Sweden keeps taxing your Swedish shares for 10 years after you leave. Cyprus gives you 17 years at 0%.

In plain English: a Cyprus home, a Cyprus company or role, 60+ days a year on the island, and you don’t owe tax residence anywhere else. How the 60-day rule works in practice →

1. 1

   Cut your essential ties, not just your address

   Deregistering from Skatteverket is the easy part. What actually ends Swedish tax residency is cutting the essential ties (väsentlig anknytning): your Swedish home, family still in Sweden, economic interests, directorships, Swedish business activity. If you're a Swedish citizen or were resident 10+ years, you get a 5-year presumption of continued residency — the burden is on you to prove the ties are gone. Sell or properly let the home, move the family, wind down Swedish boards and contracts before the move.

2. 2

   Handle the 10-year rule on your Swedish shares

   Sweden retains the right to tax capital gains on Swedish shares — and on shares you acquired while Swedish-resident — for 10 years after you emigrate. The Sweden-Cyprus treaty narrows this in practice, but the rule is still live and still trips up founders who sell early. Three real options: hold your shares across the 10-year window; realise gains while still Swedish resident under the 3:12 allowances; or restructure into a Cyprus holding with proper treaty and substance planning before you move.

3. 3

   Plan the closely-held (3:12) exit properly

   If you own shares in a Swedish fåmansbolag, the 3:12 rules give you a low-taxed dividend allowance (20% up to SEK 322,400 plus a salary-based slice). From 2026 the rules are simplified — the salary-withdrawal requirement is gone, look-back periods drop from 5 to 4 years, and the interest uplift on saved allowance is abolished. Timing the last 3:12 dividend before departure, and deciding whether to keep, wind up or sell the AB, is the biggest single piece of the exit.

4. 4

   Decide what happens to the Swedish AB

   A Swedish AB stays Swedish-tax-resident wherever the owner lives. Three common paths: keep it and stream dividends to you in Cyprus — the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive can take withholding to 0% on qualifying holdings; put a Cyprus holding on top and restructure gradually; or wind it down using the 3:12 allowance after a final distribution. Which fits depends on Swedish operations, IP and the unrealised gain sitting in the shares.

1. 1

   Before you move

   Get the exit side right

   The biggest relocation mistakes happen at home, not in Cyprus. Confirm when your home-country tax residency actually ends, sort out any exit-tax exposure on company shares, and decide what happens to any existing business. This is where most of the money is made or lost.

2. 2

   Month 1

   Set up the Cyprus side

   If you plan to use the 60-day rule, you need a Cyprus company and a role in it. We handle the incorporation, registered office and tax registrations so it's ready before you arrive. About 5–10 business days.

3. 3

   Month 2

   Move and file your Yellow Slip

   You arrive, rent or buy a home, and file the Yellow Slip within four months. It's inexpensive, quick, and confirms your right to be here on paper.

4. 4

   Month 2 onwards

   Build up your Cyprus days

   Whichever route you use — 60 days with ties, or 183 days — the important thing is to track presence properly from day one. A simple log, boarding passes, and receipts are enough. We tell you when you've crossed the line.

5. 5

   Year 1

   First Cyprus tax return, non-dom locked in

   At the end of your first tax year we file the return that formally registers you as a Cyprus tax resident and non-dom. From that point forward, your dividends come to Cyprus on the 0% line for the next 17 years.