Skip to main content

From zakat and 20% to a flat 15%.

Saudi Arabia doesn't tax your salary or dividends, so Cyprus won't lower your personal tax. On the company, a non-Saudi owner goes from 20% to 15%, and a Saudi owner swaps zakat on equity for 15% of profit. We check the Saudi side first.

Book a free callStart my Cyprus company
  • Fixed prices
  • Eligibility checked before you pay
  • One team for the Cyprus side
اقرأ بالعربية

What you keep, company first.

For a non-Saudi owner, Cyprus takes a quarter off the company tax. Move the slider to your own profit.

€200,000
In Saudi Arabia
Corporate tax
−€40,000
Tax on dividends
−€0
You keep
€160,000
In Cyprus
Corporate tax
−€30,000
Health contribution (GeSY)
−€4,505
You keep
€165,495

More in your pocket+€5,495every year

More in your pocket +€5,495 every year

Saudi Arabia: 20% income tax on a resident company's profit, for the share its non-Saudi owners hold, and no personal tax on dividends. The share owned by Saudi and other GCC nationals pays zakat instead, 2.5% of a base built from equity, so the figures show a wholly non-Saudi-owned company.

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 Saudi Arabia still asks of you.

There is no exit tax, but the deadlines on the way out are short. Settle these with a Saudi adviser before you go.

  • No exit tax, no rules that follow you

    Saudi Arabia charges nothing when you stop being resident, and has no wealth or inheritance tax. No rule pulls your Cyprus company's profit back onto a Saudi tax return.

  • A home plus 30 days keeps you resident

    Keep a permanent home in the Kingdom and spend 30 days there in a year, and you stay Saudi tax resident. Part of a day counts as a whole day. Deal with the Saudi home first, not last.

  • Your Cyprus company can become Saudi

    The tax authority (ZATCA) treats a company as Saudi resident when any two of three things happen in the Kingdom. The board meets there, top executives decide there, or most revenue is earned there. Chair the board from Riyadh and your Cyprus company can be Saudi.

  • A paused company still pays zakat

    If the Saudi company stops trading, file a final return within 60 days. Zakat stops only if a written cessation application also reaches ZATCA within 60 days. A company paused in case you come back keeps paying zakat on its equity, year after year.

  • Saudi clients still withhold tax

    A Saudi customer paying your Cyprus company for consulting withholds 5% at source, even for work done entirely in Cyprus, and that tax is never refunded. Treaty relief needs a form certified by the Cyprus tax authority, so apply before the first payment.

  • Selling your Saudi shares later

    Saudi Arabia can tax a gain on a stake in an unlisted Saudi company if you held 25% or more at any time in the twelve months before the sale. Dropping below 25% just before you sell doesn't help.

What Cyprus does differently.

One rate on profit, with no ownership split and no funding base. And a place in the EU.

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.
  • A flat 15% on profit, whatever your balance sheet. In Saudi Arabia a thin-margin company with large equity can pay more in zakat than it earns.
  • An EU VAT number customers can check online, and an EU IBAN for euro payments. A Saudi VAT registration counts for nothing with EU customers.
  • Since 2026 the 60-day rule works even if Saudi Arabia still counts you as resident, provided you spend no more than 183 days there. With a Saudi or other non-EU passport you need the Pink Slip, the residence permit for non-EU citizens. We check which route fits you and file it with you.
  • Licensing software into the Kingdom? The tax treaty cuts Saudi tax on royalties from 15% to 8%, and the Cyprus IP Box taxes qualifying IP income at an effective 3%.

Two exits, one plan.

Every case runs on its own clock. The order is the same.

Book a free call
  1. First

    Map the ownership and zakat

    Have a tax adviser in Saudi Arabia work out who pays income tax, who pays zakat, and whether the Saudi company stays or closes. They also put the 60-day deadlines in the diary. 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, then prepare your Pink Slip application and file it with you. Your books open the day you order.

  3. Month 3 to 6

    Move the board and your home

    Rent or buy the Cyprus home the 60-day rule needs, and deal with your Saudi home. Hold board meetings and take decisions in Cyprus, and stop chairing anything from Riyadh.

  4. Month 6 to 12

    Close the Saudi company properly

    If it's closing, your adviser files the final return and the zakat cessation application, each within 60 days, then starts the liquidation.

  5. From month 12We 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.

  6. Before any sale

    Check the twelve-month window

    Selling 25% or more of the Saudi company? Your adviser first checks where you stand against the treaty's twelve-month look-back.

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 founders in Saudi Arabia ask.

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

WhatsApp us

No. Saudi Arabia doesn't tax a resident's salary, dividends or private capital gains, and zero can't be beaten. With non-dom status in Cyprus you still pay the 2.65% health contribution (GeSY) on dividends, and a salary is taxed from 0% up to 35%. The exception is an expat trading in their own name in the Kingdom, such as a licensed freelancer, who pays 20% on that business.

Only on the share owned by non-Saudis. The share owned by Saudi and other GCC nationals pays zakat instead, at 2.5% of a base built from the company's equity and funding rather than its profit. A mixed company pays both, split by who owns what at the year end. Comparing one Saudi rate with Cyprus's 15% compares the wrong things.

It depends on your balance sheet. On SAR 1 million of profit, a consultancy with SAR 2 million of equity pays about 7.7% of profit in zakat, well below Cyprus's 15%, so it should stay. A trader with SAR 40 million of equity and a thin margin can pay more than its whole profit. Even a loss-making company can owe zakat, because the equity stays in the base.

No. There is no exit tax, and no wealth or inheritance tax. What you face are deadlines. A Saudi company that stops trading has 60 days to file a final return, and zakat stops only if a cessation application reaches ZATCA within 60 days. And if you later sell shares in an unlisted Saudi company, Saudi Arabia can tax the gain if you held 25% or more in the year before.

When neither test applies. You're resident with a permanent home in the Kingdom and 30 days there in a year, or with 183 days there. Part of a day counts as a whole day, so keeping the villa and flying back for meetings and family can keep you resident. Selling the villa? A 5% real estate transaction tax applies.

Yes, if it keeps real management in the Kingdom, with its board, manager and revenue there. You then keep paying income tax or zakat on a business you no longer run. Running it from Cyprus is the worst option, because it stays Saudi and becomes Cyprus resident too. Closing it is the clean route. Moving it to Cyprus as it is has no clear path, so ask Saudi corporate counsel.

It depends on your passport. Expats are covered by GOSI, the social insurance fund, only for workplace injury, which their employer pays for, so there is no pot to collect. Your end-of-service award comes from your employer, not GOSI. For a Saudi national, the pension you've built up stays yours when you leave. Ask GOSI about the conditions for a lump sum.

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. Since 2026 this works even if Saudi Arabia still counts you as resident through a home and 30 days. With a non-EU passport you also need the Pink Slip to live here, which we file with you.

Probably not that entity. The regime gives 0% income tax and 0% withholding for 30 years, in return for eight conditions, including an office, three senior staff and board meetings held in person in the Kingdom. One team can't meet those and run a Cyprus company as well. If your group runs its region from Riyadh, keep it, and make the Cyprus company a separate European business with its own board.

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.

Book a free callStart my Cyprus company

What can we help with?

30 minutes, by video, free.