Industry · Coaches & Course Creators
Cyprus for online coaches and course creators — 6/7-figure structures, properly built
If you're running a Kajabi / Teachable / Stan / Skool funnel at €0.5–€5m/yr, Cyprus is structurally the best EU answer for your business: 15% corporate, ~3% via the IP Box on owned course IP, 0% non-dom on the dividends you draw.
The Cyprus stack
Same three layers, applied to online coaches & course creators
Cyprus Ltd
Corporate income tax (2026)
15%
+ IP Box
Qualifying-IP effective rate
~3%
+ Non-dom founder
SDC on dividends, 17–27 yrs
0%
All-in for the founder
≈3% on profit · 0% on draw
15%
Corporate tax on course revenue
~3%
IP Box on owned course IP
0%
Non-dom on dividends
What you save
Worked example: €1.2m-revenue mastermind / cohort coach, 60% net margin
Cohort-based coaching at €1,200,000 revenue, 60% net margin = €720,000 profit. Founder draws €350,000/yr, reinvests rest into ads. Compares Spanish autónomo + SL structure (current) versus Cyprus Ltd with founder relocated as non-dom.
Illustrative figures based on the Cyprus 2026 framework. Your actual outcome depends on home country, structure, family situation and substance — modelled on the call.
Annual net saving
€86,000+ / year
Over the 17-year non-dom window: ≈ €1.5m without IP Box; ~€2.0m with the IP Box claimed on owned course content.
Today
- Profit before tax€720,000
- Spanish corporate tax (~25%)−€180,000
- Net for dividends€540,000
- Spanish personal tax on €350k dividends (~26%)−€91,000
- Net to founder€259,000
After Cyprus
- Profit before tax€720,000
- Cyprus corporate tax (15%)−€108,000
- Net for dividends€612,000
- Cyprus non-dom SDC on €350k dividend€0
- GESY 2.65% (capped)−€4,770
- Net to founder€345,230
Why Cyprus, specifically
Three things Cyprus does for online coaches & course creators that nowhere else in the EU does at once.
Tax
15% corporate tax on course / coaching revenue
Legal
Proper terms, refund policy, IP ownership
Banking & Ops
Stripe / Kajabi / Teachable / Skool ready
“Philippou Law Firm made registering my company incredibly easy. The whole process was handled remotely and everything was done in 2 weeks. Highly recommended!”
How it works
Three steps from decision to operational.
Strategy call + scope
We map your funnel (ad spend, course price, refund rate, ARPU), your current legal structure, and your tax exposure. Honest answer on whether Cyprus is right for you, written scope within 24h.
Cyprus Ltd live
Incorporation, tax & VAT registration, OSS opt-in. Memorandum & Articles configured. Banking application started in parallel.
Banking + Stripe + Kajabi switched
Cyprus banking live. Stripe payee changed to Cyprus Ltd. Kajabi / Teachable / Stan / Skool merchant changed. EU OSS active.
Total realistic timeline: 2–3 months from decision to fully operational, with most of that being your own travel and apartment-hunting rather than the legal work.
vs the alternatives
Why Cyprus over Malta, Estonia, the UAE and Portugal — for online coaches & course creators.
vs Malta. Malta's 6/7 refund mechanism produces a similar net rate (~5%) but only crystallises on dividend distribution and after a 12-month refund cycle, with banking that is materially harder to onboard. Cyprus is a flat 15% headline with the IP Box adding genuine ~3% effective for qualifying software income — simpler to defend, faster to bank.
vs Estonia. Estonia's deferred-tax regime is elegant for purely retained-profit businesses but levies 22% on every distribution — meaning when you draw cash, you pay. Cyprus non-dom dividends are 0% for 17–27 years. For founders who actually want to take money out, Cyprus wins.
vs UAE. The UAE's 9% corporate rate and 0% personal tax are attractive — but it is non-EU, GDPR-foreign and increasingly procurement-blocked by EU enterprise customers over Schrems II. Cyprus gives you the EU passport, native GDPR status and common-law contracts in English — without giving up much on the tax side.
vs Portugal. Portugal's NHR closed to new applicants in 2024. Its IFICI successor is narrow and excludes most pure digital-revenue businesses. Cyprus's non-dom is statutory law with bipartisan stability, recently strengthened (not weakened) by the 2026 reform with the 27-year extension election.
What we actually do
The full scope, fixed-fee, signed before any payment.
One licensed Cyprus lawyer accountable end-to-end. No hand-offs, no hourly billing, no surprise disbursements. Each scope is signed in writing within 24 hours of the call.
Cyprus coaching / course Ltd set-up
Incorporation, registered office, beneficial-owner register, tax & VAT registrations, OSS opt-in for EU B2C course sales. Memorandum & Articles tailored to a single founder or 2-person partnership.
From €1,400 fixed
Course IP migration + IP Box readiness
Assignment of all course videos, frameworks, written content, audio programs and software tools into the Cyprus Ltd. Qualifying-asset register and nexus tracking spreadsheet handed over to your accountant for the IP Box claim.
Founder relocation + non-dom
Pink Slip (non-EU) or Yellow Slip (EU), 60-day rule structuring, non-dom certification, year-1 personal tax return locking in 0% on dividends for 17 years.
From €1,400
Course terms, refund policy, DPAs
Cyprus-law course T&Cs, EU-compliant refund policy (14-day cooling-off, exceptions for digital content), DPAs with Kajabi / Teachable / Stan, GDPR privacy notices, affiliate-program agreements.
Cyprus structuring for online coaches & course creators, done properly.
A 30-minute call with a licensed Cyprus lawyer. Honest answer on whether Cyprus fits your specific situation, written scope and fixed-fee quote within 24 hours. No obligation, no follow-up loops.
A few questions we hear most
Do my course videos qualify for the Cyprus IP Box?
If they are copyright-protected (which they are, by default) and owned by the Cyprus Ltd, with the development cost incurred by the Cyprus Ltd or by unrelated subcontractors, then yes — they are qualifying assets and you can deduct 80% of qualifying income before the 15% rate. We map your specific course library on the first call.
What about coaching itself — service revenue, not IP?
Pure 1:1 coaching is service revenue and is taxed at the headline 15% corporate rate (no IP Box uplift). What's typically structured to qualify is the course / mastermind / framework portion of revenue — where you license owned IP. Most coach P&Ls split into ~20–30% pure service, ~70–80% IP-licensed delivery, so the blended effective rate ends up well below 15%.
Can I keep my Stan / Kajabi / Teachable account or do I have to migrate?
You change the merchant of record on the platform to the Cyprus Ltd. Most platforms support this without losing your customer list, course library or analytics. We provide the documentation pack platforms ask for. Migration is typically 1–2 weeks per platform.
How does this work with US students / customers?
US sales to consumers from a Cyprus Ltd are zero-VAT (export). The Cyprus Ltd files the W-8BEN-E with any US affiliate platform that asks. You collect US sales tax only if you have nexus in a US state — which a Cyprus-based course business almost never has unless you're physically running events there.
6 more questions answered on the call. Book a slot →
Keep reading
Deeper guides for online coaches & course creators
- The Cyprus IP Box, plain EnglishWhat qualifies, how the 80% deduction works, and the documentation that survives audit.→
- Non-dom status explained simplyThe 17-year window of 0% on dividends — what it is, who qualifies, what changed in 2026.→
- Cyprus VAT & OSS for digital productsEU OSS, B2B reverse-charge, B2C destination VAT for course platforms.→
- Cyprus corporate tax 2026The complete framework: 15% rate, IP Box, group relief, 7-year loss carry-forward.→
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Page last reviewed April 2026. Estimates only — not legal, tax or financial advice.