I'm a retail trader flirting with future and equity market and I seem to have reasonably good success rate to the point where I am thinking about leaving the country to expedite my capital build. I'd like to make it clear that I will consult an expensive accountants specializing in offshore accounting to ensure I'm 100% everything I do, but I figure it'd be cool to get experiences of people who are already living the life I aspire + additional wisdom/context that are not necessarily thought of until you spend years there. As a Canadian citizen, our taxation is based on residency not based on citizenship like US counterpart. This means that unless there is a very clever loophole, I will be subjected to Canadian tax system regardless of where that income derives from. Even if I set up a corporation with my partner in tax haven of Puerto Rico (assuming my partner is US citizen and Puerto Rico resident ofc), I am legally required to report how much I own in the corporation and I will be taxed accordingly. As such, it seems like the general trend is to simply leave Canada and declare yourself as non-resident and is recognized by the CRA (it's like Canadian version of IRS) and report your final tax return prior to leaving the country. I have been window-shopping the tax haven countries but they are tax haven countries for a reason. Caribbean islands are lovely for a vacation but to live for years seem too boring. Islamic nations have more civilization and variety like Dubai, but being imposed to Islamic laws and norm 24/7 + excessive summer heat seems like a downer as well. As such, I think my game plan is to find a residency in a tax haven country and either constantly move around tax havens/non-tax haven countries without breaking my primary residency requirement. Important thing to declare heads up is that I have a criminal conviction. I was never imprisoned but due to the nature of the sentencing, I will need to wait a decade to purge the record as the conviction was (and that may not be enough especially to countries like USA as some suggest they can still see the record even if it went through record suspension but it's a debated topic). The nature was arson concerning property damage. I was convicted but just had to do some free counseling and report to probation officer once in a while till all requirements expired in 8-10 months. No community service or jail time apart from less than a day in jail between interrogation and receiving promise to appear (kinda like US bail but no upfront cost is needed unless I fail to show up for court/hearing on top of other requirements like not visiting the building involved in minor arson). Now it's just a waiting game till I can apply for record suspension. Seems like as long as I don't do anything stupid in between it's not a hard thing to get. But this may complicate immigration/visa. I'm looking at Dubai right now and after googling intensively, it seems like the most practical way of getting a residency is via freelance visa (property purchase can get expensive... I guess when I'm rich, it won't matter but I'm not there yet welp lol I imagine I'd have about 1 million USD or so + personal savings small 6 figure amount before I make this exodus). Issue is that it's not clear where equity/future security trading falls in freelance visa requirement. It seems like Dubai freelance visa requires your profession to fall in one of the 3 categories: Education, Media or Tech. If I stretch it, it may fall under Tech as there are lots of analytical stuff involved using computer programs but it's kinda gray and potentially weak argument to say it is compared to other examples like computer programming or website design. That's one hurdle. Another is if freelance visa application requires criminal background check. UAE embassy in Canada seems like they are busy all day and I'm not sure if I wanna raise the issue especially if they don't check, but that could get dangerous especially since my nature is felony level (indictable offense in Canadian term). If they require it, I may have to try elsewhere. My credit is pretty good however and I have no issues with my local banks. Cash flow can be easily shown via my statements and return data available from the broker company. I was also intrigued about exploring Malaysia and they operate a little differently as they have territorial tax system, meaning only local income will be taxed. However, I'm not sure how to set up bank account as a non-resident and set up a trading account via brokers elsewhere outside of Malaysia (or if that's even possible and in a relatively safe country) as I will need to prove that I'm a Malaysian tax resident. I am also aware of the fact that tax and money ain't everything in life. It's hard to grasp them now seeing that I'm so obsessed about financial freedom, but comments and wisdom on that would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks so much for your indulgence. Oh, and since it matters in Dubai... I have clean bill of health. Slightly overweight BMI scale-wise, but apart from that I'm good. No STDs.
Food for thought: Places I'd visit and potentially set tax residency - Dubai - Malaysia - Caribbean islands like Cayman and Bermuda Places I'm intrigued but puzzled as to why it's tax havens because they have taxes. Bit lower than avg but certainly not close to tax haven unless I missed something - Luxembourg - Ireland Places that are not tax-haven but lower than avg and provide vastly superior quality of life - Singapore - Switzerland - Netherlands - Taiwan - Hong Kong (not sure what will happen to this place but if status quo is remained definitely interesting place)
So that is your conundrum, when it gets down to the brass tax. You are looking for a country with cheep whores. Try Thailand or the Philippines. P.S. Wear a latex condom anyway.
So at least Singapore and Switzerland are so incredibly expensive to live in that you'd need to be trading way more that the OP is talking about to come out ahead from the tax savings. Hong Kong and Taiwan may be similar, I just haven't experienced either place.
That's not true from my experience. They are interested in your citizenship and residency (which can be proven with bills or rental contracts), not tax residency per se - that's between you and your country of residency. Oh, and Netherlands does not offer any low taxation unless you do trading as a side business while carrying a regular job.
I have not researched this aside from just now, but my wife is Czech and she raves about Croatia. According to this, there is no taxation on capital gains. https://internationalliving.com/countries/croatia/taxes/ Croatia has no wealth tax, and the following income is tax free: • Pensions received from abroad • Interest payments on loans, investments, securities, deposits with financial institutions, and similar incomes • Capital gains from trading securities and other financial assets • Capital gains from real estate if you occupied the property, held it more than three years, or sold it to your spouse or an immediate family member • Inheritance and gifts are exempt from taxation in the first line of succession. (In other cases, there is a flat rate of 5%.) Foreigners are subject to tax on the following forms of Croatian income: • Income from employment that is received in Croatia or from work in Croatia • Income from a business in Croatia • Income from real estate • Income from one’s own or chartered marine ships/aircraft used for dispatching goods or people from Croatian ports/airports • Income from independent personal activities (deliveries of goods or rendering of services) that are carried out in Croatia or abroad, and are used for the performance of an activity in Croatia • Income from capital or insurance that originates from within Croatia.
Omfg haha, nah. My understanding is that any residential visa requires medical screening so I just wanted to get out of the way.
Nah, not from BC. But I hear it's beautiful there. If the real estate market crashes or cools, I'd love to take a piece of it via real estate but I'm not expecting miracles here.
Well, I'd have to physically live in Malaysia to become a tax resident I presume so I cannot have rental contracts outside Malaysia... though I suppose I could in theory just rent a slum for cheap in other countries and use that to make a bank account/trading account and then head back to Malaysia and work via internet. However, I'm not sure how legal that would be thought. I do trading in equity and future market as a primary (and perhaps only) job so that may be complicated there.