Moving to Cyprus in 2026: non-dom status, tax residence from 60 days and taxation

Cyprus is unusual in offering two routes to tax residence, which is what makes it a destination apart within the European Union.

The general rule is based on presence: a person present for less than 183 days³ in a calendar year is not resident within the meaning of the 2002 Income Tax Law. But a second rule, the so-called from 60 days⁴ rule, allows a person to be considered resident without reaching that threshold, subject to cumulative conditions: not being tax resident elsewhere, carrying on a business activity or holding an office in Cyprus, and having a permanent home there.

This second route is the one taken by highly mobile executives. It is also the one that calls for the most caution: it requires not being tax resident in any other state, which must be demonstrated, and demonstrated first of all in the country one is leaving.

Scale and investment income

The income tax scale has a first exempt band, at 0%⁵, and a top marginal rate of 35%⁶.

Profit from the disposal of securities is exempt from income tax, at a rate of 0%⁷. This is one of the most structuring features of the Cyprus regime for a portfolio holder.

Non-dom status and its time limit

Dividends and interest are not subject to income tax but to the special defence contribution, the SDC, from which persons who do not have their domicile of origin in Cyprus are exempt: this is the so-called non-dom status.

This status is not perpetual. Regardless of domicile of origin, a person who is tax resident in Cyprus for 17 years⁸ is deemed domiciled, and loses the benefit of the exemption. The advantage therefore has an end date, and that end date must be built into the plan from the outset.

Even when exempt from SDC, a resident remains liable for the healthcare system contribution, which also applies to passive income (rents, interest, dividends) at a rate of 2.65%⁹ once fully in effect. This is the adjustment most often forgotten in simulations.

Workers arriving from abroad, and companies

A person taking up a first employment in the Republic may deduct 50%¹⁰ of their remuneration, provided that it exceeds more than €55,000¹¹ in the tax year.

Corporate income tax, for a long time one of the lowest in the Union, has been raised to 15%¹² as part of the tax reform. The same reform lowers the taxation of actual dividends and abolishes the deemed distribution.

The reform laws were published in the Official Gazette on 31 December 2025 and apply from the 2026 tax year, that is, from 1 January 2026, for both the new rate and the dividend component. These dates come from professional sources; a structure that depends on the transitional provisions is best confirmed against the official text.

As Cyprus is a member of the European Union, a French national needs no residence permit. Registration with the local authorities remains required beyond a certain length of stay, and it has effects on tax residence.

For third-country nationals, the main route is the permanent residence permit granted under regulation 6(2) of the Aliens and Immigration Regulations, from an investment of about €300,000¹³.

This permit must be distinguished from the former citizenship-by-investment programme, which has been abandoned. The current permit confers a right of residence, not nationality, and it does not exempt the holder from separately satisfying the conditions of tax residence.

The annual income requirements attached to the permanent residence permit, as well as the arrangements for extending it to family members, do not appear in the source extract available to us: we do not quantify them.

Acquisition by an EU citizen is unrestricted. For a third-country national, it remains subject to authorisation from the Council of Ministers, a formality that is in practice granted but lengthens the timetable.

The market is shaped by the division of the island: properties located in the north are subject to a legal situation not recognised by the Republic, and the titles circulating there do not have the same legal value. This is the first point to check in any acquisition, before any yield criterion.

The investment threshold of about €300,000¹³ has made new-build property the dominant vehicle for residence applications, which weighs on the structure of supply in the areas concerned, Limassol and Paphos above all.

We do not publish transfer taxes, VAT applicable to new housing, or property tax. We have not consulted an official page giving these scales in a readable and dated form.

The cost of living in Cyprus is below the eurozone average, but the gap has narrowed in Limassol, which has become a hub for financial and maritime services where international demand has landed on a limited housing stock.

We do not publish a typical monthly budget: we have not found an official Cypriot series measuring a basket of expenses comparable to that of an expatriate.

Two items weigh more heavily than elsewhere. First, electricity and air conditioning, in a climate where summer is long and the housing stock is unevenly insulated. Second, private schooling, as international schools absorb the demand of expatriate families.

Conversely, the healthcare system contribution opens access to public coverage, which eases an item that is often heavy in low-tax destinations outside the European Union.

1. First determine the intended route to tax residence, the general presence rule or the sixty-day rule, since the latter requires not being tax resident in any other state;
2. obtain the Cypriot tax identification number and register with the competent authorities;
3. open a local bank account, a step that requires a substantial compliance file, as the island has applied reinforced controls since the restructuring of its banking sector;
4. where applicable, apply for recognition of non-dom status, which is not automatic and must be declared;
5. for a third-country national, file the application for a permanent residence permit and, for a purchase, the prior authorisation.

We do not publish processing times: we have no dated, quantified official source for Cypriot permits and authorisations.

• Non-dom status has an end date: 17 years⁸ of tax residence are enough to lose the exemption, whatever the domicile of origin.
• The healthcare system contribution applies to passive income even under non-dom status: a simulation that omits it overstates the advantage.
• The sixty-day rule requires not being tax resident anywhere else. For a French person, this means first having cleared the criteria of article 4 B of the French General Tax Code.
• The legal situation of properties located in the north of the island must be checked before any acquisition.
• Corporate income tax has been raised: structures built on the former rate must be reviewed.

Finally, Cyprus illustrates better than most the difference between a rate advantage and a status advantage. Cypriot rates remain moderate but are no longer exceptional; what still distinguishes the country is the treatment of dividends and capital gains on securities under non-dom status, that is, an advantage limited in time and conditional on a personal situation.

This distinction dictates the method: it is not enough to compare headline rates in order to choose Cyprus; you must check that your own situation qualifies for the status, and for how much longer it will do so.