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Leave Iceland for Cyprus, on a long clock.

A Cyprus company pays 15% and, with non-dom status, you pay no tax on dividends. Iceland charges nothing when you leave, but it can tax your income for three more years and a share sale for five, so we plan around both.

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  • Fixed prices
  • Eligibility checked before you pay
  • One team for the Cyprus side
Lestu á íslensku

What you keep, once it's out.

Iceland taxes the company's profit, then taxes the dividend as capital income. Move the slider to your own profit.

€200,000
In Iceland
Corporate tax
−€40,000
Tax on dividends
−€35,200
You keep
€124,800
In Cyprus
Corporate tax
−€30,000
Health contribution (GeSY)
−€4,505
You keep
€165,495

More in your pocket+€40,695every year

More in your pocket +€40,695 every year

Iceland: 20% corporate tax for a limited company (hf. or ehf.), then a flat 22% capital income tax on dividends, with nothing else on top. Together that is 37.6% on profit you take out. The 21% corporate rate you may have read applied to 2024 only.

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.

Why Iceland lets go slowly.

There's no exit tax. Instead there are two clocks, one of three years and one of five. Settle these with an Icelandic adviser before you deregister your Icelandic address.

  • No exit tax on you

    Iceland's exit rules apply to companies, not people. Your shares aren't treated as sold when you leave Iceland.

  • Three more years of Icelandic tax

    Iceland keeps taxing your worldwide income for three years from the New Year after you leave, unless you prove you're taxed in Cyprus the same way as people who live there, and that you've filed and paid. Whether non-dom status passes is an open question. Ask before you go.

  • Five years on a share sale

    The tax treaty between Iceland and Cyprus lets Iceland tax gains on shares in an Icelandic company for five years after you last lived there, at 22% with no allowance. Nothing ends it early, so plan when you sell, not just when you move.

  • Run it from Iceland and it's Icelandic

    A company is Icelandic if its real management is in Iceland, wherever it's registered. A Cyprus company run from Reykjavík pays Icelandic tax on all its income. Move board meetings, decisions and banking to Cyprus, and record them there.

  • Less than two points of room

    While Iceland still taxes you, it taxes your share of a foreign company's whole profit, paid out or not, if the company pays under 13.33%. Cyprus's 15% clears that. IP Box income at about 3% doesn't, so that company needs real business activity in Cyprus.

  • Inheritance tax of 10%

    Iceland has no wealth tax, but its 10% inheritance tax applies above the first ISK 5 million of an estate, and your company counts. Cyprus has no inheritance tax.

What Cyprus gives you.

One flat rate on profit, dividends free of tax for 17 years with non-dom status, and a health contribution capped at €4,770.

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.
  • Iceland is in the EEA, so free movement applies. As an Icelandic citizen you register your residence with the Yellow Slip, the registration certificate for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens staying in Cyprus more than three months. We file it with you, and no lawyer is needed.
  • A seat on your own Cyprus company's board meets one of the 60-day rule's conditions, and it helps prove the company's management has left Iceland.
  • Iceland's three-year rule asks for Cyprus returns filed and Cyprus tax paid. With your books open from day one, that record builds as you go.
  • Iceland is outside the EU's customs union and VAT system. A Cyprus company sells across the EU with an EU VAT number and one VAT return for consumer sales.

How the move unfolds.

Iceland's clocks start when you leave. Settle the order before they do.

Book a free call
  1. Before you go

    Settle the open questions

    Have an Icelandic tax adviser check whether non-dom status passes Iceland's three-year test for you, and plan your ehf. and any sale around the five-year window. We can recommend an adviser if you need one. The clock starts at the New Year after you leave, so timing matters.

  2. Month 1We do this

    Form the Cyprus company

    We register it with tax, VAT and VIES, and you become a director. Your books open the day you order, so the Cyprus record Iceland will ask for starts at once.

  3. Month 1 to 3We do this

    Yellow Slip and a home

    We file your Yellow Slip with you to register your residence. You rent or buy a home in Cyprus in your own name. The 60-day rule needs it, and it helps show you've left Iceland.

  4. Month 3 to 6

    Deregister your Icelandic address

    Your adviser deregisters your address (lögheimili) with Registers Iceland, files the departure return and checks your pension and health cover. You move board meetings, decisions and banking to Cyprus.

  5. Years 1 to 3We do this

    Tax residency and non-dom

    We register your Cyprus tax residency and non-dom status, then keep your Cyprus filings in order. Returns filed and tax paid in Cyprus are the record Iceland's three-year rule asks for.

  6. Years 1 to 5

    Plan any share sale

    A sale of shares in an Icelandic company is an Icelandic tax question first. Bring your adviser back in before you sell, not after.

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 Icelandic founders ask.

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

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No. Iceland's exit rules apply to companies, not people, so your shares aren't treated as sold when you leave. Instead, two rules run for years. Iceland can tax your worldwide income for three years from the New Year after you leave, and the tax treaty lets it tax a sale of Icelandic shares for five.

Three years from the New Year after you leave, unless you prove you're taxed in Cyprus the same way as people who live there, and that you've filed and paid. The proof is on you. Leave in January and that's almost four calendar years. Whether non-dom status counts as being taxed like a local is an open question, so settle it with your adviser before you deregister your Icelandic address.

Yes, for five years. The tax treaty lets Iceland tax gains on shares in an Icelandic company if you lived in Iceland at any time in the five years before the sale. The rate is 22%, and the yearly allowance doesn't cover unlisted shares. Unlike the three-year rule, nothing ends this early. The question is when you sell, not when you move.

You decide whether to keep, close or sell it. While it's registered in Iceland, it stays Icelandic. Moving the company itself to Cyprus falls under separate company exit rules, where any tax can be paid over up to five years. Dividends it pays you in Cyprus still carry 5% or 10% Icelandic tax under the treaty.

No. A company is Icelandic if its real management is in Iceland, wherever it's registered. A Cyprus company run from Reykjavík pays Icelandic tax on all its income. The treaty also places a company where its real management is, so move board meetings, decisions and banking to Cyprus and record them where they happen.

Not a normal trading company. Iceland taxes a foreign company's profit at home when it pays under 13.33%, and Cyprus's 15% clears that by less than two points. An IP Box company at about 3% doesn't. Iceland then taxes your share of its whole profit, paid out or not, unless it has real business activity in Cyprus. That matters most in your first three years, while Iceland may still tax you.

No more than 183 days in any 12 months. More than that makes you Icelandic tax resident again, and Iceland counts the whole stay, including holidays abroad in the middle of it. The Cyprus 60-day rule also caps your time in any other country at 183 days a year.

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, job or directorship in Cyprus, and no more than 183 days in any other country. A seat on your own Cyprus company's board counts. Since 2026 the rule no longer asks you to be resident nowhere else, which helps while Iceland may still tax you.

Your pension rights stay yours. Iceland is part of the EEA's social security rules, so your insurance periods are added together and moving doesn't cancel them. Under the tax treaty, a private or work pension is taxed only in Cyprus once you live here, while a government pension stays taxed in Iceland. Ask the Social Insurance Administration and Icelandic Health Insurance about your cover before you deregister your Icelandic address.

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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