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Move from France to Cyprus, in the right order.

A Cyprus company pays 15%, and with non-dom status you pay no tax on dividends. In France a dividend costs 31.4%. France's exit tax lapses if you keep your shares long enough, so we plan the order first, then build the Cyprus side.

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  • Fixed prices
  • Eligibility checked before you pay
  • One team for the Cyprus side
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What stays in your pocket.

France taxes the company's profit, then takes almost a third of every dividend. Move the slider to your own profit.

€200,000
In France
Corporate tax
−€50,000
Tax on dividends
−€47,100
You keep
€102,900
In Cyprus
Corporate tax
−€30,000
Health contribution (GeSY)
−€4,505
You keep
€165,495

More in your pocket+€62,595every year

More in your pocket +€62,595 every year

France: 25% corporate tax, then the 31.4% flat tax on dividends, which is 12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social levies since January 2026. Above €250,000 of income for a single person, a high-income surcharge of 3% to 4% and a 20% minimum tax can add more.

Headline rates for a founder who takes the profit out as dividends and has become Cyprus tax resident with non-dom status. Your own figures will differ. This is an illustration, not tax advice.

What France asks on the way out.

Most French exit rules are milder than their reputation. The traps are in the timing. Settle these with a French adviser before anything is filed.

  • Exit tax on your shares

    France taxes the gain on your shares as if you sold them when you leave. It applies if you lived in France six of the last ten years and your shares together are worth over €800,000, or your stake gives you half or more of a company's profits.

  • Deferred, then cancelled

    Because Cyprus is in the EU, you pay nothing when you leave and need no security. If you still hold the shares after two years, or five if they're worth over €2.57m, the tax is cancelled. Sell sooner, or miss the yearly exit-tax return, and it falls due.

  • One tie is enough to keep you French

    France keeps you resident if your family home, your main stay, your work or your main economic interests are still in France. One is enough. A partner and children left in Lyon can keep you French. End these ties before you rely on the move.

  • The company must be run from Cyprus

    A company is taxed where its real decisions are taken. A Cyprus company run from Paris pays French tax. Directors who live in Cyprus, board meetings held here and spending signed off here keep it Cypriot.

  • Moving your French company costs tax

    Move your SAS or SARL's registered office to Cyprus with its assets, and the company pays corporate tax on the growth in their value, at once or over five years. Opening a new Cyprus company alongside triggers nothing.

  • Social levies stop on dividends

    Once you're no longer French resident, your dividends bear no French social levies, so the 18.6% goes. If you keep the French company, its dividends to you bear 12.8% withholding instead of 31.4%.

What Cyprus gives French founders.

One 15% rate with no bands and no local tax on top, and dividends free of tax for 17 years with non-dom status.

Corporate tax
15%
One flat rate, with no local surcharges.
Tax on dividends
0%
As a non-dom, for up to 17 years.
Days a year for tax residency
60
Under the 60-day rule, with a home and a business here.
Wealth or inheritance tax
0
Cyprus has neither.
  • As a French citizen you're an EU citizen, so you don't need a visa. You register with the Yellow Slip, and we file it with you.
  • Running your own Cyprus company counts towards the 60-day rule. Since 2026 a leftover tie to France no longer rules you out. The tax treaty settles it instead.
  • The tax treaty in force is the 1981 one, not the 2023 text. Under it, selling your shares later is taxed where you live, once that's Cyprus.
  • An online shop keeps selling across the EU, with a Cyprus VAT number and one VAT return for consumer sales in other countries.

How the move runs.

The timings depend on your situation. The order doesn't.

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  1. First

    Check the exit tax and your company

    A French tax adviser checks whether the exit tax applies and settles what happens to your SAS or SARL. We can recommend one if you need it. Set up your online tax account (espace particulier) and keep an EU bank account to pay French tax.

  2. Month 1We do this

    Form the Cyprus company

    We register it with tax, VAT and VIES. Your books open the day you order.

  3. Month 1 to 3We do this

    Yellow Slip and a home

    We apply for your Yellow Slip with you. You rent or buy the Cyprus home the 60-day rule needs and become a director of your Cyprus company.

  4. Month 2 to 4

    Cut the French ties

    End the ties that keep you French resident, your family home first. Your adviser gives your tax office the new address and asks your health insurance fund (caisse) for form E104.

  5. Month 3 to 6

    Run the company from Cyprus

    Take the company's decisions in Cyprus and record them here, while your adviser deals with the French company.

  6. The next spring

    File the departure returns

    Your adviser files two returns for the year you left, one up to the move and one for French income after it. If the exit tax applies, they add its return and file one each year until it's cancelled.

  7. The next springWe do this

    Tax residency and non-dom

    We register your Cyprus tax residency and non-dom status, then keep your day counts and Cyprus filings in order.

The Cyprus side, done for you.

Fixed prices, excl. VAT, agreed before you start. Government fees are charged at cost, on top of our fee, once your application is approved.

Questions French founders ask.

Still unsure? Talk to a person on WhatsApp, or book a free call below.

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Only if your shares together are worth over €800,000, or your stake gives you half or more of a company's profits, and you lived in France six of the last ten years. For a move to Cyprus you pay nothing on the day. The tax is cancelled after two years, or five above €2.57m, if you still hold the shares. Until then, file the exit-tax return every year.

When your family home, your main stay, your work and your main economic interests have all left France. Any one of them keeps you resident. A partner and children who stay behind can keep you French, and so can income that still comes mainly from a French company. Where both countries claim you, the tax treaty decides.

No. A company is taxed where its real decisions are taken, so a Cyprus company run from Paris pays French tax. While you live in France, another rule can also tax the company's profit in your hands if you own 10% or more. Directors who live in Cyprus and board meetings held here are what protect you.

You have three options. Keep it French, and its dividends to you bear 12.8% withholding and no social levies once you've left. Move its registered office to Cyprus with the assets, and it pays corporate tax on the growth in their value, at once or over five years. Or open a new Cyprus company alongside, which triggers nothing, as long as it's really run from Cyprus.

No. The flat tax is 31.4% since January 2026, not 30%, made up of 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social levies. Once you're no longer French resident, dividends from your Cyprus company bear neither. Dividends from a French company you keep bear 12.8% withholding and no social levies.

Yes, as long as it's no longer your family's home or the place you mainly stay. Rent from it stays taxable in France, but social levies on it fall from 18.6% to 7.5% once you're in the Cyprus social security system. France's wealth tax (IFI) taxes only real estate, and only once it's worth over €1.3m in total. After the move it reaches only property in France.

Once you settle and work in Cyprus, you leave the French health system and join the Cyprus one. Before you go, ask your caisse for form E104, which proves your French cover so Cyprus can count it. Your pension rights stay yours. EU rules count the years you worked in each country, and the quarters you've earned in France aren't lost.

No. Under the 60-day rule you can be Cyprus tax resident with 60 days a year here, a home you rent or own, a business or job in Cyprus, and no more than 183 days in any other country. Running your own Cyprus company can count as the business. You can visit France, as long as it doesn't become your main stay again.

No. We build and run the Cyprus side. Settle the exit tax, inheritance planning and anything else in France with a French tax adviser. We can recommend one if you need it.

Plan your move with us.

Tell us what you own and when you'd like to move. We'll tell you what applies, what it costs, and what to do first.

  • Which rules at home affect you
  • The order to do things in
  • A fixed price for the Cyprus side

30 minutes, by video, free

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Your move, one partner.

We form your company, apply for your residency with you and keep your books.

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