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Cyprus - "the island of love" and of minimal tax ?
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Neminem Laedit
Posted: 18 February 2025 05:42:47(UTC)
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It gets its nickname from Aphrodite, the goddess of Love, who was supposedly born there... [There is no Greek god or goddess of tax-collectors, unsurprisingly, although a Greek tax-collector named Zacchaeus is mentioned in the Bible...]

I've done extensive research, and in answer to another query on another thread, about bolt-holes to escape the crucifying taxes of the Labour kleptocracy, I thought I'd cross-post it here to its own thread...
https://moneyforums.city...capital.aspx#post334848


Cyprus is the place now. [It always had the best scheme in 'Europe'. Cyprus is geographically in Western Asia, but is a member of the EU since 2004]

How Realistic?
* Easy to gain residence, even post-Brexit.
* Property prices are reasonable (villa, including pool from £200k)
https://www.zoopla.co.uk...rraced&currency=gbp

Financial Benefits?
* No IHT in Cyprus (combined with the profound change in UK IHT law last year; it's now based on residence, and no longer on domicile. You could escape the UK IHT net entirely, with certainty, in as little as 10 years...)
* Flat 5% Income Tax for ex-pat "pensioners", for life, with TFC protection. (favourable Double Taxation Treaty with the UK...)
* Potential 17 years tax exemption on interest and dividends...
* No CGT (except on Cyprus commercial properties). You can withdraw from your GIA tax free...
* English Law is recognised in Wills (i.e. no forced heirship...)
* There's even a scheme where you only have to stay there for 60-days a year (Company Directors)

Ease of Adjustment, Other Benefits and Cultural ties ?
* Almost everyone speaks English, and they drive on the left. [all signs are in both English and Greek]
* British ties go back 150 years, and Cyprus is a member of the Commonwealth.
* Two British Army bases there, Akrotiri and Dhekelia (still British sovereign territory under the 1960 Treaty)
* Great, healthy food and climate. [I don't think I can sit through another atrocious British winter, and may head to Cyprus for 3-4 months from now on, until I eventually take up 'permanent' residence (at least 183 days a year)]
* Petrol/Diesel prices are near the lowest in 'Europe'.
* Council Tax is in the £hundreds, not £thousands per year. And bins are collected twice a week !
* You can ski in the morning, and lounge on the beach in the afternoon...
* Only 1 million people there, overwhelmingly of European descent.

Best locations: coastal, around Paphos (+airport) in the lush south-west of the island, or maybe Larnaca (+airport) in the south-east. Limassol on the south coast is much more expensive, and is a modern city, (but has no airport) attracting plenty of Russians. (Nicosia, the capital, is too far inland, too hot, and less English is spoken there)

Cyprus, btw, also knows how to deal with "asylum seekers"...
https://cyprus-mail.com/...ening-migrants-with-guns
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Neminem Laedit
Posted: 18 February 2025 05:54:35(UTC)
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I'm interested to know from people who've been, have holiday homes there, or have even already emigrated there, what do you think of the place...?

Pros/Cons, etc.?

[aside from the phenomenal financial incentives already listed]
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John Bleke
Posted: 18 February 2025 08:40:28(UTC)
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Oddly I'm off there in April on holiday. I always discounted Cyprus as a place to retire to solely by virtue of the fact that Greek looks fiendishly difficult to learn!
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Neminem Laedit on 18/02/2025(UTC)
Chris1986
Posted: 18 February 2025 09:12:41(UTC)
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Never been myself, but have some experience of army towns in the UK, and i would avoid living in one like the plague.

Wonder if Cyprus gets any of the same issues with so many British army personnel there
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Neminem Laedit on 18/02/2025(UTC)
ANDREW FOSTER
Posted: 18 February 2025 09:18:18(UTC)
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The number one question for from me for any retirement location is the cost and/or system of healthcare...



Cyprus is a lovely place though its actually the North that I found to be the most interesting culturally.
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Neminem Laedit on 18/02/2025(UTC)
Saltyrob
Posted: 18 February 2025 09:39:31(UTC)
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A couple on my wife's side of family moved there after early retirement. They were active ,thoughtful ,modest people who had learned Greek , about local culture and traditions. However despite their best efforts they could not integrate in their local community ,who were polite but kept a certain distance. In the end their network of friends was reduced mainly to other expats . They began to feel quite isolated and it was a reasonably long flight to visit family in the UK. Selling up their property and the repatriating money to the UK,through the banking system was difficult
Cyprus is a beautiful country with lovely people but the reality of living there long term could have its challenges. This was their experience and of course others may have found it different.
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Jane Daisy
Posted: 18 February 2025 09:47:02(UTC)
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I visit Cyprus every year in spring for bird migration plus a few extra weeks if the UK is really dire.

A couple of observations.

Summer temperatures are 40+

A friend had to use Pafos A&E, an inpatient for 8 days. Had every test going, xrays, CTs, MRI, cameras up and down. Returned home with full paperwork, disc/memory drive of scan results etc. Excellent treatment, food dire, very little English spoken by any staff so we arranged for an interpreter to attend each day.

The island has lots of beautiful untouched areas, the villages, Troodos, Akamas just lovely but they are under increasing pressure from development, water shortages etc.
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Sara G
Posted: 18 February 2025 10:38:12(UTC)
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My former hairdresser was a Cypriot. (She had married an Englishman so was based here for family reasons. She still loved Cyprus.) I'll never forget her telling me that her sister, still living there and in the process of moving house, had lost a substantial portion of the sale proceeds during the bank 'bail-in' in 2013. I'm afraid the fact that this could happen puts me off - as do the 40 degree + summers.

NB That's not to say that a 'bail-in' couldn't happen here, but there would be much more resistance, and I suspect the bar would be set a lot higher than it was in Cyprus, plus there would be more likely to be exemptions for people with temporarily large amounts.

Also, Cyprus is a member of the EU (and the Euro), which some may find off-putting in terms of the country's ability to set its own laws and so on.
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Neminem Laedit on 18/02/2025(UTC), Dexi on 18/02/2025(UTC)
uphill swimmer
Posted: 18 February 2025 10:45:26(UTC)
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Russians were becoming dominant in parts of East Coast pre Ukraine caused a pal to sell up.
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Neminem Laedit on 18/02/2025(UTC)
Neminem Laedit
Posted: 18 February 2025 11:25:00(UTC)
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Chris1986;334866 wrote:
Never been myself, but have some experience of army towns in the UK, and i would avoid living in one like the plague.

Wonder if Cyprus gets any of the same issues with so many British army personnel there


It's hardly a town: Cyprus is 100 miles wide !

British Forces account for less than 1% of the population. I doubt you'd see any unless you lived on or adjacent to the bases.
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Chris1986 on 18/02/2025(UTC)
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