Moving from the US to Cyprus
Cyprus offers a long non-dom window and a new 2026 tax scale. For a US citizen, those benefits sit beside — not instead of — worldwide US taxation, making ownership and foreign-tax-credit work central.
The Cyprus window is unusually long
From 2026, Cyprus's non-dom treatment can run for 17 years, with up to two five-year extensions at EUR 250,000 each — a maximum 27-year window. Non-doms pay 0% Special Defence Contribution on dividends and interest.
The 2026 brackets replaced the former 0–19,500 exempt band and the old 60,000 top-band threshold: the new top marginal rate is 35% above EUR 72,000. Listed shares are outside Cyprus capital gains tax.
A US person remains a US taxpayer
The US taxes citizens and green-card holders on worldwide income. Cyprus's non-dom treatment can reduce Cyprus tax on dividends and interest, but it does not erase US tax, reporting or the need to test whether any Cyprus charge is creditable.
Renunciation is a separate and potentially taxable event under IRC §877A for covered expatriates; moving to Cyprus is not that event.
Residency and entry must be kept separate
Cyprus uses 183 days, or the 60-day rule with Cyprus ties and a permanent residence. From 1 January 2026, the 60-day route no longer requires proving non-residency elsewhere. The widely reported EUR 300,000 permanent-residence figure was not officially verified in this research pass.
Before you move
- Do not describe Cyprus as a US tax escape; citizenship-based taxation continues.
- The 2026 bracket change supersedes online pages quoting the 2025 scale.
- The reported EUR 300,000 permanent-residence figure is not verified and should not be presented as a confirmed route.
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Tax rates are only the first screen. Residency, ownership, treaty position and succession can change the outcome.
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