Becoming a fiscal nomad - USERNAME: JamieS - 21/08/2013
Tax Question:
"What is the penalty for being an undocumented and unregistered resident in Spain? Especially as a prior uk resident. With over 9 months a year in Spain. What is the worst case and how severe is the law if discovered? Do not make money in Spain and not employed there.
Planning to become a permanent non resident are there any tips for doing this successfully that you can offer? How would we best be non resi anywhere but still maintain bills in a couple of places to be able to open bank accounts if needed for offshore business and bank account registrations?
Answer:
We can't advise on Spanish taxes - although we can pass you onto a very good Spanish tax adviser if you wish?
In terms of your status generally, ideally you'd want to establish residence in a jurisdiction that offers low or no tax. You could still spend parts of the year in other jurisdictions (but without exceeding the limits to establish residence anywhere). I'd suggest Malta.
If you can't do this then if you still wanted to minimise tax you'd be looking to travel and avoid being resident in any one country. To do this you'd need to have a very good understanding of the residence requirements in all the countries you are planning to stay in so you can structure your days to avoid being resident there. You can still have properties etc in jurisdictions without establishing tax residence there.
About the Author
The Author of this article/answer is our site Editor, Lee Hadnum. Lee is a rarity among tax advisers having both legal and chartered accountant qualifications. After qualifying a prize winner in the Institute of Chartered Accountants exams, he also went on to become a chartered tax adviser (CTA).He worked in Ernst & Youngs Entrepreneurial Services department for a number of years before setting up his own tax planning practice. He is now a full time tax author.
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