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Stay Here for 90 Days (or Less), Pay Near 0% Tax · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you have ties to Canada, the United Kingdom, or Australia, you will likely owe half of what you earn to the tax man.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a US citizen, well, that's a lifelong bond.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Most investors think the solution is to spend all their time on a remote island to minimize their taxes.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: But five jurisdictions with single-digit tax rates quietly accept you as a tax resident in 90 days or fewer, one in just 45.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: That means you don't have to upend your life to reduce your taxes.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Today you'll learn about all five.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Stay anywhere for more than half the year and you become a tax resident under that country's domestic law.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Most jurisdictions use it.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: The OECD model treaty enshrines it, and your accountant builds advice around it.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is twofold.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: If your home base is a high-tax developed country, the rule traps you.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Top marginal rates in those countries run from 45% to well over 50% once provincial or state layers add in.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter where you go, earn or bank.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Move your life out for half the year, and whichever second country you spend over 183 days in will claim you too.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Without a defensible tax residency somewhere friendlier, you're stuck, paying the full bill at home, or worse, paying it twice.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: What the five following jurisdictions sell is a legal exit.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Each one will issue you a tax residency certificate, or TRC, with fewer than 90 days of physical presence per year.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that certificate gives you leverage against any high-tax jurisdiction.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sans the United States, of course, trying to drag you back into its tax revenue net.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's begin with number five, Mauritius.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Mauritius doesn't run a special low-day program.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's standard tax law, it just happens to have one baked in.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Section 73 of the Mauritius Income Tax Act lets you qualify for tax residency by spending 270 days in the country across three consecutive years.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Spread evenly, that's 90 days per year.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Three months on a beach every year for three years, and from year three onward, you're a Mauritian tax resident.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Mauritian income year runs from July to June, and the Passport and Immigration Office tracks every entry and exit.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Once resident, you pay tax on Mauritian source income directly.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Additionally, foreign income only enters the local tax net when you remit it to Mauritius.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: The country's Supreme Court even ruled, in the Dilu judgment, that swiping a foreign credit card inside Mauritius does not count as a remittance.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: For income that does get remitted, the rates are friendly.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: 0% on the first 500,000 Mauritian rupees, 10% on the next 500,000, and 20% above 1 million.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Those thresholds in US dollars are about$10,000 and$21,000.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: A new fair share contribution adds 15% on top for individuals earning above 12 million rupees, or about US$250,000 a year, but only on the portion you actually bring into the country.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: The most common path into Mauritius is the premium visa for remote workers and retirees.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: The visa itself doesn't trigger tax residency.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: The day count, however, does.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, move 6,000 miles northwest to a country wedge between France and Spain in the Pyrenees.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Andorra's passive residency permit requires just 90 days a year on the ground to maintain validity.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: But the January 2026 reforms raised the investment threshold to 1 million euros, plus a non-refundable€50,000 for the main applicant and 12,000 euros per dependent.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the wrinkle.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: The 90-day figure governs the immigration permit.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Andoran tax law uses a different test.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Article 3 of the Personal Income Tax Law treats you as a tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in Andorra, or if Andorra is the center of your economic activities or interests.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's second limb, of course, is what makes the program qualify under this video's rules.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Passive residents who structure their financial life around Andorra, with the primary investment portfolio held there, income drawn from Andoran assets and local banking in place can qualify on the economic interests test alone, without ever crossing 183 days.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: The Andorran Tax Authority has tightened verification since 2025 and now wants lease agreements, telecom records, and local service receipts before issuing a TRC.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the structure can work, but it now requires substance.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Once you're in, the personal income tax is capped at 10% across every category with no wealth tax, inheritance tax, or gift tax.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Andorra also has tax treaties with France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, the UAE, and several others, which gives you a treaty tiebreaker in any dual residency dispute.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than for American citizens with no functional tax treaty with the country, Andorra is more so built for European investors who want a 10% rate within driving distance of Barcelona.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Number three goes the other direction.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: The UAE is the global capital of zero tax residency, and Cabinet Decision 85 of 2022 gave it three independent ways to qualify.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Meet any of them, and you're a UAE tax resident.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: The first is a Centre of Vital Interests Test, similar to Andorra's.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: The second is a standard 183-day test on a rolling 12-month basis.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: The third is the one we care about.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here's how the 90-day fast track works.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Spend 90 days or more in the UAE across any rolling 12-month period, which means that parts of a day count as full days.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: The catch is that you need a residency permit, proof of GCC settlement block nationality or UAE citizenship in hand before the 90-day count starts.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: A UAE residency solves that tax problem.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And once it's in your passport, three months a year is all you need.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And either keep a permanent home in the country or carry employment or business activity there.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Check those condition boxes, and you get a TRC usable for treaty claims anywhere in the world.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: The tax bill is short, 0% personal income tax, 0% capital gains tax on personal investments, no wealth or inheritance tax.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: The 9% federal corporate tax that took effect in 2023 applies only to business income above 375,000 dirhams a year, and personal investing sits outside its scope entirely.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is roughly where most viewers start asking the most important question.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Not which country, but how do you actually set this up without making expensive mistakes?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Join the private investor community called IMI Sovereigns for exactly that.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Members meet regularly on Sovereign Signals calls.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Some hold four citizenships, and a handful are already running their lives at 0% tax.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you're serious about scoping out global opportunities, diversifying your portfolio, and optimizing your tax situation, this is where you should be.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Link below for a nice discount.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, number two takes us inside the European Union and trims another month off the UAE's 90-day presence requirement.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Cyprus operates the lowest day count residency rule anywhere in the EU.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Under the 60-day rule, refined by the December 2025 tax reform, you qualify in any tax year by meeting the following four conditions.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: First, spend at least 60 days in Cyprus during the calendar year.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Second, don't spend more than 183 days in any single other country.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Third, carry on a business in Cyprus, hold employment in Cyprus, or sit as a director of a Cyprus tax resident company that doesn't terminate during the year.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, maintain permanent residence in Cyprus, owned or rented, available for your personal use.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: The 2026 reform removed a previous fifth condition that required applicants to prove they weren't tax residents anywhere else.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: From January 2026, dual residency conflicts get sorted by treaty tiebreaker rules instead of disqualifying the Cyprus claim outright.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Once you're a Cyprus tax resident, you can apply for non-domiciled status, which exempts you from the special defense contribution on worldwide dividend and passive interest income for up to 17 years.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: The 2026 reform also raised the income tax threshold to€22,000.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: After year 17, you are deemed domiciled and the exemption ends.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: But beyond that, Cyprus does not levy any inheritance tax, wealth tax, or gift tax, and capital gains tax applies only to Cypriot real estate and to shares in companies whose value derives from it.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Cyprus is the destination most analysts expect to absorb the high net worth individuals displaced by the UK non-DOM regime that closed in 2025.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Jury is still out on that.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, 60 days a year, 17 years of foreign income shelter, and a potential European passport in the back pocket.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Hard to argue with.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, number one.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Luxurious Caribbean Island Anguilla has the lowest physical presence requirement in the entire investment migration market.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Its high-value resident program launched by the government of Anguilla in 2019 sets the tax residency floor at just 45 days a year on the island.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: The conditions are concrete.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: One, own and maintain Anguilla Real Estate valued above$400,000 with at least$100,000 of that allocated to land.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can find some eligible properties on IMI Real Estate.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Here's one now.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Two, pay an annual lump sum worldwide income tax of$75,000 to the Anguilla Treasury with the financial capacity to prepay the first five years up front.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: 3.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Spend at least 45 days a year in Anguilla.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And four, declare annually in writing that you haven't spent more than 183 days in any other single country, similar to Cyprus.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Then come the genuine ties, a local bank account, club memberships, an Anguillan driver's license, etc.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Due diligence runs$7,500 per adult applicant, and processing fees are$3,000 for a family of up to four.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Approval for the program typically takes around three months.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what does Anguilla actually levy?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Anguilla imposes no personal income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, or corporate tax.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: The$75,000 lump sum caps your tax liability at a fixed amount regardless of how much you actually earn worldwide.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: For an investor earning$2 million a year from foreign sources, that's an effective rate of 3.75%.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: For someone earning 10 million, it's 0.75%.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Stunning.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Compare that to a top Australian, British, or Canadian rate of 50% or more, and the calculus is straightforward.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: 45 days in the Caribbean,$75,000 a year, and the rest of your year belongs to you.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: One important note: the 45-day pathway is for low-volume, high-value applicants who already split their year across multiple jurisdictions and need a defensible tax anchor.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a tax tool, not a naturalization route.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: British Overseas Territory Citizenship is not an easy route.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, a low-day tax residency is not a license to disappear from your home country's tax authorities.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: If your advisor didn't already tell you this, they should.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Treaty tiebreaker rules, exit taxes, and forced residency presumptions all sit on the other side of the equation.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Italy, France, Spain, and Australia have aggressively challenged residency-free structures and apply tests well beyond simple day counting.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: What these five programs buy is a defensible domestic claim.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: The destination country treats you as its tax resident under its own law, which gives you access to its tax regime.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: That claim comes with a tax residency certificate, usable in treaty negotiations.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you already split time across multiple jurisdictions and no single high-tax country can drag you back through a treaty tiebreaker, one of these five is likely the cheapest legal way to anchor your tax position.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: But reach out to an IMI pro on the website for credible tax, financial, immigration, and investment advice.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: What we've just covered is the time side of the formula.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: The other side is where your income comes from.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Twenty-nine countries don't tax foreign income at all, regardless of how many days you spend on the ground, and some of them stack with the day count programs we just walked through.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Check out the video on your screen now for the full list every global investor and entrepreneur should know.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss the next one.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: See you later.