Best residency options: which country fits your lifestyle and goals?
Nomad, founder, retiree or family office? Compare taxes, visas and daily life in Europe’s and the Gulf’s favourite bases – and find your match.
Country guide 🇪🇪
Estonia
The most digital country in Europe taxes company profits only when you pay them out. Perfect for founders who reinvest – as long as you remember that e-Residency is not tax residency.
Key numbers at a glance.
- Retained profits
- 0%
- Distributed profits
- 22%
- calculated as 22/78 of the net dividend
- Personal income tax
- 22%
- flat
- Dividend WHT
- 0%
- on top of the distribution tax, as a rule
- VAT
- 24%
- Currency
- EUR
Residency & visa routes.
e-Residency (not a residence permit)
A digital identity to found and run an Estonian company online. It gives you no right to live in Estonia and no tax residency.
Digital Nomad Visa
Lets remote workers employed or self-employed abroad live in Estonia for up to a year, subject to an income threshold.
Temporary residence for entrepreneurs
Residence permit for founders who run a business in Estonia with real activity and investment.
Why Estonia
- 0% tax on reinvested profits
- Admin is fully digital
- Low running costs
- Excellent reputation
Watch out for
- Place of effective management: run it from Germany and Germany may tax it
- 22% once you distribute
- Winters are long and dark
- A local bank account may need a visit
The full Estonia guide is brewing.
Tax system, company setup step by step, banking, living costs and all the local quirks. Want a ping when it’s out of the oven?
Sources
Numbers last checked: September 2026. Tax law changes – confirm with a licensed advisor before acting. Nothing here is tax or legal advice.
More country guides?
Compare Estonia with…
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Cyprus
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Dubai (UAE)
No personal income tax, 0–9% corporate tax and a residence visa that comes with your company.
0% income taxRemote setupEasy residency
Delaware (USA)
A US LLC you can form from your sofa – tax-transparent for non-resident owners.
0% retainedRemote setup
Liechtenstein
12.5% flat corporate tax, Swiss franc stability and centuries of private-wealth know-how.
Portugal
Quality of life, nomad-friendly visas and a special regime for skilled newcomers.
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Romania
1% turnover tax for micro-companies, 10% flat income tax and low living costs – inside the EU.
EU
Georgia
1% on turnover for freelancers, 0% on retained profits and a year visa-free for many passports.
0% retainedRemote setupEasy residency
Paraguay
Territorial taxes, 10% rates and one of the easiest residence permits in the Americas.
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United Kingdom
The bank-friendly Ltd and the transparent LLP – formed online in a day, trusted almost everywhere.
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Switzerland
26 cantons, 26 tax systems – and some of the lowest corporate rates in Western Europe.
Spain
Sun, a digital nomad visa and the Beckham law: 24% flat for six years if you qualify.
EU
Italy
A fixed annual tax on all foreign income, 7% for pensioners in the south – and la dolce vita.
EU
Bulgaria
10% corporate tax, 10% income tax, 5% on dividends – inside the EU, Schengen and, since 2026, the eurozone.
EU
Nerdy insights
Read next.
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Switzerland, Malta, Estonia, Cyprus, Romania and friends: where your company and your wealth grow best in Europe – with 2026 numbers, legally.
Blacklists and grey lists: how to avoid the tax haven traps
EU lists, FATF lists, OECD ratings: what they mean, why banks care and how to pick a jurisdiction that won’t get your payments frozen.
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