I am an EU citizen looking for a way to live in my high tax country without paying 30% taxes on my trading gains (the legal tax rate for capital gains). Is this even possible? Or will I have to move to a different country like the ones already discussed here ?
That is likely to depend on the country you are a citizen of. The EU does not dictate tax policy to its member countries.
In Norway there is actually a tax arb that enables 0% tax legally. Maybe it's possible to utilize elsewhere as well. Basically you set up a corporation in any tax paradise, get a card and bank account associated with it. Do your trading outside Norway. Transfer the profits from trading acct. into your tax paradise account, and use the card anywhere you wish within Norway. Now, because the money was never in the country, they were only consumed here, you do not have to pay any tax (minus sales tax). You can find webpages that accept cards to do wire transfers, for bill payment etc. I believe similar workarounds is fully possible elsewhere as well. Look at ptshamrock.com Most tax codes are filled with loopholes, I can't believe Americans especially would need to settle in another country when there are so many workarounds. I'm sure laywers could help you with this as well. That being said, I don't utilize any of this, but have friends who do. I happily pay my taxes, my family was piss poor growing up and I know the liberal welfare system here helped us immensely at times. There was a study finding that most people receive more in benefits from the govt than they ever pay in. Just raising a kid from 0-18 costs the govt around $200k. I'm very appreciative and trusting of the govt here, I never understood the natural american skepticism of government. Different cultures I guess, and probably more corruption. I know in the 50s to 70s things were different, Americans believed in govt and the middle class dream. Then something changed from the 80s and up. Whatever, I am rambling now. Anyways, just my .02
I live in the UK, born and raised and I have a trading account with AMP Futures. I trade remotely from home and would like move overseas where I could potentially avoid income tax purely or pay lower income tax. UK is just too much. Which countries would you recommend? And how do I go about this? Malaysia any good? UAE? I read Canadian Federal Income tax is pretty low. Counties like the US would be impossible for me to move too as the only way to get citizenship over there would be through marriage or investing over $500,000 with 10 employees - that's what I've been told so not sure. Please advice.
Are you 50 yet? Go to Thailand and get a retirement visa. No capital gains tax as long as you don´t transfer profits to a thai account in the same year they were earned.
Below are two links about the Malaysian program, one from the government and another from expats. http://www.mm2h.gov.my/index.php/en/ http://www.mm2h.com/index.php
Panama is good for tax efficiency. No income taxes for non-Panama sourced income (that means all the US trading gains, as well as the online businesses gains), no stock market capital gains tax (for panamanian stocks), no bank interest tax, easy to get residency (especially if your country is in the friendly countries list), large expat community so you get to hang out with non-spanish speaking people. Good whether (hot all year) and good timezone for US trading hours.
Given all the talk of high tax nordic countries Sweden is surprisingly good for investments (it has to be or else all the rich families would leave). The majority of taxes come from the workers salaries. For investments/trading every year you have to pay a tax on the total account value which is 30% of the state borrowing cost. With ultra low interest rates this means that for 2014 you have to pay just 0.627% of account value plus any payments into the account. This will be less attractive as rates rise but in the current environment its great. Spreadbetting is tax free in the UK as well which is another good option for those who want to stay in the developed world.