Low-Tax Countries in Europe 2026: 18 Places to Pay Under 10% Legally
18 European countries where an entrepreneur or investor can legally pay under 10% tax in 2026, some 0%: flat rates, lump sums, non-dom rules, tax caps and 0% windows for new movers.
Europe has a reputation as the most heavily taxed continent, and without the right structure that is broadly true. But a second system runs underneath the first, built on purpose to attract entrepreneurs, high earners and investors: flat annual charges, remittance rules, tax caps and exemption windows for people who move in.
Used properly, it lets you pay less than 10% in 18 European countries, and in some of them 0%. Some are the names you would expect. Others, such as Spain, Italy and the UK, are the countries people think of as expensive. Every one of them falls into one of 5 systems, and which system fits depends on how you make your money.
- 0% personal income tax
- Monaco
- 10% all in, company included
- Andorra
- Fixed yearly amount on foreign income
- Poland, Greece, Italy, Switzerland
- Foreign income taxed only when brought in
- Ireland, Malta
- No tax on dividends, residency in 60 days
- Cyprus
- 1% of turnover
- Georgia, for small businesses
- Tax capped at a fixed amount
- Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man
- 0% on foreign income for new movers
- Spain 6 years, Turkey 20, UK 4
The 18 at a glance
| Compared | System | What you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Andorra | Low rates | 10%, the first €24,000 tax-free; about 10% through a company |
| Monaco | Low rates | No personal income tax |
| Bulgaria | Low rates | 10% flat, 5% on dividends |
| Poland | Lump sum | PLN 200,000, about €46,000, a year on foreign income |
| Greece | Lump sum | €100,000 a year on foreign income |
| Italy | Lump sum | €300,000 a year on foreign income |
| Switzerland | Lump sum | Taxed on your spending, at least CHF 435,000 |
| Ireland | Income exclusion | Foreign income taxed only when brought in |
| Malta | Income exclusion | Foreign income taxed only when brought in, foreign gains never |
| Cyprus | Income exclusion | No tax on dividends or interest for up to 17 years |
| Georgia | Income exclusion | 1% of turnover for small businesses, 0% on foreign income |
| Gibraltar | Tax cap | About £42,400 a year at most |
| Jersey | Tax cap | 1% above £1.25 million, at least £250,000 |
| Guernsey | Tax cap | £60,000 a year for 4 years with a £1.5 million home |
| Isle of Man | Tax cap | £220,000 a year at most, 0% corporate tax |
| Spain | New movers | 0% on foreign investment income for 6 years |
| Turkey | New movers | 0% on foreign income for 20 years |
| United Kingdom | New movers | 0% on foreign income and gains for 4 years |
1. Low or 0% tax rates
The simplest system: the ordinary rates are low. There is no special regime to apply for. You pay what everyone living there pays.
Andorra
Andorra sits in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Its top rate of personal income tax is 10%, and the first €24,000 is tax-free. Companies pay 10% too, and dividends from an Andorran company to an Andorran resident are tax-free, so in total you pay about 10% of your profit.
Andorra is not in the EU, so even with an EU passport you need a residence permit. For a business owner the usual route is active residency: you own more than 34% of an Andorran company that you run. The company can be an SL with €3,000 of share capital, but since 2026 you also pay the state a non-refundable €50,000. Passive residency, for people who do not work there, now takes an investment of €1,000,000 in Andorra, or €400,000 into the country's housing fund, plus the same €50,000.
It suits a business owner who is happy at 10% and likes mountain life. The catch is the size: there is no major airport, and Barcelona or Toulouse is about 3 hours by car.
Monaco
Monaco, on the French Riviera next to Nice, is about 2 square kilometres, the second-smallest country in the world. It has had no personal income tax since 1869, so dividends, capital gains and other income you receive personally are not taxed.
It also has no controlled foreign company rules, so living there does not mean Monaco taxes the profits of companies you own abroad. Monaco's own corporate tax covers businesses active on Monaco territory. In the right structure, Monaco residency combined with companies abroad can bring the overall rate close to 0%; how depends on the business.
Monaco is not in the EU, so you need a residence card: a home in Monaco, rented or owned, and proof that you can support yourself. For wealthy applicants that proof is a Monaco bank account. The law sets no minimum, but banks usually expect about €500,000, and some €1,000,000 or more. The money stays yours. There are background checks and an interview, and the first card normally runs for a year.
It suits people who are already wealthy, want the Riviera and want a true 0% rather than a low rate. The catch is the cost of living, which the tax saving has to justify.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria is in the EU and has used the euro since January 2026. Personal income is taxed at a flat 10%, dividends at 5%, and gains on shares traded on a regulated EU or EEA exchange can be tax-free.
For freelancers it gets better. You generally get a 25% deduction for expenses without proving them, so the 10% applies to 75% of your income, less social security, and social security is capped at a low monthly amount. A qualifying freelancer on €500,000 a year pays nearly 9% in total. Through a Bulgarian company it is a little higher: 10% corporate tax, then 5% on the dividend, about 14.5% in all.
With an EU passport you can simply move. Without one, the simplest investment route is property worth about €307,000, and there are business routes, such as about €256,000 invested in a Bulgarian company that creates 10 local jobs.
It suits high-earning freelancers and investors who want to stay in the EU at about 5% to 10%, without being extremely wealthy.
2. Lump-sum regimes
Here you pay one fixed amount a year instead of tax on your foreign income. The more foreign income you have, the better the deal.
Poland
Poland is one of the EU's largest and fastest-growing economies, and Warsaw is a modern international city with a more traditional culture than much of Western Europe. It also has one of Europe's most interesting flat regimes: a fixed PLN 200,000 a year, about €46,000, on all your foreign income, however large, for up to 10 years. Each family member costs another PLN 100,000 a year.
From the following year you also have to put about PLN 100,000, around €23,000, a year into approved Polish projects in education, culture, sport or economic development. That makes about €69,000 a year in all, less than 10% once your foreign income passes €700,000. You qualify if you were not tax resident in Poland in at least 5 of the previous 6 years.
Without an EU passport, residence comes from a real business in Poland: income of about 12 times the average monthly salary in your region, at least 2 full-time employees, or a business that will realistically reach one of those.
Poland has the lowest fixed cost of the 4, so it starts to make sense at a much lower income. The catch is the controlled foreign company rules: profits of certain foreign companies you control are outside the flat charge and can still be taxed in Poland.
Greece
Athens if you want a real city, the coast and the islands if you want the Mediterranean. Greece charges €100,000 a year on your foreign income, however much it is, for up to 15 years, plus €20,000 for each family member. To qualify you invest at least €500,000 in Greece, and you cannot have been tax resident there in 7 of the previous 8 years.
Greece has 2 more regimes. With a foreign pension, you can pay 7% on your foreign income for up to 15 years. And if you move there to work or run a business, half of your Greek employment or business income can be exempt for 7 years. Without an EU passport there is the golden visa, with property from €400,000 in most of Greece.
It suits people with a lot of foreign income who want the Mediterranean life. Below €1,000,000 of foreign income, though, €100,000 is still more than 10%.
Italy
Italy's regime works like Greece's, at a much higher level. The flat tax covers essentially all your foreign income for up to 15 years. For a move in 2026 it is €300,000 a year, plus €50,000 for each family member, so at €3,000,000 of foreign income you pay 10%, and less the more you make. You qualify if you were not tax resident in Italy in 9 of the previous 10 years.
It also spares you Italy's annual taxes on foreign financial assets and foreign property. The exception: if you sell a large stake in a company within your first 5 years in Italy, that gain can be taxed normally.
Against Italy's ordinary 26% on dividends and capital gains, the €300,000 flat tax starts to win at about €1,150,000 a year. Without an EU passport, the investor visa starts at €250,000 in an innovative Italian start-up or €500,000 in an Italian company, and there is an elective residence visa for people with enough passive income who will not work.
It suits people with several million euros of foreign income a year who want to live in Milan, on Lake Como, in Tuscany or anywhere else in Italy.
Switzerland
Switzerland taxes you on your spending instead of your actual worldwide income. The taxable amount is generally at least 7 times your annual rent and, in 2026, never less than CHF 435,000. That amount is then taxed at the ordinary rates where you live, so the bill varies a lot between cantons.
You cannot be Swiss, you have to be moving to Switzerland for the first time or after at least 10 years away, and you cannot work in Switzerland while you use it. 5 cantons have abolished it, including Zurich and both Basel cantons.
EU citizens can get residency without a job fairly easily, with enough money and health insurance. From outside the EU and EEA it is much harder: the canton normally has to agree that admitting you is in its financial interest. Settling there with the intention to stay makes you tax resident, and so can 90 days there without working.
It suits wealthy people who want safety, stability and the Alps and do not need to work there. The catch: the deal can cost well into 6 figures a year, and Switzerland itself is very expensive.
3. Income exclusions
In these countries some or all of your foreign income stays outside the local tax system.
Ireland
Ireland is the English-speaking option inside the EU, and Dublin is one of Europe's tech and finance hubs. It uses domicile, which is separate from tax residence. You normally keep the domicile you were born with, and moving countries does not change it; you only become Irish domiciled if Ireland becomes your permanent home for good. So many foreigners are tax resident in Ireland but not domiciled there.
If you are resident but not domiciled, foreign income is taxed only when you bring it into Ireland. Savings and income from before you became resident can generally be brought in tax-free, so you can live on those while new foreign income stays abroad. Ireland is strict about what counts as bringing money in: even borrowing abroad, spending the loan in Ireland and repaying it with foreign income can trigger tax. Making real use of it usually means holding the foreign income in a structure outside Ireland, set up before you move.
Anything you earn in Ireland, or bring in, can be taxed at marginal rates above 50%, and foreign capital gains you bring in at 33%. From outside the EU, the UK and Switzerland you need a residence permit: there is a route for people living on passive income, and a start-up route aimed at genuinely innovative businesses, not an existing online company moving over.
Malta
Malta has a non-dom system too: foreign income is generally taxed only when you bring it into Malta. Its big advantage over Ireland is that foreign capital gains are not taxed even when you bring the money in. Once you have at least €35,000 of foreign income, there is a minimum tax of €5,000 a year.
It works for business owners too. A Maltese company pays 35%, but for most ordinary trading profits the shareholder can claim most of it back, bringing the effective rate to about 5%. The company pays the 35% first and the refund comes afterwards.
Without an EU passport, the permanent residence programme needs a home rented from €14,000 a year or bought from €375,000, plus about €97,000 in government fees and contributions and a minimum level of assets.
It suits people who want an English-speaking EU base and whose wealth comes largely from foreign capital gains, and business owners who can use the 5% company. It is a very small island, and if you bring a lot of ordinary foreign income in every year, the personal side becomes less attractive.
Cyprus
Cyprus is especially interesting for business owners because its own tax system is already low, so there is no need for a complicated company abroad. As a non-dom you pay no Cyprus tax on dividends or interest for up to 17 years, only the 2.65% health contribution, capped at about €4,770 a year. Gains on most shares and securities are tax-free; since 2026 crypto gains are taxed at 8%.
A Cyprus company pays 15% corporate tax, and you can take the rest out as a non-dom without dividend tax, apart from that capped contribution. For qualifying software, patents and other IP the effective rate can come down to about 3%.
The standout is residency: you can be tax resident on 60 days a year, with a permanent home in Cyprus, a business, job or directorship there, and no more than 183 days in any other single country. Without an EU passport, permanent residence starts at a €300,000 investment and at least €50,000 of annual income. Our guide to moving to Cyprus goes through all of it.
It suits online business owners and investors, and people who travel a lot and need tax residency fast. If you run the business yourself, putting the company in Cyprus is often the cleanest answer, at about 15% in total.
Georgia
Georgia is outside the EU, much cheaper than anything above, and Tbilisi has become a base for entrepreneurs and remote workers. It is interesting for 2 separate reasons.
Register as an individual entrepreneur with small business status and you pay 1% of turnover, up to GEL 500,000 a year, about €160,000. Above that, the rate rises to 3% for the rest of the year. Not every business qualifies: consulting, legal, medical, auditing and some other services are excluded.
Second, Georgia does not tax individuals on genuinely foreign income, so foreign dividends or rent can be taxed at 0%. The word that matters is foreign: if you sit in Georgia and provide the services yourself, that income can be Georgian instead, which is why the structure behind it matters.
Citizens of the EU, the UK, the US and many other countries can stay a year without a visa, but since March 2026 working or running a business there also needs work authorisation. It suits smaller online and service businesses; the catch is that it is outside the EU and far from Western Europe.
4. Tax caps
Here tax stops rising at some point, however much you earn, so your effective rate keeps falling the more you make.
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British territory at the southern tip of Spain: English-speaking, the pound, Mediterranean weather. Its regime for wealthy people, Category 2, taxes only the first £118,000 of your income, which caps the bill at about £42,400 a year. At £500,000 of income that is about 8.5%, at £5,000,000 under 1%.
You need an approved home in Gibraltar kept exclusively for you and your family, you cannot have lived there in the previous 5 years, and since June 2026 new applicants need a net worth of more than £5,000,000, up from £2,000,000. There is no fixed 183-day requirement, but you still have to make sure you are no longer tax resident anywhere else. It is built for people whose business and income are outside Gibraltar, not for building a local business.
Jersey
Jersey, one of the Channel Islands off France, is English-speaking, close to London and full of finance and private wealth. Its high-value residency taxes the first £1,250,000 of your worldwide income at 20% and everything above at 1%, with a minimum tax of £250,000 a year. At £3,000,000 that is just under 9%, at £5,000,000 under 6%.
Jersey wants income above £1,250,000 that lasts, and looks at what you bring to the island. Buying a home under the scheme means more than £1,750,000 for a flat or £3,500,000 for a house. There is no capital gains tax. It suits people earning several million a year who want an English-speaking base near London; the £250,000 minimum rules it out for anyone else.
Guernsey
Guernsey, Jersey's smaller neighbour, taxes income at 20%, but wealthy residents can cap it: at £160,000 a year on foreign income, or £320,000 on worldwide income. The better option for a newcomer is the property cap. Buy an open-market home for more than £1,500,000 around the time you move, and your whole income tax bill is capped at about £60,000 a year for the first 4 years. On £2,000,000 of income that is 3%.
You can be tax resident from about 91 days a year, depending on your time elsewhere. It suits wealthy people happy to buy a home over £1,500,000 anyway who want a quiet English-speaking island near the UK. After the 4 years, the higher caps apply.
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea, has a top rate of 21%, but you can cap your income tax at £220,000 a year, or £440,000 for a couple. At £1,000,000 of income the cap only just starts to help; at £3,000,000 it is about 7%. Most companies pay 0% corporate tax, and there is no capital gains tax or inheritance tax. If you are not British or Irish, you need immigration permission to live there.
5. Deals for new movers
These countries give newcomers a window in which qualifying foreign income and gains are tax-free, without paying a large sum.
Spain
If you want to live in Madrid, Barcelona or Marbella, this is one of the more attractive options. The Beckham Law runs for 6 tax years. Work income is taxed at 24% up to €600,000 and 47% above, but foreign investment income, such as dividends, interest, foreign rent and capital gains, is generally not taxed in Spain at all. You can bring that money into Spain: it is not a remittance system. You also pay Spanish wealth tax only on assets in Spain.
It has become much more useful for entrepreneurs. You can now qualify through remote work, an innovative start-up, or as director of an operating company you own, even 100% of it. You cannot have been tax resident in Spain in the previous 5 years, and your move needs an accepted reason. From outside the EU, the digital nomad route works if you work remotely for a foreign business; the old property golden visa is gone. The catch is the length: after 6 years Spain taxes you like any other resident.
Turkey
Brand new: in June 2026 Turkey introduced a regime that exempts qualifying foreign income and gains from Turkish income tax for 20 years, far longer than any other newcomer deal here. It applies to people who become resident from 2026 after at least 3 calendar years outside the Turkish tax system. Foreign interest, dividends, rent and capital gains can be taxed at 0%; Turkish income is taxed normally, and a company abroad does not make income foreign if you do all the work in Turkey.
For residency, one straightforward route is buying a home worth at least $200,000, and there is a digital nomad route for eligible nationalities earning at least $3,000 a month from abroad. It suits people who want a long-term base, in Istanbul or on the coast at Bodrum. The catch: the regime has no track record yet, and the economy is volatile, with inflation still above 30% in 2026.
The United Kingdom
Since the UK abolished non-dom status, it has had a new regime for foreign income and gains, from April 2025. If you move to the UK after 10 consecutive tax years abroad, you pay no UK tax on foreign income and gains in your first 4 tax years: foreign dividends, interest, rent and capital gains. Unlike the old system, you can bring the money in and spend it without a further charge, so you can live in London full time for 4 years at 0% on qualifying foreign income.
It is a personal regime. If you manage your foreign company from London, the company itself can become taxable in the UK, so that part needs its own structure. If you are not British or Irish, you need a visa; there is no longer an investor visa, but Global Talent suits established or promising founders in digital technology, and the Innovator Founder route suits people building a new innovative UK business. After the 4 years, the UK taxes your worldwide income normally.
Questions
Which European country has the lowest taxes?
Monaco has no personal income tax at all, and has not since 1869. Andorra taxes at most 10%, with the first €24,000 tax-free, and a company there brings you to about 10% in total. For very high incomes, the caps in Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, and the lump sums in Italy and Greece, can bring the effective rate below 10%.
Is there a 0% tax country in Europe?
Monaco charges no personal income tax, although French nationals living there stay taxable in France. Several countries also charge 0% on foreign income for new residents: Spain on foreign investment income for 6 years, the UK on foreign income and gains for 4 years, and Turkey on foreign income for 20 years.
Which countries in Europe have a flat tax for foreigners?
Poland charges PLN 200,000 a year, about €46,000, on foreign income for up to 10 years, Greece €100,000 a year for up to 15 years, and Italy €300,000 a year for up to 15 years. Switzerland taxes you on your spending instead, on at least CHF 435,000 in 2026.
Where can I become tax resident in Europe with the fewest days?
Cyprus makes you tax resident on 60 days a year, with a home there, a Cypriot business, job or directorship, and no more than 183 days in any other single country. Guernsey can make you resident from about 91 days. Gibraltar's Category 2 has no fixed 183-day requirement.
What is the best low-tax country in Europe for a business owner?
It depends on the business. Andorra comes to about 10% through a local company, Cyprus to about 15% with no tax on the dividends for a non-dom, Malta to about 5% through its refund system, and Georgia charges small businesses 1% of turnover. Where you run the business from, and where you move from, decide which one holds.
What is the best option for investors with foreign income?
For large foreign investment income, Italy's €300,000 flat tax, Greece's €100,000, Spain's 6 years on the Beckham Law, the UK's 4 years and Turkey's 20 years all take foreign income out of local tax. Malta leaves foreign capital gains untaxed even when you bring the money in.
Do I need an EU passport for these countries?
Not for all of them. With one you can move freely to the EU members on the list. Without one, most have a route: property in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, investment in Italy and Cyprus, a local business in Poland and Andorra, a residence programme in Malta, or a remote-work visa in Spain and Turkey.
Which one fits you
The right country depends on how you make your money and where you live now. A freelancer and a founder with a company abroad land in different places, and so do someone living off investments and someone with a large salary. If you are running a business at 7, 8 or 9 figures, or you are a high-net-worth individual, book a consultation and we will go through your situation and shortlist the countries that fit it.
