why not create a company in tax friendly country and transfer all your business to it. work as a CEO/Remote emplotee of it,Get healthy base salary as fixed income from it ,whatever else you need can be given to you as business expense and allowance.
all money lays in the company with lower tax jurisdiction.
Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
41–50 of 53 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#42You're clearly making a nice chunk of change already if tax-avoidance alone will net you $1mm extra. This plan seems very "Panama Papers"-y and unnecessarily greedy to me. I can understand if your government is highly corrupt or something, but it seems distasteful to me to take advantage of the strong safety net, schools, etc. that are funded by a high tax rate, then once you've become successful to try and dodge you…
My experience is that corrupt governments don't exist in isolation. Lack of personal safety usually comes with it. It would be reason enough alone to leave in my opinion.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#43[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#44> I never would go away to Swiss for a raise from 100k -> 200k. But it is somehow more difficult when we are talking about millions.
This makes sense to me. When you've got a buffer that big, you can start to think in terms of living off your interest/investments.
A higher tax level can deplete your wealth's ability to provide for you indefinitely. I can understand that losing this is a big deal.
> What would you do?
I prioritise the welfare and happiness of family and dependents. I'd stay put.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#45Well, assuming your project really takes off and you do have $1M, you could live (half a year +1 day) in country 1, and the remaining (half a year -1 day) in your country each year. You'd pay what, 10-15k per year in extra rent in the second residence? Probably acceptable if you have 1M.
That way you're "clean" when it comes to taxes, and don't have the downside of leaving everything behind. Easier said than done of course.
(Implicit assumption you're the boss of your thing, so you can work remotely as you want.)
As others said, getting new friends in a new place (especially abroad) when you're, say, over 30, is really tough.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#46I pay 55-58 percent taxes in Belgium. Im pretty happy with how our system works and what they provide. But I do know they could easily get this number down if they would just do everything more efficiently. Never gonna move for it though.
Don't you feel sometimes that the amount of tax you're paying is not equivalent to what you are getting in return in terms of infrastructure, education or healthcare ?
I guess the bigger the wealth, the less you rely on whatever the government does with the taxes. What you're interested in at that point is how does the government treat people like you (financially), high taxes? more regulation? etc etc.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#47why not create a company in tax friendly country and transfer all your business to it. work as a CEO/Remote emplotee of it,Get healthy base salary as fixed income from it ,whatever else you need can be given to you as business expense and allowance. all money lays in the company with lower tax jurisdiction.
Doesn't work or very difficult to do. CFC rules.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#48To be completely honest, it's the regulatory environment that worries me. Taxes asides, it might be worth it to move just to have a place with better laws for businesses. And honestly, above one million, the taxes you save will more than pay for airfare to spend time in your country.
Exactly that is what worries me most. Even lawyers tell they don't know how it would be played out in the long term. Worst case would be: Being taxed very high and then forced to move to an other country.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#49I want to thank everyone for the answers here. Really appreciate the open and honest discussion on hackernews. It helped to see things more clearly. Thanks a lot again and stay healthy!
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth to move to another country for 1mil$?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once made that decision, to move away to another city for 4 years. So can definitely agree that it is one of the best experiences to move away, at least once. On the other hand not sure if I would be ready to settle down for example in Zurich. Also, governments lookout for you. So basically if you start a business in my country and are then not satisfied, it becomes much more difficult to move away. You will have t…
It's funny that you chose Zurich for your example. It's a city I've lived in for many years and I think I can honestly say it's one of the great cities in the world. Safe, clean, and gorgeous. The language is really hard to learn, even if you know German, and almost impossible to sound like a local. It's also almost impossible to make friends except for expats here and there. So you're always an outsider in a town wh…
It was just most convenient choice. Good airport connection and as you said it's rating is quite high. Guess the language would be the most annoying thing. Other choices would be Malta or Cyprus regarding taxes, but they are far away and I think the cultural match would be in Swiss higher.