorised as non domicile. Also, English being an official language of Malta is a big plus whereas Cyprus has Turkish and Greek. Malta is also in schengen area plus from a geopolitical standpoint is a much better place to be than Cyprus which can be bombed or invaded any moment, maybe it won't but the risk is far greater if war breaks out. Hence, I would like to crown MALTA as the overall winner
Here is a good list.
https://www.accountancyeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Audit-exemption-thresholds-in-Europe.pdf
| Country | Balance sheet total (EUR) | Net turnover (EUR) | Number of employees |
| Austria | 5,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 50 |
| Belgium | 4,500,000 | 9,000,000 | 50 |
| Bulgaria | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 50 |
| Croatia | 2,000,000 | 4,000,000 | 25 |
| Cyprus | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Czech Republic | 1,500,000 | 3,000,000 | 50 |
| Denmark (review) | 537,000 | 1,075,000 | 12 |
| Denmark (audit) | 6,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 50 |
| Estonia (review) | 800,000 | 1,600,000 | 24 |
| Estonia (audit) | 2,000,000 | 4,000,000 | 50 |
| Finland | 100,000 | 200,000 | 3 |
| France | 4,000,000 | 8,000,000 | 50 |
| Germany | 6,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 50 |
| Greece | 4,000,000 | 8,000,000 | 50 |
| Hungary | Not applicable | 833,333 | 50 |
| Iceland | 1,400,000 | 2,800,000 | 50 |
| Ireland | 6,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 50 |
| Italy | 4,000,000 | 4,000,000 | 20 |
| Latvia | 800,000 | 1,600,000 | 50 |
| Lithuania | 1800,000 | 3,500,000 | 50 |
| Luxembourg | 4,400,000 | 8,800,000 | 50 |
| Malta | 46,600 | 93,000 | 2 |
| Netherlands | 6,000,000 | 12,000,000 | 50 |
| Norway | 2,500,000 | 625,000 | 10 |
| Poland | 2,500,000 | 5,000,000 | 50 |
| Portugal | 1,500,000 | 3,000,000 | 50 |
| Romania | 3,350,000 | 6,650,000 | 50 |
| Slovakia | 2,000,000 | 4,000,000 | 30 |
| Slovenia | 4,000,000 | 8,000,000 | 50 |
| Spain | 2,850,000 | 5,700,000 | 50 |
| Sweden | 150,000 | 300,000 | 3 |
| Switzerland | 18,203,000 | 36,405,000 | 250 |
| Turkey | 4,070,000 | 8,140,000 | 175 |
| United Kingdom | 6,541,000 | 13,082,000 | 50 |
BTW: No any audit in Guernsey.
Last edited: Jan 26, 2025
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