| ▲ | 3rodents 2 hours ago | |
Let's pretend my random country generator didn't pick the worst possible example. I should have chosen a country I am familiar with. Let's take Germany. A German tax resident can de-register at any time, so long as they are leaving the country, without first establishing tax residency elsewhere. | ||
| ▲ | fer an hour ago | parent [-] | |
In Germany, unregistering doesn't require registration elsewhere, but it doesn't mean you stop being tax resident. If you regularly return to Germany and generally to the same place there (i.e. family, friends), and you're not tax resident elsewhere, the tax administration will consider it your habitual abode. And, you guessed it, under the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung), you are a tax resident if you have a domicile or habitual abode in Germany. Plus, under Extended Limited Tax Liability (Erweiterte beschränkte Steuerpflicht), any significant economic presence in Germany (assets, German clients, participation in a company, bank accounts) will pull you into the tax jurisdiciton for 10 years, not only as permanent traveler but also if you move to a low-tax country. So while different, it's similarly difficult. It's technically possible but you have to leave Germany and basically cut all ties, difficult if you're German. If you're not German, you can completely escape the claws of the German fisc with relative ease. But if you're say Spanish, Hacienda will consider you tax resident in Spain even if you never ever lived in Spain (i.e. born abroad). There's all sort of sticky tax rules in numerous countries: you're tax resident until you prove you're tax resident elsewhere, the aforementioned nationality fallback, essential ties rules, the "domicile" concept (i.e. where you intend to live until you die). Plus, and I reiterate, the difficulty in obtaining a simple bank account without a TIN and proof of address in most countries. I'm sure there are corner cases with exotic nationalities and carefully selected tax jurisdictions with lax "tax residency" tests to rotate along, and numerous nomads fly under the radar for various reasons (illegally of course), but I assure you it's way more complicated than "lol just don't be American/Eritrean and travel all the time", plus tax laws constantly change, and not to leave you more loopholes. | ||