XJuly 6, 2026
4 years. 17 years.
Same wealthy expat, same foreign income, same continent. The main difference is which European tax regime they picked.
Everyone compares the rate. Almost nobody prices the clock. And the clock is where the real gap sits.
Here is where five of Europe's headline regimes land, longest to shortest, measured in years before the shelter ends:
Cyprus non-dom: 17 years, now extendable to 27
Italy: 15 years
Greece: 15 years
Portugal IFICI: 10 years
UK FIG: 4 years
And these five at least have an expiry date. Malta, Ireland and Switzerland run open-ended remittance or lump-sum logic with no fixed clock, which is its own kind of bet.
The UK is the outlier that matters. In April 2025 it scrapped a regime that had run for over 200 years and replaced it with a 4-year window. After year four, worldwide income at up to 45 percent outside Scotland.
These regimes are not the same shelter. Cyprus covers dividends and passive interest. Italy and Greece cap foreign income for a flat fee. Portugal only fits specific professions. But every one of the five carries an end date, and the year it lands decides whether the move ever paid off.
A 40-year-old moving to Cyprus is sheltered to 57, or 67 if they buy the extensions. The same person under the UK regime is fully taxable at 44. Thirteen years of difference, minimum, on the identical decision.
Optimise the rate and you set this year's bill. Optimise the clock and you set the exit plan. Most people never look at the second one.
Which would you take: a low rate that expires in 4 years, or a higher effective rate that holds for 17?
Data from GeoCompass, the jurisdiction intelligence layer I build at Lucky Nomads.
Cyprus
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Malta
Portugal
Switzerland
United Kingdom