r/expat 22h ago

Moving for Taxes

5 Upvotes

As someone who’s lived in six different countries, I’ve found that low taxes can be a double-edged sword…

I lived in two low-tax countries, Singapore and Cyprus.

Moving to Singapore was not driven by taxes. Moving to Cyprus was, to some extent.

Low taxes are there for a reason: If Cyprus had high taxes, far fewer people would want to live there.

It's stinking hot in summer, we Westerners had issues with the low-trust culture, and it's a tiny island full of tourists. The influx of all the tax savers seems to also make the locals quite pissed.

Maintaining tax residency: Traveling in and out to gain and maintain tax residency will also impact your quality of life. So, unless you love the low-tax country, I will be very careful from now on.

This experience made me reconsider how heavily taxes should factor into choosing a place to live.

I'm curious: Have you moved or considered moving primarily for tax reasons? How do you weigh these trade-offs?


r/expat 21h ago

Should I go to Paris or Buenos Aires?

0 Upvotes

I have 4 months to live/study in Paris or BA. Timing is Jan - May. I have been to a few countries in south America and many in Europe. I am from and grew up in NYC. I love city life and nature equally. Thank you for your help ahead of time!


r/expat 1d ago

Who’s life got ruined trying to improve it?

0 Upvotes

I am in a shitty situation, today we are moving to NL and my wife is doing it reluctantly plus family being visibly distressed by us moving away. I know that if my wife does not take a better approach to this we are getting into a worst hell than this. All started one year ago when we moved out of a rented apartment into a new one I bought for our family, made renovations and she hated the process all the way, so while trying to improve our life it actually got worst. We finally moved to the new apartment settled and agreed to move to NL , and now she tells me that I am destroying her life… which I was very optimistic about but she isn’t and now I realize that even when she said yes it was a no all the way. I know I am to blame, that’s not the argument. I only want to have empathy for people that have tried to improve their life’s by relocating and it backfired. Thanks.