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From Poland to Cyprus, in the right order.

A Cyprus company pays 15% and, with non-dom status, you pay no tax on dividends. If your shares and securities are worth over PLN 4 million, Poland taxes their gain at 19% when you leave, so we work out that cost first.

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  • Fixed prices
  • Eligibility checked before you pay
  • One team for the Cyprus side
Czytaj po polsku

Your profit, two ways.

Poland taxes a company's profit at 19%, then takes another 19% when you pay it out. Move the slider to your own profit.

€200,000
In Poland
Corporate tax
−€38,000
Tax on dividends
−€30,780
You keep
€131,220
In Cyprus
Corporate tax
−€30,000
Health contribution (GeSY)
−€4,505
You keep
€165,495

More in your pocket+€34,275every year

More in your pocket +€34,275 every year

Poland: 19% corporate tax, then a flat 19% on dividends, 34.39% all in. Small companies with revenue up to the PLN equivalent of €2,000,000 pay 9% corporate tax on income other than capital gains, 26.29% all in, so their gap is smaller.

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 Poland keeps hold of.

Poland taxes the move itself, then checks where you and your company really live. Settle these with a Polish tax adviser before anything is filed.

  • Exit tax on your shares

    Poland taxes the growth in value of your shares and securities as if you sold them the day you leave, at 19%. It applies if you lived in Poland five of the last ten years and they're worth over PLN 4 million, a limit spouses with joint property share.

  • Declare and pay within weeks

    The exit tax has its own declaration (PIT-NZ), due with the payment by the 7th of the month after you leave. Because Cyprus is in the EU, you can spread it over up to five years. Sell the shares or miss a payment and the rest falls due.

  • 183 days abroad isn't enough

    You stay Polish tax resident while your family or business life is centred in Poland, whatever your day count. A spouse who stays behind, or a Polish company you still run day to day, is enough on its own. Move the family and the work together.

  • The company must be run from Cyprus

    Poland taxes a foreign company as Polish if its day-to-day business is run from Poland. A broad power of attorney for someone in Warsaw is the law's own example. Take decisions in Cyprus and cancel any power of attorney that lets it be run from Poland.

  • Foreign company rules while you're resident

    Until you've really left, Poland can tax you on a foreign company's profit if you control it, it pays under about 14% tax, and a third or more of its income is royalties, interest, consulting or similar. Cyprus's 15% clears that line. The 3% IP Box doesn't.

  • Your ZUS years stay yours

    Contributions stop once your work really moves to Cyprus, and what you've paid stays on your record with Polish social security (ZUS). EU rules add your Polish and Cyprus years together when your pension is worked out.

What changes in Cyprus.

One flat rate with no small-company test to pass each year, and a health charge with a ceiling.

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 Polish citizen you're an EU citizen, so you register with the Yellow Slip, which we file with you. No visa, no permit.
  • Being a real director of your own Cyprus company counts towards the 60-day rule, and it helps show the company is run from Cyprus.
  • Under the tax treaty between Poland and Cyprus, selling your shares later is taxed where you live, once that's Cyprus. That's why Poland charges its exit tax first.
  • Cyprus's health charge is 2.65% of income up to €180,000, so €4,770 a year at most. Poland's health contribution, 9% on the tax scale, has no cap.

The move, step by step.

Your family, your shares and your company set the pace. The order stays the same.

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  1. First

    Work out the exit tax

    Your Polish tax adviser checks whether the exit tax applies and values your shares. They also price the Polish alternative, Estonian CIT, where tax is due only when profit is paid out. We can recommend an adviser if you need one.

  2. Month 1We do this

    Form the Cyprus company

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

  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, in your own name.

  4. Departure month

    Declare the exit tax, update your address

    Your adviser files the exit tax declaration by the 7th of the next month, when you also pay. They apply for instalments if you need them and update your address with the tax office within seven days.

  5. Month 3 to 6

    Run the company from Cyprus

    Take the company's decisions in Cyprus and record them here. Your adviser cancels any power of attorney that would let it be run from Poland and settles what happens to your Polish company.

  6. From month 12We do this

    Tax residency and non-dom

    We register your Cyprus tax residency and non-dom status. A Polish company paying you dividends needs your Cyprus certificate of residence before it applies the lower treaty rate.

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 Polish founders ask.

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

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Only if your shares and securities are worth over PLN 4 million, a limit spouses with joint property share. Then Poland taxes their growth in value at 19%, if you lived there for five of the last ten years. You declare and pay by the 7th of the month after you leave, or spread it over up to five years. Come back within five years and you can ask for a refund.

19% for almost every founder. The 3% rate applies only to assets with no tax value at all, meaning nothing you could deduct if you sold them. Shares in a Polish limited company (sp. z o.o.) bought for cash or for assets you put in have a tax value, so 19% applies. Many Polish articles say the opposite.

When your life is no longer centred in Poland and you spend no more than 183 days a year there. Both must be true. A spouse and children in Kraków, or a Polish company you still run day to day, keeps you resident whatever your day count. A family that follows a year later can keep you resident for that year.

Not with any tax benefit. Poland taxes a company run day to day from Poland as a Polish company, on everything it earns. While you live in Poland, its rules on foreign companies can also tax the profit at home. And since 2013, director's fees from a Cyprus company are taxed only in Poland if you live there.

Nothing automatic. It stays a Polish company paying Polish tax, and there's no exit charge on the company itself. Poland takes 19% from the dividends it pays you, but only 5% under the treaty once it has your Cyprus certificate of residence. If it's on Estonian CIT, putting a Cyprus holding company above it ends that.

Yes, it can beat a move. With Estonian CIT, a Polish company pays nothing until it pays out profit, and a small company pays 20% in total. It doesn't work if more than half the revenue is passive, such as interest or royalties, or if you can't employ three people who aren't shareholders for 300 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 or job in Cyprus, and no more than 183 days in any other country. Being a director of your own Cyprus company can count as the business. You still need to stop being Polish resident.

You keep what you've built. Contributions stop once your work really moves to Cyprus, and what you've paid stays on your ZUS record. EU rules add your Polish and Cyprus years together, and each country pays its share of your pension. In Cyprus you pay 2.65% for health cover, capped at €4,770 a year. Check your ZUS record before you go.

No. We build and run the Cyprus side. Settle the exit tax, your residency and anything else in Poland with a Polish 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

Moving from somewhere else?

All countries

Your move, one partner.

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

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What can we help with?

30 minutes, by video, free.