4 ms·

Don't you have to spend > 50% of your time in Bulgaria in order to be considered a tax resident there? I suspect a lot of the "too good to be true" tax evasion

Don't you have to spend > 50% of your time in Bulgaria in order to be considered a tax resident there? I suspect a lot of the "too good to be true" tax evasion stories in this thread depend on lying about your true place of residence?

peteretep 7y ago
> I suspect a lot of the "too good to be true" tax evasion stories in this thread Considered by whom and for what purpose? Bulgaria certainly aren't going to complain if you start declaring your income as arising there, for example via a Bulgarian company. Much more important is where any other country who might have a claim on your tax think you are resident, and if you manage to not be resident elsewhere, you're doing fine.
- mtnGoat 7y ago
  That would still be illegal, just because no one is enforcing it doesn't make it legal. FWIW, some of the other low tax jurisdictions in Europe actually do audit expats living there, to ensure they are actually spending time there. I know Monaco does.
  - peteretep 7y ago
    > That would still be illegal, just because no one is enforcing it doesn't make it legal What is it you think would be illegal? You appear to be pretty confused between "liable to pay tax", "resident enough to convince your home tax jurisdiction that you're no longer resident there" and "resident enough to qualify for citizenship programme", all of which are quite different.
    - mtnGoat 7y ago
      cute games only work so long. first rule and most important one... never F the tax-man.
b212 7y ago
You have to spend less than half a year in your home country to lose its tax residency AND you have to spend over 6 months in some other country. This applies for most if not all European countries: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/income-taxes-abroad/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/income-taxe... Therefore such tax optimisations won't work if you can't actually move to the other place and I guess for 99% of us it's not worth the hustle even if it allows you to save much more.
alipang 7y ago
There's definitely some hoops you may have to jump through, and as I mentioned I'm recommending this for digital nomads, not some random tax evasion scheme if you actually live permanently in some other location. This is probably doable, but illegal and risky. In my case I officially rent a very cheap place in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital (< $100) which I don't use much, and travel a lot to other places (even within Bulgaria, as it's so affordable, so I actually do end up spending a good chunk of time there anyway though). As a nomad, all you really need to do is make sure no other country has any claims on your tax revenue. Conditions varies - and it may be a good idea to not even own property in some countries. But mostly as long as you don't spend >50% of your time in any other given location they won't consider you liable to pay taxes there. Note that Bulgaria of course does not have any complaints about me paying taxes in Bulgaria, regardless of whether I'm there or not. I'm basically just giving the tax money - this would probably be different if I wanted, say, citizenship, but that's a different issue. Hope that's helpful.

peteretep 7y ago

> I suspect a lot of the "too good to be true" tax evasion stories in this thread Considered by whom and for what purpose? Bulgaria certainly aren't going to complain if you start declaring your income as arising there, for example via a Bulgarian company. Much more important is where any other country who might have a claim on your tax think you are resident, and if you manage to not be resident elsewhere, you're doing fine.

mtnGoat 7y ago
That would still be illegal, just because no one is enforcing it doesn't make it legal. FWIW, some of the other low tax jurisdictions in Europe actually do audit expats living there, to ensure they are actually spending time there. I know Monaco does.
- peteretep 7y ago
  > That would still be illegal, just because no one is enforcing it doesn't make it legal What is it you think would be illegal? You appear to be pretty confused between "liable to pay tax", "resident enough to convince your home tax jurisdiction that you're no longer resident there" and "resident enough to qualify for citizenship programme", all of which are quite different.
  - mtnGoat 7y ago
    cute games only work so long. first rule and most important one... never F the tax-man.

b212 7y ago

You have to spend less than half a year in your home country to lose its tax residency AND you have to spend over 6 months in some other country. This applies for most if not all European countries: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/income-taxes-abroad/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/income-taxe... Therefore such tax optimisations won't work if you can't actually move to the other place and I guess for 99% of us it's not worth the hustle even if it allows you to save much more.

alipang 7y ago

There's definitely some hoops you may have to jump through, and as I mentioned I'm recommending this for digital nomads, not some random tax evasion scheme if you actually live permanently in some other location. This is probably doable, but illegal and risky. In my case I officially rent a very cheap place in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital (< $100) which I don't use much, and travel a lot to other places (even within Bulgaria, as it's so affordable, so I actually do end up spending a good chunk of time there anyway though). As a nomad, all you really need to do is make sure no other country has any claims on your tax revenue. Conditions varies - and it may be a good idea to not even own property in some countries. But mostly as long as you don't spend >50% of your time in any other given location they won't consider you liable to pay taxes there. Note that Bulgaria of course does not have any complaints about me paying taxes in Bulgaria, regardless of whether I'm there or not. I'm basically just giving the tax money - this would probably be different if I wanted, say, citizenship, but that's a different issue. Hope that's helpful.