Thanks for this post. I believe Brussels data doesnt highlight extraordinary benefits developers get there, like a fancy company car with paid fuel which can be traded for a full NET per month to pay for rent or mortgage.
Data speaks, but from todays post and after residing in Brussels for past 8 years (moved 6 months back) I feel blindly trusting such posts should be definitely avoided.
Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate your posts and the work you do.
Thanks for adding some nuance to it! I agree these rankings always tell only part of the story. I added my comment regarding Brussels because I have often heard people complaining about it because of the high taxes, low salaries and high cost of living. But good to have inputs from someone who like it :)
I transferred with my company from London to Madrid. I took a 20-25% pay cut (which was a great deal btw), but ended up earning about the same after taxes. And even if my net earnings had decreased by 20% I would have a better QoL in Madrid vs. London.
No, social security etc is separate, but in my case it was about 2-3% so my effective tax rate was ~27% vs. ~39% in the UK
Another great perk of Beckham Law for expats is that overseas assets are not taxed in Spain (with a few exclusions). So you only pay tax in the country where you have the assets, which is great if that country has low/no CGT or dividend tax for non residents :-)
It's a higher percentage, but only paid on the first ~4k euros a month (not sure the specific amount). For a 120k salary, employee social security contributions are about 3.5k a year
Some Spanish regions might add taxes on top of that, but it should be a small-ish amount
Most social security taxes are paid by the employer. Here I'm assuming that the expat is employed by a company with a Spanish legal entity (which is needed to qualify for Beckham Law). Self employed workers pay higher % of taxes for social security
I thought prices in Berlin had caught up to Munich. Regarding Dublin, you can check LinkedIn or eurotoptechjobs.com as well. Also networking - on Linkedin, or wherever - with people working there in some of your target companies will help.
Berlin has not caught up yet with costs and probably never will, as also the costs in Munich are increasing. It almost caught up iwth salaries in IT, there is not such a wide gap anymore.
I moved to Berlin 10 years ago and it was still a cheap city, you could find affordable rent. The rent increase is capped for existing rental contracts, so it's possible to find people with "old" contracts payin few hundred of EUR for a big flat in the city centre. The salaries increased a lot since 10 years ago, so someone can have a nice life and nice savings if the housing costs are low - that does not apply to the ones moving now to the city, who will get "new" contracts or temporary ones, that are expensive.
Given that Berlin has a lot of things to do, has good infrastructure and there are a lot of young and unconventional people here, I would say it's one of the best options to live in Europe, especially for young people. For people with families, might be not.
Thanks for this post. I believe Brussels data doesnt highlight extraordinary benefits developers get there, like a fancy company car with paid fuel which can be traded for a full NET per month to pay for rent or mortgage.
Data speaks, but from todays post and after residing in Brussels for past 8 years (moved 6 months back) I feel blindly trusting such posts should be definitely avoided.
Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate your posts and the work you do.
Thank you!
Thanks for adding some nuance to it! I agree these rankings always tell only part of the story. I added my comment regarding Brussels because I have often heard people complaining about it because of the high taxes, low salaries and high cost of living. But good to have inputs from someone who like it :)
> Interesting good-value place to spend time in, not sure about being officially based there (taxes for Spain
For people on high salaries moving to Spain, the tax situation is pretty good for the first 6 years if they qualify for Beckham Law
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beckham_law
I transferred with my company from London to Madrid. I took a 20-25% pay cut (which was a great deal btw), but ended up earning about the same after taxes. And even if my net earnings had decreased by 20% I would have a better QoL in Madrid vs. London.
Nice! Does the 24% of Beckham law include mandatory social security too? healthcare, pension etc
No, social security etc is separate, but in my case it was about 2-3% so my effective tax rate was ~27% vs. ~39% in the UK
Another great perk of Beckham Law for expats is that overseas assets are not taxed in Spain (with a few exclusions). So you only pay tax in the country where you have the assets, which is great if that country has low/no CGT or dividend tax for non residents :-)
I see. Social security at 2-3% seems very low? In Italy and other countries goes up to 20-25%
It's a higher percentage, but only paid on the first ~4k euros a month (not sure the specific amount). For a 120k salary, employee social security contributions are about 3.5k a year
https://www.bbva.es/personas/productos/cuentas/calculadora-sueldo-neto.html
Some Spanish regions might add taxes on top of that, but it should be a small-ish amount
Most social security taxes are paid by the employer. Here I'm assuming that the expat is employed by a company with a Spanish legal entity (which is needed to qualify for Beckham Law). Self employed workers pay higher % of taxes for social security
I thought prices in Berlin had caught up to Munich. Regarding Dublin, you can check LinkedIn or eurotoptechjobs.com as well. Also networking - on Linkedin, or wherever - with people working there in some of your target companies will help.
Berlin has not caught up yet with costs and probably never will, as also the costs in Munich are increasing. It almost caught up iwth salaries in IT, there is not such a wide gap anymore.
I moved to Berlin 10 years ago and it was still a cheap city, you could find affordable rent. The rent increase is capped for existing rental contracts, so it's possible to find people with "old" contracts payin few hundred of EUR for a big flat in the city centre. The salaries increased a lot since 10 years ago, so someone can have a nice life and nice savings if the housing costs are low - that does not apply to the ones moving now to the city, who will get "new" contracts or temporary ones, that are expensive.
Given that Berlin has a lot of things to do, has good infrastructure and there are a lot of young and unconventional people here, I would say it's one of the best options to live in Europe, especially for young people. For people with families, might be not.