No idea, sorry. You should speak to a tax lawyer.
Another option could be to declare this as your own income (sole proprietorship), so you pay tax on it, but to just not mention that it was earned through the US LLC.
Then it would be more believable that you were just unaware it has to be declared, and sole prop taxes are higher than corporate taxes +︀ dividend tax in most countries, so you wouldn't be saving taxes, so charges for tax︁ fraud would be off the table.
But I don't know, maybe what your advisor suggested︂ is a good solution - report it as a sole prop and say it's worthless.︃ I don't know. I really don't know what the risks are here, just trying to︄ give you different ideas that you should talk through with your advisor, or maybe even︅ a tax lawyer.
The question will be how much they will be going after you.︈
What peace of mind? You have to spend 183+ days in Cyprus to︋ be protected, whether you have a company or not.
Company + 60 days will give︌ you a tax residency certificate, but only if they don't know that you have a︍ conflict with any other country.
Under Cypriot law, you can only be tax resident if︎ no other country claims you as tax resident.
So if Germany doesn't come after you,️ it doesn't matter.
But if they do come after you ("We still consider you tax resident"), then spending less than 183 days in Cyprus won't be offering any protection from the Cypriot side, as they will just say: "Oh, you want to tax him, alright, go ahead!"
Of course, what could also happen is that you spend 4-5 months in Cyprus, you get the 60-day tax residency certificate (because Cyprus doesn't know you have a conflict with the German tax office), you show all that to the German tax office and they back off. Or you even just show them some receipts as proof that︀ you've actually been in Cyprus.
That's also a possible outcome, but that would be more︁ in the "luck" department. But it could also happen - probably lots of people fly︂ under the radar this way. But it's not a legal solution - Germany will ALWAYS︃ win if they can rule you are tax resident under German law. Cyprus won't do︄ anything to protect you if you spend less than 183 days there.
But you can︅ only have true peace of mind if you spend 183+ days in Cyprus, and then︆ you won't need the company.
But in that case, Cyprus could also tax your US︇ LLC. Will they do that? No idea. But there's a good chance they could at︈ least in theory see it as a Cypriot corporation, so you'd have to pay for︉ an audit etc.
I really fail to see the advantage with Cyprus in your case...︊ I would strongly consider finding a Schengen country with low taxes and no minimum number︋ of days to be tax resident. Get tax residency there, pay taxes there, done. That︌ would be true peace of mind.
Czechia for example. As a sole prop in Czechia,︍ you can do simplified accounting, so you can deduct 50% or so in expenses up︎ to a certain income.
I don't remember the details, but say the limit is 100k.️ You make 90k, then you can just deduct 50% (not sure about the exact number), no need to keep receipts, so you only pay tax on 45k - even though you made 90k. Say the tax is 33%, so you pay 15k tax (1/3 of 45k) - but you really made 90k. 15k on 90k is less than 17%.
There are caps, but if you're just a freelancer, this can be a really good deal. Czechia is a Schengen country, nobody will really know when you drive across the border, and as long as you spend less than 180 days in Germany, you should be protected, even if they found out you've spent more time in Germany than in Czechia.︀
This would be a lot safer than moving to a country like Cyprus that will︁ immediately be seen as huge red flag.
But you aren't a perpetual︅ traveller. You will be spending several MONTHS in Germany! Stop dreaming!
You really don't seem︈ to understand. No, you can't move to Cyprus for 2 years and then move back︉ to Germany without telling anyone.
You really have to be GONE. You're trying to think︊ of ways to secretly stay in Germany with some extended vacations and that's not going︋ to work.
Of course, you may not get caught, but if your plan essentially is︌ to just hope you will not get caught, then why even bother with solutions that︍ won't offer protection anyway when push comes to shove...
You have to remember that there︎ are many Germans that have a vacation home in Southern Europe. They all pay tax️ in Germany, and they don't pay tax where their vacation home is located. You really risk putting yourself in that category in the eyes of the German tax office.
TL;DR:
It all comes down how much the German tax office will investigate:
- It's possible they don't care at all and you wouldn't even have to be resident in any country - they just really don't care.
- It's possible they just want to see receipts proving you've been outside of Germany and then they back off.
- It's possible they want to see a rental contract, residency, tax residency certificate or other indicators of strong ties (though this is unlikely because this is not relevant under German law) -︀ you show some papers from Cyprus - and they back off.
- It's possible they︁ suspect that you're secretly still living in Germany, they know the Cypriot rules (that they︂ can invalidate your 60-day tax residency), they just say you're still tax resident. You would︃ have to get a lawyer to fight them and prove your tax residency is in︄ Cyprus under the tax treaty. But you only spent 100 days in Cyprus, so you︅ have no protection under the tax treaty. Your lawyer has to fight them according to︆ German law only - with unclear outcome. They would have to prove that you are︇ not "habitually" in Germany, even though you keep returning, you are a German citizen, maybe︈ you even have clients in Germany? The state would argue you have much closer ties︉ to Germany and you only go to Cyprus on vacation, to stay in your vacation︊ home.
I don't know how much they will care about you, but Cyprus explicitly says︋ "We will not protect you if another country comes for you and you spend less︌ than 183 days in our country" - so maybe they're not the best choice for︍ a case like yours?