Singapore is not the only answer. It is the best all-round one for people who can get in and afford it. These are the alternatives, grouped by who they actually suit rather than by where they are on a map.

Two things are worth saying before the list. First, a territorial system is not a zero-tax system — it exempts foreign income while taxing local income normally, which stops mattering the moment you start earning locally. Second, these regimes change constantly, usually in the direction of closing. Several entries below are here specifically because their famous benefit has quietly been repealed and people are still repeating the old version.

At a glance

What each costs

Entry cost and cost of living trade off against each other: the cheap-to-enter jurisdictions are usually cheap to live in, and the expensive ones buy you infrastructure. Figures are indicative for a single person at a mid-range standard. Puerto Rico and Singapore are included for comparison.

The pattern worth noticing: Georgia and Paraguay cost almost nothing to enter and very little to live in, but give you the least in return. Singapore and Dubai cost a great deal to live in and give you a functioning country. Puerto Rico is the only one here with a serious recurring compliance bill, which is why it needs real income to make sense.

Zero tax: the Gulf

Almost the entire Gulf runs at 0% personal income tax — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman all levy nothing on salaries, for citizens and expats alike. The tax rate is not what distinguishes them. Residency access is.

Kuwait has no residency-by-investment route at all; foreigners get in through employer sponsorship, full stop. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman all have investor routes, but they are either expensive or tied to property. The UAE is the one that built genuinely accessible self-sponsored routes — free zone company formation and the Golden Visa — which is the entire reason it absorbed this crowd rather than its neighbours.

UAE — Dubai and Abu Dhabi

The cleanest zero on the list, and the reason Dubai has absorbed so much of this crowd. No personal income tax of any kind, on any income, for anyone, regardless of nationality. Residency via free zone company formation or the ten-year Golden Visa is comparatively straightforward and fast.

The nuance is on the business side: since 2023 there is a 9% corporate tax on profits above AED 375,000, with 0% below that. Qualifying Free Zone Persons can still access a 0% rate on qualifying income, but only with genuine substance — real offices, real people, real activity. The free zone 0% is not a mailbox product. VAT is 5%.

For it: genuinely zero, easy and quick to enter, the best luxury infrastructure anywhere, deeply international, excellent flight connections, top-tier mobile internet.

Against it: the climate is punishing from June to September in a way that drives many residents out of the country for the summer. Cost of living has risen sharply with demand. Construction is permanent and everywhere. It is a Sharia-law jurisdiction where personal freedoms and legal norms differ meaningfully from Western expectations. The old complaint about blocked VoIP has eased considerably but has not entirely gone away.

Cheap and fast, light on infrastructure

The best value on this list if your priority is a low burn rate and a quick setup, and you do not need a first-world state around you.

Georgia taxes local income at a 20% flat rate but exempts foreign-sourced income entirely, and its small-business regime taxes qualifying turnover at 1% — which is why so many solo consultants and freelancers register there. Over 90 nationalities get a full year visa-free on arrival, close to the fastest and cheapest setup available anywhere. The property-based residence permit threshold rose to US$150,000 on 1 March 2026, with a US$300,000 route granting a five-year permit. The obvious geopolitical caveat applies, and it is the reason to think twice.

Paraguay exempts foreign income and taxes local income at a flat 10%. Residency is famously cheap and quick — roughly $400–$500 in government fees plus $2,000–$2,500 for a lawyer — with light physical presence requirements to maintain it. Asunción runs about $900–$1,100 a month for a single person in a mid-tier neighbourhood.

Panama is territorial, dollarised, and in US time zones with excellent regional flight connections. Local income runs progressively to 25%; foreign income is exempt. The Friendly Nations visa remains the common route at roughly $4,000–$6,000 all in.

Bolivia is territorial and taxes local-source income only. Rarely used, and the infrastructure and political stability are correspondingly thin.

Malaysia sits slightly above this group — it largely exempts foreign-sourced income, and its 2026 budget extended the exemption on foreign dividends and capital gains through the end of 2030, which is an expiry date to watch rather than assume away. The MM2H long-stay programme carries real financial requirements, but you get a very low cost of living with genuine infrastructure and English widely spoken.

The shared warning. Paraguay and Georgia in particular are popular as paper domiciles, precisely because the presence demands are so light. That is also exactly the arrangement your departure country’s tax authority will scrutinise hardest if your life visibly continues somewhere else.

Low tax, not zero

Worth taking seriously rather than dismissing. A genuine 10% on everything, in a country with a real treaty network where you can plainly demonstrate you live, is frequently a better outcome than a nominal 0% that depends on structuring your departure country can challenge. These are also ordinary places to live with ordinary residency rules, not programmes you have to buy into.

Bulgaria is the standout: a 10% flat rate on all personal income, unchanged since 2008, with dividends taxed separately at just 5% and interest at 8%. It is the lowest income tax in the European Union, which means EU residency, EU banking, freedom of movement and a very low cost of living.

Romania also runs a 10% flat rate, and Hungary a 15% flat rate — both EU. Montenegro is lower still at 9%, the lowest in Europe, though it is outside the EU as a candidate country. Kazakhstan runs 10% flat.

Hong Kong deserves its own mention. It is territorial like Singapore, and salaries tax is progressive from 2–17% with a standard-rate cap of 15% on net income up to HK$5 million (16% above). There is no capital gains tax, no dividend tax and no inheritance tax. As a package it is close to Singapore’s, usually cheaper to enter, and the reason people hesitate is political rather than fiscal.

Mauritius sits at 20% with a well-developed offshore finance sector and is commonly used as a treaty-friendly base for Africa and India exposure.

Andorra’s 10% flat rate belongs in this tier too, though its entry cost puts it in the section below.

Pay for the privilege

For people whose problem is a large balance sheet rather than a salary. Several countries simply sell a fixed annual tax bill that covers all foreign income.

Italy charges a flat annual amount covering all foreign-sourced income regardless of size. It launched at €100,000, went to €200,000 in 2024, and was raised again to €300,000 in the 2026 budget — a useful illustration of how these regimes trend over time.

Greece offers a comparable arrangement at €100,000 per year with an investment requirement. Switzerland has long offered lump-sum taxation (forfait) negotiated at cantonal level.

Monaco has no personal income tax at all, but entry realistically requires substantial funds on deposit with a Monegasque bank plus local housing at Monaco prices. French citizens are excluded from the benefit by treaty.

Cayman and the Bahamas are zero-tax, well suited to funds and offshore finance, and physically close to the US. Residency routes are investment-based and not cheap.

EU, with conditions

Portugal — read this before repeating what you heard

Portugal spent years as the default recommendation for crypto holders and remote-working Europeans. Both of the reasons for that are gone.

• The NHR regime closed to new applicants on 1 January 2025. Existing holders continue under the original rules for the remainder of their ten-year term.
• Its replacement, IFICI (“NHR 2.0”), gives a 20% flat rate on qualifying Portuguese employment and self-employment income and exempts most foreign-sourced income — but it is narrowly targeted at scientific research, innovation, technology and education roles, and you must actively work in a qualifying activity each year to keep it. Holding crypto is not a qualifying activity.
• Crypto has been taxed since 2023. Gains on holdings of less than 365 days are taxed at 28%. Disposals of non-security crypto held for more than 365 days remain exempt.

Portugal is still a good place to live — low cost by Western European standards, Mediterranean climate, excellent food, a real startup scene in Lisbon, easy flights across Europe, and EU residency with a path to citizenship. It is simply no longer a tax story for most of the people who came for one. The D7 route needs only €920 a month in passive income as of January 2026, which remains one of the more accessible EU residencies.

Andorra is the accessible version of the lump-sum club: a 10% flat rate rather than zero, genuinely low cost by Western European standards, safe, and physically between France and Spain. Residency by investment runs around €600,000. It is not in the EU or the Schengen Area, which cuts both ways.

Cyprus and Malta both run non-domicile regimes exempting foreign dividends and interest from local tax for a fixed number of years, inside the EU. Both have been tightened repeatedly and both require real substance.

Time-limited holidays, not systems

These look like territorial regimes and are not. They buy you a defined number of years, after which normal rules resume — which makes them useful for a planned liquidity event and dangerous as a permanent plan.

Uruguay is the one to read carefully. Foreign active income is untaxed, but foreign passive income — dividends, interest, foreign rent, some capital gains — is taxable at 12% unless you hold a valid new-resident exemption. That exemption covers the year of residency plus ten more, 11 years in total. The 2026 reform reshaped qualification into three routes: 183+ days a year with no investment required, real estate above roughly US$2 million, or US$100,000 a year into the new National Innovation Fund for 11 consecutive years. Genuinely stable and pleasant, but understand you are buying a clock.

Chile grants new foreign residents a three-year exemption on foreign income, extendable to six. After that, worldwide taxation resumes in full.

Stopped working

Thailand used to be a standard recommendation because foreign income was untaxed if you waited until the following calendar year to remit it. That loophole closed on 1 January 2024. Foreign income earned from that date is taxable at 5–35% when remitted, whenever it is remitted. Thailand remains a fine place to live. It is no longer a tax strategy, and a lot of content on the internet has not caught up.

Portugal for crypto — see above. Repealed in 2023, still repeated constantly.

Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador never worked in the first place. All tax residents on worldwide income.

Before you pick one

The jurisdiction you are moving to is usually the easy half. The hard half is leaving properly: most countries have exit taxes, deemed-disposal rules on departure, and “centre of vital interests” tie-breakers in their treaties specifically designed to catch people who moved on paper. A residency certificate from Paraguay does not help if your family, your home and your economic life are demonstrably still in Germany.

Get advice in the country you are leaving before you get excited about the country you are joining.

General information only — not tax, legal or immigration advice. Tax rules change frequently and the details that matter depend on your citizenship, residency history and asset mix. Verify against the primary sources linked above and retain a qualified adviser before acting.