CITINAVI Magazine-summer 2019

Citizenship Navigation

CITINAVI

Summer 2nd Quarter 2019 www.citinavi.net

DIGITAL NOMADS DIGITAL DISRUPTION -our nation- e-residency ESTONIA

*Tax-Free Storage Wars JAPAN opening to immigration Is Divorcing Uncle Sam Right for You?

Global Residency & Citizenship Navigation by Investment

Europe, Caribbean Islands & Canada

DIGITAL NOMADS FINANCE Editor’s Preface

“Financial independance makes the world go round”. However, managing your money wisely while you move around the world has its own pitfalls and issues. The articles of this summer number should give you an overview of all the key topics regarding expat destination countries of free or lowest tax, finance, offshore companies advantageous for remote workers, mostly self-employed, freelancers, entrepreneurs, the wealthy people…. Our CITINAVI magazine includes review on alternative residence and citizenship, taxation and property, as well as living expenses and financial planning.

In particular, The United States is the only major country in the world that taxes the income of its citizens and permanent resident status holders regardless of where they live (German citizens have a taxation burden for 10 years). the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) went into full effect on July 1, 2014., U.S. citizen expats sleepless nights in anticipation of a notice from the IRS asking why they have not been filing U.S. tax returns or reporting all their non-U.S. assets. This law impacts directly 4.8 million American Digital Nomads and the number of US citizens renounciating US citizenship escalated since then. . When it comes to living abroad, there are special considerations to be aware of depending on your nationality and circumstances and individual finance solutions whether retirement or other financial goals. There are also matters that need to be examined when it comes to the jurisdiction of entry. Firstly, the

investment in alternative residence and citizenship programmes does not automatically lead to obtaining tax residence in that jurisdiction. The main criteria is for a country to impose a tax liability on an individual, apart from source, is principal residence (the number of staying dates per year). For the entrepreneur nomads or the wealthy people, the importance of obtaining tax advice at every step of this process cannot be underestimated.


 Although often associated with tax evasion, offshore banking can be a perfectly legal way to make managing your money more convenient and flexible while you are abroad. When you move abroad, you may be faced with paying various kinds of tax in several countries. The overview of UK gift tax article helps you make sense of the UK tax system in your new home away from home. 


 
Many an expatriate might first start thinking about financial planning, pension provisions.

A dream to depart for Nomads’ freedom without a plan remains a dream.

Editor in chief Dr. Juerg Steffen Hyong-Jin KWON CEO Henley & Partners

IMC Geneva Polo club 2nd Quarter 2019 - 3

Citizenship Navigation - summer 2019

contents

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Editor’s Preface ................................... p.3

Nomad Cruise ............................... p.6-7

DIGITAL NOMADS, A Rising Trend ............................... p.8-9

DIGITAL DISRUPTION - our nation - e-residency ESTONIA by Kaspar Korjus .......................p.11-13

Prince Albert of Monaco's "Top Cars Collection" ...............p.14-15

Tax-Free Storage Wars by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian ....................p.16-19

The true “value” of art by Karolina Blasiak ............................................p.20-21

Global Citizen: Dr. Juerg Steffen , CEO Henley & partners .............p.22-23

DESTINATION FOR DIGITAL NOMADS (Freelancers, Entrepreneurs and the wealthy people) .............p.24-25

Asia Consolidates Its Passport Power JAPAN - SINGAPORE - SOUTH KOREA p.26

Japan Begins Experiment of Opening to Immigration .................p.27

Euorpe’s Migration Lessons for Japan by Irina Angelescu .........................p.28

Japanese Citizenship - Naturalization to Japan by Hyong-Jin KWON ......p.29

Where do Multi-Nationals call home? .. ..........................................................p.30 Citizenship-by-Investment Programmes with Eric Major, Ceo of Latitude Consultancy .....................................p.31-33

At the heart of the Atlantic, in the footsteps of a mythical crossing, QUEEN MARY 2 ........................ p.34-35

USA EB-5 project - Become an american movie producer & get your U.S. VISA! by Kat Conway ...... p.36-37

Taxation of gifts under UK law by Dmitry Zapol ...............................p.38-39

WHAT IT TAKES TO BUILD AN Efficient RCBI Programme by Stéphane Tajick .. .................................................... p.40-41

GRENADA, E-2 Visa: Grenada to U.S.A. ......................p.42-45

Portugal’s Attractive Tax Regime for Newcomers by Rosa Freitas Soares ..............................................p.47

POST OFFERING OBLIGATIONS FOR EB-5 ISSUERS “YOU CLOSED, NOW WHAT?” by Bruce C. Rosetto & Bracha Pollack .......................... p.48-49

FRANCE THE NEW STAY "TALENT PASSPORT" French castle golden visa ................................ p.50-51

BREXIT: THE FREEDOM TO END FREEDOMS? by Malcolm Dowden p.53

Sovereign Equity: A Paradigm Shift by Dr. Christian H. Kälin .................p.54-55

Proposed Changes to Bulgarian Citizenship Law Would Make Program Similar to EB-5 by Ivan Petrov ......p.57

Malta, The Blockchain Island – Then and Now by Chris Borg & Dr Chris Agius .................................p.61

renounciation US Citizenship Is Divorcing Uncle Sam Right for You? by Alexander F. Marino ..............p.62-65

A Qualified Difference, IMCET Education & Training .................p.68-69

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Editor in chief : Hyong-Jin KWON Graphic designer: Rina Asanuma Social Media, Website Seo/Sem Planner: Nan Qin Market Research: Ke XU Vietnam: Vy Trieu Le, Huynh Thanh Liem Japan desk : Rumi IWAKI Advertising marketing : Ryoici Kosaka

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2nd Quarter 2019 - 5

Digital Nomads A Rising Trend

It is amazing to work-travel-live anywhere in the world — as long as wiress internet is connected for expats.

The Digital Nomads trend shows no signs of slowing down, with more people valuing their lifestyle and companies offering increased flexibility to attract and retain workers.

Seeing the world while holding down a full-time job sounds too good to be true, but with the right planning, equipment and support, it can be done.

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The terms of ‘Expat’ and ‘Wealthy’

With the increasing globalization of the world’s travel destinations and working habits, the traditional term ‘ expat’ describing « Blue cards of innovative-highly skilled professions or executive expatriates abroad» represents no longer the diversity of expats and the reasons behind their decition to move abroad.

With an estimated 50 to 60 million expats accross the globe, expats make up a growing share of the population of certain countries. Over the past five years of the Expat Insider survey, the average age is 44.2 years and expats tend to be highly educated. In 2018, a better quality of life (28%), finding a job abroad on their own (24%), and the simple enjoyment of life abroad (23%) remained the most common reasons for moving abroad. The desire to live in a particular country has lost significantly in importance , dropping from the common reasons in 2014 (24%) to a share of 14% in 2018. Expats are seemingly becoming more pragmatic about where they move, leaving them also less particular about their new destination.

The term of « wealthy » also determines today the integrated values of one’s knowledge, talent, and global connections as well as what one has accumulated. A new generation of digital nomads (several millions) is increasing rapidly relevant to the steadly growing global wealthy people ‘A few happy’. The wealthy individuals and families, if they are not globally connected, will remain limited by the particular context, policies and their citizenships, these factors can limit their ability to respond to new threats or opportunities of global travel, business, culture, residence of better educational access for

their children that appeal to them.

Digital nomads

In the recent research, 4.8 million Americans described themselves as digital nomads. Among traditional U.S. workers, 27% said they "might" become digital nomads in the next 2-3 years, and 11% said they planned to. The trend also crosses demographic lines. Although digital nomads skew young and male, 31% are female, and 54% are older than 38. The number of digital nomads will likely grow substantially over the next few years.

Extended travelers, freelance workers and entrepreneurs who work remotely to earn a living and, more generally, conduct their life in a nomadic manner with the help of digital tools like a laptop or smartphone with a Wi-Fi hotspot, a solid pair of earbuds with a mic. Such workers often work remotely from foreign countries, coffee shops, public libraries, co-working spaces, or recreational vehicles.

One thing that unites digital nomads as their name implies, is their reliance on technology, a proliferation of cloud-based tools. Their toolbox may include online and video chat services, content creation tools, cloud-based storage and online services. The growth of supportive services, such as coworking spaces, online talent marketplaces and job sites, digital nomad tour services and online information sites such as Nomad List, which offers data including the cost of living in various locales, have helped the movement grow, the researchers found. Digital nomads may vary depending on status; common types of digital nomads include affluent people, younger people, freelancer, entrepreneurs or refugees. Positive reasons, such as financial self-sufficient or a career allows a freedom of living anywhere for location independence. Negative factors for why people become digital nomads include a reduced amount of fulltime employment, political unrest, and a high cost of living in their country of origin.

Digital nomads may change a residency as expat employee or self-employed entrepreneur by investment in a new destination country (or visit frequently to one or multiple destinations), the typology and logistics of digital nomading can be extraordinarily complicated.

Hire an tax professional advisor

Whatever the individual or family’s circumstances, whether as primary motive for such decision to change a residence or as their direct consequence, tax issues and implications will always play an extremely important role. There are tax consequences of working in one place and living in another. Some companies, usually those that want remote workers and digital nomads in their ranks, will handle the heavy lifting for you, but most leave you to sort it out. You may change residence which may range from wanting a better education (yourself or future children). It may quite simple to be the natural desire to secure a more stable living environment for your family.

In most countries, you can usually avoid paying taxes on your income by not spending more than six months there at a time (basically 183 days per year), but rules vary in every country. There are also certain deductions you may be able to take as a digital nomad, like the home office you’re using abroad. Use the IRS Tax Preparer Directory (USA).

Complications escalate if acquiring a new residence results in a dual tax residence situation on the basis of the number of days being spent in another jurisdiction or any other relevant criteria, such as the individual’s centre of vital interests. Bearing in mind that obtaining residence or being taxed on citizenship (such US citizenship & green card holders) could often result in taxation on one’s global income.

For the entrepreneur nomads, the importance of obtaining sound tax advice at every step of this process cannot be underestimated, both from professionals in the existing country as well as in the country of immigrating residence.

10 ONLINE COMMUNITIES FOR DIGITAL NOMADS

Successful digital nomads typically have a financial cushion. The digital nomad community has had various events established to host members of it, such as the Nomad Cruise.

1) NOMAD LIST Over 53,000 members. One of the original and largest online communities of digital nomads and remote workers, Nomad List was created by Levels, a Dutch programmer, entrepreneur, and all-around hero and role-model in the community at large. https://nomadlist.com

2) DIGITALNOMAD.COMMUNITY This is the world's "First Decentralized Autonomous Platform for Digital Nomads and the Remote Workforce," built by DNX and based on the Ethereum Blockchain. https://chat.digitalnomad.community/home

3) ESCAPE ARTIST EscapeArtist is one of the world's largest and oldest expatriate resources for real estate, living, working, traveling, retiring, and investing abroad and overseas. What it has resulted in is one of the strongest online communities in the world for those looking to take their lifestyles international. giving updated informations about financial freedom (offshores, investment on real estate, commodities, cryptocurrency, teak and timber), second residence, citizenship by investment … organizing community events in USA.https://escapeartist.com

4) HELLOFELLOW A start-up based in Germany, HelloFellow is an online community and information exchange for expats, emigrants, nomads and other travelers abroad. Their goal is to help you meet other foreigners who live in your neighborhood and share a similar background and life challenges. It’s a community more intimate than a Facebook group with 1,000s of people. https://en.hellofellow.com/

5) NOMADBASE NomadBase is an app available in select cities, created to help people connect with other remote workers and nomads in the same city. https://nomadbase.io/

6) GLOBAL DIGITAL NOMAD NETWORK Over 32,000 members This is the original nomadic Facebook group that was created to connect remote workers from all over the world. Powered by OG digital nomad Johannes Voelkner

of web•work•travel and Nomad Cruise. https://www.facebook.com/ groups/1428340887415620/

7) MEETUP.COM Around 60,000 members This is the online source for offline meetups, so if you haven't tried Meetup.com yet, you definitely should. There are a variety of Digital Nomad-related groups, but also seemingly infinite niche topics outside the nomad realm. They help you to meet like-minded people from all walks of life. Whether you're looking to attend a dinner party in Berlin or knit a scarf with ladies in the Australian Outback, the combination of topics, interests and locations is practically unlimited. https://www.meetup.com/topics/digitalnomads/

8) FLYLANCER About 2,500 members Penned as "the world's largest offline community for remote workers, freelancers and digital nomads," Flylancer helps you to meet offline in 15 major cities around the world. http://flylancer.com/

9) DIGITAL FREELANCER More than 5,500 members This community provides access to tools, guides and support to help virtual freelancers build thriving businesses or take their existing venture to the next level. Courses, job stream, chat feature and "highly actionable" articles are available as well. https://digitalfreelancer.io/

10) REMOTIVE: THE COMMUNITY OF REMOTE WORKERS Over 700 members The purpose of Remotive is to meet likeminded professionals, support each other as a community, share remote jobs and provide productivity tips. https://remotive.io/community ------------------------ others ---------------------- https://www.facebook.com/ DigitalNomadGirls/ https://digitalnomadcommunity.net/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/ digitalnomadsuccess/ https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/ https://www.internations.org/ https://nomadsoulmates.com/

2nd Quarter 2019 - 9

DIGITAL DISRUPTION - our nations - e-residency ESTONIA

Children born today will grow up with a radically different understanding of how governments should serve them : by Kaspar Korjus

I’ve been thinking a lot about the future recently. Partly because it’s a requirement for my job — as the head of Estonia’s e-Residency programme — but more importantly it’s because my wife has given birth to our first child. My wife and I grew up during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rebirth of Estonia as a free country, followed by the rapid reforms that led to it become the world’s most advanced digital nation. However, I firmly believe that our son is going to grow up through even more interesting and transformative times in the years ahead. Despite much of the negativity in the news right now, the overall trend appears to be positive for the opportunities that await him and other children entering our world right now. The internet and other advances in digital technology are enabling more people to live and work globally with greater freedom, independent of any fixed location. As a consequence, governments like ours in Estonia are evolving fast into borderless digital nations in order better serve and benefit from the rise of these new world citizens.

Back to the future

It’s completely understandable if you are wary of any attempt to

predict the future though. Most are not usually very accurate. Consider the movie Back to the Future 2, which I’m looking forward to watching with my son soon. It’s a prediction of 2015 that was made in 1989. In their vision of the future, all technology has advanced to the next level — so cars can fly, skateboards can hover and clothes can talk — but people’s lives are actually still stuck in the 1980s. The problem is that we tend to focus on how technology will advance, but not on how that new technology will alter the way we live our lives in more fundamental ways. In one scene for example, a family is sitting round a dinner table while the children are absorbed with their devices, including one that looks like Google Glass. So far, this is quite well predicted — as people with more parenting experience than me will know too well. However, all of the devices suddenly start ringing together and the daughter then looks up to say “dad, it’s for you.”

So the movie correctly predicted the proliferation of (what seem to be) internet connected devices, but couldn’t imagine the transformative impact they would have. It’s obvious to us

today that there wouldn’t be a single home phone line anymore because our communications are now individualised. As if to reinforce my point, the future Marty McFly then says he’ll take the call next door before trying to hide messages coming through on the family’s ‘futuristic’ fax machines. This demonstrates how we keep projecting our existing ways of thinking onto our visions of the future and fail to see the most significant changes before they happen. So to predict the future we need to think less about advanced new technology and more about new ways of thinking, enabled by technology. We must embrace the reality that concepts we consider entirely normal now could rapidly change — or disappear entirely. Back to the Future 2 didn’t foresee the changes to our communications industry as a result of the internet and yet the full impact of digital disruption has only just begun. Many other industries have already been radically changed too, such as the media, retail and commerce, while others are facing it now, such as banking and financial services. I believe we haven’t fully appreciated how the internet is about to change our world in other ways too. Perhaps the most important industry about to undergo digital disruption is governance. Our concept of nations might seem permanent to us now, but they are relatively new concepts and they are not immune to disruption either. It is this change that I believe will have the furthest reaching impact during my son’s lifetime.

The evolution of nations

For millions of years, humanity was restricted to small groups of

nomadic hunters and gatherers until new innovations enabled us to farm in fixed locations. As a consequence, human settlements began to grow and yet more innovations were required — such as currencies — to govern these communities and enable people to diversify into different societal roles. Those settlements grew by trading and interacting with each other and then even larger structures of governance emerged to oversee this. The biggest reorganisation then took place with the industrial revolution, which further concentrated our communities in ever-growing cities that could manufacture on a large scale to meet the demands of large populations. From this, our nations were born.

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This is where we are now — a very small period in human history in which the world’s population has been restrained by geographic boundaries. A nation is assigned to us at birth and then it usually stays with us for life. This random allocation of the world’s population determines our life opportunities more than almost any other single factor. That wouldn’t make sense for any other aspect of our lives though.

Take Facebook groups, for example. There are Facebook groups for almost every area of interest in the world (my favourite is Estonian e-residents by the way), but imagine if you were assigned a Facebook group at birth then had to remain within that specific online community for the rest of your life — unless you went through a lengthy and expensive process to switch to a different group. The abundance of Facebook groups is undoubtedly a good thing, but they work better when everyone has the freedom to choose which ones they want to join and contribute to. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a flat earth group! In a similar way, different nations have different values and opportunities too. It’s only relatively recently that large numbers of people on our planet have gained the power to travel, communicate and trade across borders. I take this freedom for granted now, but my parents could only dream about these opportunities when they were my age. Now I’m the one dreaming about the even greater freedoms ahead of us if we can choose nations as easily as Facebook groups. Our nations are now undergoing a digital revolution, which will radically reshape them once again — this time into borderless online communities with services that can be accessed anywhere there is an internet connection. Consider the fact that Estonia already offers almost every public service online. As Estonian President Kaljulaid recently pointed out, Estonia is the first digital society with its own state, although plenty more will follow.

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That’s why we launched e-Residency in order to scale up our digital nation by offering our services to even more ‘users’ around the world. The main advantage of being an e-resident right now is the ability to start and run a trusted locationindependent EU company with minimal cost and hassle so we are essentially exporting our business environment to those who don’t have the same advantages as us.

However, this is only the start. I recently asked what would happen if Estonia offered ‘estcoins’ to e-residents for example (and you’ll be hearing more about that proposal shortly) and the Head of our Tax Board recently speculated that e-residents could one day be offered services paid for through personal taxation, such as health cover and pensions.

In addition, we now receive frequent visits from policy makers in other states who are interested in learning from the success of ‘e-Estonia’ and even launching their own e-Residency programmes. Azerbaijan will be the second country to launch one, while others are in various stages of discussions about what they intend to offer to their future e-residents. If all countries could attract members online as easily as Facebook groups then they can develop unique selling points for their own e-services. We wish Azerbaijan all the best for their programme because they are not actually trying to replicate Estonia’s offer, but instead want to focus on their own unique advantages. As the new e-Estonia website proclaims, we have built a digital society and so can you. This digital development is good for everyone, everywhere because it will improve the quality of governance globally if people can freely choose which nation they want to access e-services from. For a glimpse of that future, let me tell you about my son’s experience.

Welcome to Ruufus’ world Our child was given his ID number almost immediately after he was born into our

advanced digital nation of Estonia. This forms the basis for his secure digital identity, which he will use throughout his life for authenticating himself online and accessing e-services from both the public and the private sector. While we were busy admiring our new child at the hospital, the doctor was busy entering the first data about him into our state’s Population Registry — such as his name, sex, date of birth and the fact we are his parents. This information is really useful straight away because various parts of government would need it to better serve us as new parents, such as by scheduling health checks, supporting with child care and allocating our parental leave allowance. This would generate added hassle for new parents in most countries, but in Estonia the information begins flowing automatically between departments and agencies along our secure, decentralised information network known as the ‘X-road’.

When we got home from the hospital and finally took our eyes off our child long enough to open up a computer, we logged in using our own secure digital identities and used our permission as parents to add one more vital bit of data — his name, Ruufus. This is his story so far, but it’s going to get far more interesting. By the age of 7, Ruufus will be starting school to learn to read, write and code like all other children. That doesn’t mean we expect him to code an app one day, any more than we expect him to write a novel, but these are the basic skills that he will need to understand the world around him. Ruufus’ time at school will coincide with rapid advances in the development of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology and this will be used by governments to make smarter decisions and deliver vastly more efficient public services. Ruufus probably won’t have the option of a career in the civil service ahead of him, but he will instead prepare for new jobs that we can’t yet begin to imagine.

His schoolwork will be set and completed digitally and — unfortunately from his perspective now— that means we’ll always know if he has homework to do. Ruufus won’t just grow up in our digital nation, but also in a truly digitalised world where e-services are trusted by everyone and offline concepts like ink signatures, scanning and posting will seem absurdly old fashioned. I know this seems scary to many people around the world now, but our experience in Estonia has given us the opposite perspective. Storing important personal data on paper isn’t just inefficient. It’s also dangerous. In contrast, we can see exactly who is accessing our digital data and then challenge any use that we consider to be unjustified. Blockchain-like technology is already being used to protect our health records by providing a public ledger, which can never be altered or erased.

By the age of 15, Ruufus might want to start earning his own money for the first time. He won’t need to restrict his employment opportunities to local businesses however as it will be just as easy to collaborate with people (and instantly get paid by them) on the opposite side of the planet. Cryptocurrencies currently show no sign of disappearing so it is more likely that they will have evolved by then into viable decentralised currencies in which he’ll want to receive payments. That means governments will have needed to figure out how to accept (and tax them) by this point too.

But perhaps governments don’t have to ‘tax’ Ruufus by then anyway. Governments can instead earn their main source of income by selling their services globally in the form of monthly subscriptions — much like how Netflix currently delivers its service. We would have to ensure that this is done in a way that improves the welfare of everyone, such as those in need of healthcare. By using smart contracts based on blockchain technology for example, Ruufus could start allocating his money directly to those that need it with greater transparency and efficiency, without the need for government middlemen (like me!).

At age 18, Ruufus might want to go explore the world for himself. Fortunately, he won’t have to save up his money or do too much planning first because so much of his life will already be locationindependent, including his source of income. This is already the reality for an increasing number of ‘digital nomads’ today, but Ruufus will have the added opportunity to choose which nations that he wants to serve him globally. The rise of Estonia as a leading digital e-resident of nations that seem surprising to us now because developing nations that embrace digital disruption could

quickly overtake developed countries that don’t. Like me, I hope Ruufus will always be proud to be Estonian, but everyone benefits from increased engagement with other countries. He could choose to run a company in Botswana to access the emerged African business environment. He could choose to pay personal taxes (or a subscription) to South Korea to benefit from their world leading health cover and social protections.

While travelling at this age, Ruufus will also be legally allowed to have his first drink in a bar across most countries. He won’t need to prove his age though as he can just use his government-backed digital ID if challenged to show that he is legally allowed in. An important principle that we already have in Estonia is that organisations are only allowed to access the minimum amount of data that they can justify needing. The bars have no reason to know Ruufus’ date of birth because they merely want to request the answer to their question about whether he is over 18.

During his 20s, Ruufus might want to settle in one location or live across many. One very important difference to most people today though is that he can make this decision more freely without the need to live next to his place of work or study. Remote work is already acceptable in many industries and it will soon become the norm. This will help alleviate some of the biggest challenges of modern life today, such as the stress and expense of living in crowded cities, as well as the pressures caused by migration.

Consider the disruptive impact of elevators, for example. Before they were introduced, the upper floors were the least desirable because they were the least accessible, but that is now the opposite. In a similar way, Rufus might not feel the need to migrate away to London or Berlin in order to find work. I do hope he has even more freedom to travel than me, but he could also enjoy the freedom to access opportunities from around the world — while living in our beautiful Estonian countryside if he wishes.

In 30 years, Ruufus will be a bit older than me and this is around the same period into the future predicted in Back to the Future 2. By this point, Ruufus will have been building up his pension through his subscriptions to Japan but he may also have enough money to invest more heavily in a country of his choice. Right now, ‘investing in a country’ just means investing in property and businesses within a particularly country, but Ruufus might have the option to literally invest in a country.

After examining white papers from various countries, Ruufus could choose to invest in crypto tokens issued by the one with the best plan for the future. Perhaps Ruufus enjoyed visiting the tiny island nation of Fiji during his travels and now wants to invest in their digital development. In the digital era, there will be no reason why nations can’t scale up and achieve vast growth in the same way that great startups do today. If a nation like Fiji can use the investment to deliver services that solve people’s problems globally then the country could achieve astronomical growth.

Ruufus has an enormous head start in this emerging digital world where far too many people currently face financial exclusion because the services they need are either unaffordable or unavailable in their location. By the time he is older than me though, I hope those advantages that we enjoy as Estonians are available to everyone. Our job at the e-Residency programme is to help make that happen and I hope you will sign up and join us.

Thank you for reading my thoughts. My final questions are for you. What services would you choose to access right now from another country if you could? And which country do you think could best offer those services if they were to evolve into a borderless digital nation too? Let me know in the comments below … or contact your government directly and ask them what their plan is for the digital disruption ahead.

2nd Quarter 2019 - 13

DESTINATION FOR DIGITAL NOMANDS (Freelancers, Entrepreneurs and the wealthy people)

Flag Theory for Digital Nomads

Obtain Residency in a Tax-advantaged Country Becoming a resident of a tax-free country where your income earned outside the country is exempted from tax. The tax obligations in most countries are based on your resident status.

Register your business in a tax haven Business is the best way to generate income for digital nomads (freelancers, entrepreneurs, wealthy people) because they can manage it from anywhere in the world. register your business in a country that offers lowest tax liability to your business.

Following is a list of countries with favourable tax policies

SECOND RESIDENCY IN TAX-FREE COUNTRIES

You might actually have tax liabilities elsewhere, either in another country you draw an income from, or your home country, If you ignore your responsibilities elsewhere you could end up stuck with hefty fines, or even legal action - so taking personalised tax advice from an experienced professional is a smart choice. These countries have zero income tax, plain and simple. That means you may not even need to bother filing a tax return.

THE BAHAMAS As The Bahamas economy vehicle is based on tourism industry, foreign residents benefit no local & global income tax. The government application fee for temporary residence, renewable each year, is a mere $1,000. Purchasing $250,000 in real estate grants longer term or permanent residence. The country prioritizes investment and rewards wealth. The Bahamas passport qualification index ranks 26th in the world enjoying 154 visa-free travel countries with limited access to the United States.

BVI (BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS) No taxes are levied on income, inheritance, sales, or corporate gains.

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Nomads joke that BVI is made up entirely of sexy, sophisticated words: “British”, “Virgin”, and “Islands”. While getting a work permit in the BVI can be rather bureaucratic, obtaining a residence visa as a self-sufficient person can be quite easy within a month. Showing bank statements of self-sufficient ability with a payment $1,000 surety bond grant limited new temporary residents each year. This tax-free country allowes foreign residents to be eligible for permanent residence in twenty years of almost non-stop living in the BVI and difficult to apply citizenship in this non-sovereign nation.

THE CAYMAN ISLANDS Monaco of the Caribbean, destination for the prestige, the Cayman islands cost high for permanent settlement. The crown jewel of the Caribbean offshore world, the Cayman Islands don’t appeal to the middle class. To live on Grand Cayman, an annual income $145,000 with investment real estate $600,000 is required and in eight years eligible of permanent residence.

MONACO The perfect zero-tax residency for the wealthiest people on earth. The European principality – bordering France and Italy – is part of the gorgeous French Riviera well connected via Nice international airport with Geneva, NY and the rest of Europe. Monaco requires that prospective residents invest at least €500,000 in Monaco but as the government weeds out « paper residents » to attract the global wealthy spending several million dollars just to get in.

ST. KITTS AND NEVIS The pioneer of Caribbean CIU programmes, St. Kitts and Nevis offers foreigners to live there tax free. Main applicant with up to three dependents (for example, a spouse and two children): a non-refundable contribution of $195,000 is required. Investment real estate option for $200,000 (resalable after 7 years) or US$400,000 (resalable after 5 years) for each main applicant with additional government – due diligence fees, grants a passport in this sovereign country within a few months.

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS A quick and affordable access for a

residence permit. The rogue of the British Overseas Territories, it offers quick residence permits to foreign investors $300,000 (building a new home or remodeling a distressed property), or $750,000 in a company majority-owned by locals.

VANUATU A former British and French Colony, Vanuatu remains a member of British Commonwealth. The only Pacific island nation with CBI programme enjoying visafree travel to more than 120 countries including the UK, Schengen Zone and Russia. An estimated 1.800 passports were issued via CBI programmes in 2018. Foreigners can invest about $90,000 for a one-year residence visa, renewable annually and more Invest longer residence visa.

UAE The UAE races to the top as the Middle East region places tourism firmly on the agenda. Leading global efforts towards improved travel freedom is the UAE, which has gained access to eight new countries in 2018 alone: China, Ireland, Burkina Faso, Uruguay, Guinea, Tonga, Benin, and Honduras.

Dubai does not levy an income tax on residents’ earnings in the same way that many other countries do. Salary 100% free of tax in Dubai if you are tax resident in the emirate and have no other obligation to any other state for the payment of tax on foreign earned and sourced income. As the advisory firm PKF International puts it, there are no taxes levied by the federal government on either the income or wealth of companies or individuals.

SECOND RESIDENCY IN LOW-TAX COUNTRIES

These countries tax the local source income of citizens and foreigners alike. Money earned from activity in a country is taxed there, while overseas income having nothing to do with the place is not. These low tax countries enjoy no global income tax outside of the residence country. Hiring global tax advisor is recommendable.

ANGUILLA Following significant damages from hurricanes the government launched Residence Programme for Tax Purposes (RTP) in 2019 and foreigners are required to pay lump-sum tax, purchase property and create genuine links with Anguilla such as holding bank accounts. A British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles, Anguilla also offers retirees who purchase property and provide bank statements as evidence of self-sufficiency to obtain a residence permit. It is in the unexplored waters now, literally plenty of offers to benefit.

BELIZE Taxes in Belize are incredibly low. There are no capital gains taxes, and property taxes are assessed at just 1-1.5% of the unimproved value of the land. Income tax is charged at a flat rate of 25% for both individuals and companies, although the first $10,000 is exempt. The Qualified Retirement Program allows individuals aged 45 or above and their families to gain permanent residency in Belize. All the retirement income is exempted from tax.

COSTA RICA Costa Rica, bordered by Nicaragua and Panama, is recognized as tax-friendly enough to have been referred to as the Switzerland of Central America. ... Costa Rica has long been the second residency of choice for American and Canadian retirees and investor expats living on « Tico time ». Temporary Residency category : Pensionados (Retiree) applicant must demonstrate a lifetime pension source of income of at least $1,000 per month, Rentistas (Income Based Residency) $2,500 per month of income in a permanent, stable and irrevocable manner for at least 2 years and Inversionistas (The Investor Program) by investment +$200,000 in Costa Rica).

GEORGIA Possible tax residency and one of the most underrated countries on Earth, Georgia is fast becoming one of the world’s most free economies. Residents of Georgia are taxed on their worldwide income, whereas foreigners have to pay tax on their income derived from a Georgian source. An individual is considered to be a Georgian tax resident if she/he resides in the country for at least 183 days per year. The pro-business government slashed five percent income tax for all entrepreneurial expats.. No global income tax earned outside of Georgia. Georgia offers a 360-day tourist visa and qualifies real estate investor for residence.

GIBRALTAR Gibraltar european jurisdiction offers residence visas to wealthy investors willing to pay an annually predictable flat

price to live there.The wealthy having $3 million may be eligible to become a resident of Gibraltar. Residents under the territory’s investor-friendly Category 2 visa pay a maximum tax of approximately £29,000 per year in exchange for resident permit.

GUATEMALA Getting residency is easy by a roof of $1,000 monthly income (but, in case certain long period’s absence Guatemala refuses to renew a visa) and the exotic culture worthy of exploring is guaranteed. If you crave the adventure of Mayan ruins and a life in Central America, Guatemala is one of four countries in the region that offer territorial taxation. Five years’ residing proof grants easily for citizenship.

HONG KONG Hong Kong recently “suspended” its Capital Investment Scheme which allowed residency permit with investment US$1.3 million. Obtaining second residency in Hong Kong by starting a business and opening a physical office there is subject to Hong Kong reasonable taxes. The offshore companies in Hong Kong are not taxed on its income that’s not earned within the country. It is also not subject to pay sales tax, VAT, and dividends taxes.

LUXEMBOURG Luxembourg income tax rates for individuals are among the lowest in Europe, resulting in the country becoming known as a tax haven. Luxembourg charges foreign corporations an extremely low tax rate to send money into and out of the country. Corporations that funnel profits through Luxembourg are charged around 1%. Corporate income tax rates have stood at 18%. Start-ups are taxed at the lower rate of 15% if they have incomes of below €25,000.

MACAU Macau has significant advantages to offer for its residents. It became the gambling center of Asia and it has also a growing offshore financial center. Macau companies are exempt from tax on the first MOP 200,000 (Macau pataca), or roughly EUR 23,600, and the next MOP 100,000 is taxed at 9%. Remaining income is taxed at 12%. Macau is an enigmatic and fascinating place In the shadow of Hong Kong. Zero tax on foreign earnings. The minimum amount to gain residency via investment in Macau was increased but impossible to apply citizenship by investment

MALAYSIA Malaysia offers ideal second residency programs on earth, especially for entrepreneurs and investors who want to live in Southeast Asia full-time, but can’t

afford Singapore. Malaysia’s MM2H ‘My Second Home’ program : for under 50 years old proof of $2,300 monthly income and deposit approximately $70,000 into a Malaysian bank are necessary. For over 50 years old, the bank deposit is cut in half.

NICARAGUA From the beaches of San Juan del Sur to the colonial charm of Grenada, Nicaragua is a great place to have a second residency… Obtaining Nicaraguan residency only requires proof of income about $750 per month — but you need to live there for six months each year or else your residence permit, and your territorial tax benefits, will expire.

PANAMA Panama has some of Latin America’s strongest offshore banks and has become an open country for immigration. Panama’s Friendly Nations visa program offers instant permanent residence with a low bank deposit of $5,000 and one “economic tie”, usually a Panamanian company or the title deed to real estate.

PORTUGAL In addition to the NHR regime (Non Habitual Resident), Portugal grants an exemption from gift and inheritance tax to beneficiaries in the direct family line (parents, children, and spouses), and this tax does not apply to foreign assets and transactions carried out external to Portuguese territory. Furthermore, there is no wealth tax in Portugal. In order to initiate the NHR process, one must first obtain a Portuguese taxpayer number first as a non-resident. This tax number can be used to rent or acquire a house (the purchase of a house in Portugal is not a mandatory requirement for the NHR status) or open a bank account in Portugal.

SINGAPORE Singapore is no tax haven for entrepreneurs; not only is a company in Singapore far more costly to start and maintain than its Hong Kong counterpart, but tax rates are 0-17% on corporate profits and a flat 20% on the high personal salary. Investor of +$4 million can stay to enjoy no tax on bank interest, capital gains, or foreign profits. Low exchange-tax rates, the convenience of accessing your money are an ideal location for offshore banking.

SWISS Obtaing residence card without job offer, mariage or descent is extremely difficult except lump-sum tax residence scheme of the wealthy people (+250 000 SFR per year). Non-residents are also taxed on certain Swiss assets or on the income from certain Swiss sources, such as from real estate, permanent business establishments or pensions.

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