Tax Residency & Personal Planning

The Advantage of Structuring Your Life, Not Just Your Wealth for Tax Efficiency

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If you run a cross-border life with companies, investments and travel across multiple countries, “I’ll deal with tax later” is not a strategy. It’s a liability.

Without a clear tax residency and personal planning framework, you end up with:

• Multiple countries claiming you as tax-resident at the same time
• Surprise exit taxes, CFC issues or deemed-dom rules you never planned for
• Banks and EMIs asking questions you can’t answer cleanly
• Confusion over where to file, what to report and which rules apply
• Structures that looked clever on paper but don’t line up with the way you actually live

A proper tax residency plan doesn’t try to make tax disappear.

It does something more realistic and much more powerful: it aligns where you live, how you earn and how your structures are set up so that you’re paying the right amount of tax, no more, no less, in the right place, with documentation to back it up.

The goal is not to “outsmart the system”. The goal is to:

• Avoid double taxation and accidental non-compliance
• Use legitimate regimes (territorial, non-dom, treaty networks) to your advantage
• Keep your personal footprint, company structure and banking story consistent
• Sleep at night knowing that if you are challenged, you have a defendable position

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What a tax residency & personal plan can do for you

“Tax residency” is often reduced to a 183-day rule. In reality, most high-income clients sit in a far more nuanced space.

When we build a real plan, it can:

• Define where you are (and are not) tax-resident
  • Map days, ties, family, business, property and other factors to determine which countries have a legitimate claim on you , and which don’t.
• Optimise your choice of base
  • Help you select and establish residency in a country whose rules match your business model (territorial, non-dom, low-tax, or simply more predictable).
• Coordinate with your company structures
  • Ensure that your operating companies, holding platforms and trusts are located and managed in a way that is consistent with your personal footprint and CFC rules.
• Clarify reporting and filing obligations
  • Identify exactly where you must file returns, what needs to be disclosed (CRS, foreign asset reports, trust and company interests) and what can remain outside a particular tax net.
• Manage transitions cleanly
  • Plan exits from high-tax countries, avoid “sticky” statuses (domicile, deemed dom, long-term resident traps), and sequence moves so you don’t trigger unexpected tax events.
• Support family and lifestyle decisions
  • Align where your partner and children are resident, where you hold property, where you bank, and how you travel with a coherent framework instead of ad hoc choices.

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A global toolkit - not “move to X, it’s tax-free”

There is no one perfect jurisdiction. There are families of regimes and tools that can be combined depending on who you are and what you do.

We work across:

Territorial systems

Where foreign-sourced income is exempt or only taxed when remitted – powerful for online and cross-border businesses when structured correctly.

Non-dom and remittance-based regimes

Where foreign income and gains can remain outside the local tax net if kept offshore or taxed under special rules.

Low-tax or flat-tax regimes

Countries offering reduced rates, capped taxes or favourable regimes for new residents, pensioners or specific professions.

High-tax but high-certainty jurisdictions

For clients who value rule of law and treaty networks above minimising the rate at all costs, with planning to avoid double taxation and unnecessary leakage.

“Exit and entry” strategies

Managing the tax consequences when leaving one system (exit taxes, deemed disposals, trailing CFC rules) and entering another (step-up in basis, incentives for new residents).

We do not simply point at a list of “tax havens”. We select regimes and combinations that match your reality, profile and risk appetite, and that we believe can survive scrutiny.

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Typical strategies we design

1. From high-tax resident to international base

For founders and investors who are leaving a traditional high-tax, high-reporting country and want a sustainable structure, not a quick fix.

• Diagnostic of current residence, domicile, exit tax exposure and worldwide assets
• Identification of one or two realistic new bases (e.g. territorial or low-tax regimes)
• Sequenced plan for breaking tax residency in the old country and establishing it in the new one
• Realignment of company, trust and holding structures so they fit the new footprint
• Guidance on what to file, when, and how to evidence the change

2. Multi-country “triangulation” plan

For clients who divide their time across several countries for business, family and lifestyle.

• Mapping of travel, family, business and property ties across all relevant states
• Identification of primary tax residence and any secondary filing obligations
• Day-count and tie-breaker strategy to avoid dual residence under treaties
• Rules for how many days you can safely spend in each country and what you must avoid (centre of vital interests, permanent home tests, economic ties)
• Integration with company management and control to avoid accidental corporate residence shifts

3. Entrepreneur + remote team alignment

For founders running a cross-border or remote team (developers in one country, clients in others, company and banking in a third).

• Clarification of your personal residence and its interaction with your corporate setup
• Substance and management & control planning, where board decisions are made, who signs what, where profits are properly booked
• Allocation of risk and value-creation between entities and jurisdictions
• Personal remuneration strategy (salary, dividends, management fees) that works for both tax and banking

4. Crypto, trading and portfolio income planning

For clients whose wealth is heavily weighted to liquid or mobile assets.

• Analysis of how different residency options treat capital gains, crypto and portfolio income
• Planning for realisation events (liquidity, exits, portfolio restructures) in the right jurisdiction and timing
• Coordination with custody and banking (on-ramps, off-ramps, reporting)
• Integration with trusts, holding companies or foundations if appropriate

5. Family-centric residence map

For families where spouses, children, education and property are spread across multiple countries.

• Clear map of each family member’s current and future tax residence
• Strategy to avoid “split family” tax traps where different members pull the family into conflicting systems
• Alignment of schooling, healthcare and property decisions with the broader tax and mobility plan
• Succession and estate planning that respects the relevant inheritance and gift tax regimes

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How our process works

We don’t start with “move here, it’s 0% tax”.

We start with where you are exposed today and what your next 10–20 years realistically look like.

Step 1 - Diagnostic & risk review

Deep-dive on:

• Your current and recent tax residences (last 5-10 years)
• Passports, visas and long-term residence permits
• Asset profile: companies, trusts, properties, portfolios, crypto
• Family situation and where key people actually live
• Travel patterns and “must-have” locations for business and life

We identify immediate red flags: potential dual residency, unreported foreign structures, exit tax risk, mismatches between your declared residence and where you spend time.

Step 2 - Design the tax residency architecture

We then design a Tax Residency & Personal Plan that sets out:

• Your target primary residence (and any secondary bases)
• The legal tests you must meet, days, ties, centre of vital interests – in each relevant country
• A day-count and movement strategy that is realistic for how you actually live
• How your companies, trusts and foundations should be positioned relative to you
• Which local tax and legal advisers need to sign off and in which sequence

You receive clear diagrams, timelines and “if/then” rules, not just abstract memos.

Step 3 - Implementation & transition

We coordinate with your chosen local advisers to:

• Put in place the right visas, residence permits or naturalisation steps
• Manage exit procedures from your previous residence (including any required disclosures, clearances or elections)
• Implement adjustments to company structures, directorships and management arrangements
• Ensure reporting (CRS, foreign asset forms, trust/company disclosures) is aligned with the new plan

Our role is to sit between the different jurisdictions and advisers, so the overall picture is coherent.

Step 4 - Ongoing governance & monitoring

Once live, we can:

• Review your travel and residence pattern annually against the agreed rules
• Update the plan as laws change or your life evolves (new country, new relationship, new exit)
• Support you in responding to bank, tax authority or advisor questions about your setup
• Coordinate with your trustees, corporate service providers and accountants to keep everything aligned

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Who this is for

Our Tax Residency & Personal Planning work is designed for:

• Entrepreneurs, investors and high-income professionals with cross-border lives
• Founders planning to leave a high-tax jurisdiction and “go international”
• Clients already juggling multiple residencies, companies and family locations
• Individuals with meaningful crypto, trading or investment income and no clear residency strategy
• Families who want to align education, property and lifestyle decisions with a coherent tax plan

If you are simply looking for a way to pretend you live somewhere you don’t, run “stateless” on paper or hide income from the country where you actually live and work, we are not the right firm.

We focus on structures and plans that are defendable, documented and sustainable.

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Why work with us (rather than a random forum or relocation blog)?

Holistic, not one-dimensional

We look at residency, company structures, banking, trusts and family in one picture. Changing one piece without the others is how most problems start.

Experience with complex, high-risk profiles

We regularly deal with sectors, passports and structures that standard accountants or relocation agents find “too difficult”. We understand how banks and regulators view those profiles.

Independent and jurisdiction-agnostic

We are not paid to push one particular country. If a fashionable jurisdiction doesn’t fit your facts or risk tolerance, we will say so and propose alternatives.

Work alongside your existing advisers

We do not replace your local tax lawyers or accountants. We coordinate them. Our role is to make sure your UK adviser, your UAE adviser and your trustee, for example, are not pulling you in three different directions.

Long-term partner

Residency and tax planning is not a one-off project. Rules change, families move, exits happen. We stay engaged to keep your plan relevant.

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Common questions

“Isn’t tax residency just ‘where I spend 183 days’?”

Sometimes, but often not. Many systems look at centre of vital interests, home, family, economic ties and citizenship, and some can claim you as resident even if you spend fewer than 183 days there. Our job is to clarify the full test for each country that matters to you.

“Can I be tax-resident nowhere?”

For most serious entrepreneurs, trying to be “truly” tax-resident nowhere is a fast route to being claimed by multiple countries at once. We focus on having at least one clear, defendable home base rather than chasing statelessness.

“Will this make my tax bill zero?”

Not necessarily, and that’s not the point. The value is in avoiding double taxation and unnecessary leakage, and in aligning your effective rate with regimes that make sense for your business and lifestyle. For some clients that means a very low rate; for others, a fair rate with much more certainty.

“Can I do this quietly, without my current tax authority noticing?”

Properly leaving a tax system almost always involves some level of formality and disclosure. We plan for a clean break, not a hidden one. Trying to “sneak away” is exactly what leads to painful enquiries later.

“How long does it take?”

Planning and design can be done relatively quickly; actual implementation depends on visa/residency processes, filing cycles and, in some cases, exit tax or clearance procedures. Typical transitions range from several months to a few years, especially if tied to a liquidity event or relocation.

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Ready to move from accidental residency to a deliberate personal plan?

If your life, business and assets have gone global but your tax residency strategy hasn’t caught up, you are relying on luck and ambiguity.

We’ll walk you through:

• Where you are genuinely exposed today
• Which residency options and regimes actually fit your life and risk profile
• How to implement a tax residency and personal plan that will still make sense in 10–20 years

Book a confidential strategy call to explore what a serious, structured tax residency and personal planning framework would look like for you and your family.