A Ukrainian here. Because of the war currently in Romania. Ukraine has indeed low 5% tax. Romania has 42.5% of you work as an employee and around 20% if u open a company.
Ack. I thought Romania had lower tax if you had a company making less than 1M eur or so. But maybe considering dividend/salary and social security etc it reaches that 20%. Слава Україні!
I think people forget the fact that the effective tax in Hungary is 33.5% and not the 15% seen on wikipedia, i see lot of people taking Hungary as a low tax country whereas in reality it has one of the highest taxes especially in Europe at almost 50%
Some thoughts based on my experience and research:
UAE: Has some serious drawbacks now: First being a reticence of USA & EU businesses to sign B2B/Freelance contracts with UAE LLC's and Second they increased taxes and you HAVE to have a UAE citizen as a partner in said LLC.
Cyprus: 15% ... Oooor it's THE BEST Country to consider IMO with the non-dom scheme where you get ~2-5% taxes. And it's in the EU, and it's on an island paradise ... You just have to live there 2-5 months a year, 2-5 months in another country and 2-5 months in a third country :D. I'm seriously considering it.
Romania: ~15%. The more you make, the less you pay ( Approx: for 200k - 13%, 100k - 15%, 60k - 17% ) may be a bit unstable and might hike the taxes somewhat but it's still almost as attractive as Poland. Hotter Climate ...
I wouldn't do Cyprus with an offshore company if you run said company from there. You can do it and you probably won't get caught but if you're the only person in the company you're running a risk. In the end you can pay Cyprus 12% corporate tax it's not too bad. I also think Cyprus is a good option tho. A bit boring if you spend there 12 months but extremely pleasant if you spend there part of the year.
UAE: if you're a remote dev making less than 1M you don't need to pay the 9% corp tax. WRT to USA&EU biz not being able to bill an UAE company, could be.
Romania I also heard is good. Similar for Moldova yes. Need to update the list.
Really? That sounds very interesting. Is it easy to setup? English friendly? Please share some links if you have. Also does it include social security?
Asia I haven't spent a lot of time in. I think Singapore and UAE would be the best options to base yourself at least legally. Since they're expensive, it could be good to combine them with some other cheaper base in SEA. Like maybe spending 3-6 months in Dubai/UAE and other 6 months in Thailand/Philippines/Indonesia etc.
Considering the current situation, putting Ukraine on the list is an interesting take
A Ukrainian here. Because of the war currently in Romania. Ukraine has indeed low 5% tax. Romania has 42.5% of you work as an employee and around 20% if u open a company.
Ack. I thought Romania had lower tax if you had a company making less than 1M eur or so. But maybe considering dividend/salary and social security etc it reaches that 20%. Слава Україні!
The more you earn the less you pay.
I think it can be reduced to 15% if one earns more.
The hungarian one is not accurate.
We have a 33,5% income tax.
Flat? Both for full time and contract jobs?
I think people forget the fact that the effective tax in Hungary is 33.5% and not the 15% seen on wikipedia, i see lot of people taking Hungary as a low tax country whereas in reality it has one of the highest taxes especially in Europe at almost 50%
XXS13 from R here.
Some thoughts based on my experience and research:
UAE: Has some serious drawbacks now: First being a reticence of USA & EU businesses to sign B2B/Freelance contracts with UAE LLC's and Second they increased taxes and you HAVE to have a UAE citizen as a partner in said LLC.
Cyprus: 15% ... Oooor it's THE BEST Country to consider IMO with the non-dom scheme where you get ~2-5% taxes. And it's in the EU, and it's on an island paradise ... You just have to live there 2-5 months a year, 2-5 months in another country and 2-5 months in a third country :D. I'm seriously considering it.
Romania: ~15%. The more you make, the less you pay ( Approx: for 200k - 13%, 100k - 15%, 60k - 17% ) may be a bit unstable and might hike the taxes somewhat but it's still almost as attractive as Poland. Hotter Climate ...
Republic of Moldova: 7%
I wouldn't do Cyprus with an offshore company if you run said company from there. You can do it and you probably won't get caught but if you're the only person in the company you're running a risk. In the end you can pay Cyprus 12% corporate tax it's not too bad. I also think Cyprus is a good option tho. A bit boring if you spend there 12 months but extremely pleasant if you spend there part of the year.
UAE: if you're a remote dev making less than 1M you don't need to pay the 9% corp tax. WRT to USA&EU biz not being able to bill an UAE company, could be.
Romania I also heard is good. Similar for Moldova yes. Need to update the list.
You’re forgetting about Moldova 🇲🇩 with their 7% taxes and quite low cost of living.
Really? That sounds very interesting. Is it easy to setup? English friendly? Please share some links if you have. Also does it include social security?
Here is all usefull info
https://moldovaitpark.md/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Moldova-IT-Park_presentation_16.02.2022.pdf
https://mitp.md/p/web/webHome
I live in Ukraine since 19…. So I can tell a lot.
Don’t get into the trap of “free healthcare”. It simply doesn't work.
But even private/non “free” is cheap and has decent quality.
Thanks for sharing! Which city in Ukraine? And where are you from?
Kyiv, the capital.
Doing commercial software engineering since 1991.
👍are you still in Ukraine?
Yes
Poland has changed incredibly in the last 15 years. I think it's barely recognisable. I'd recommend visiting again if you can! Especially Warsaw.
Regarding locations for remote workers, you can check out this other article too: https://www.theeuropeanengineer.com/p/best-low-cost-low-tax-countries-for
Or this one regarding best countries for devs in general: https://www.theeuropeanengineer.com/p/best-countries-to-base-yourself-as
Asia I haven't spent a lot of time in. I think Singapore and UAE would be the best options to base yourself at least legally. Since they're expensive, it could be good to combine them with some other cheaper base in SEA. Like maybe spending 3-6 months in Dubai/UAE and other 6 months in Thailand/Philippines/Indonesia etc.