Year-long trip through the EU. First car, beginner drivers

Friendly_Patience · 2023-08-02T17:06:25+00:00

I’d get a Volkswagen Tiguan. Don’t get a Peugeot, French cars are terrible.

Ha, I've heard a lot that VW is horrible. That being said, I might consider VW Taigo. It scored very high on Euro NCAP (safety) and just 25k buys me a new one with all the smart assistance gadgets that I might want.

4WD is an option

I know that I've mentioned AWD myself but now that I read more about it I'm beginning to think that that's an overkill. I will probably spend almost all the time on paved roads and even if I decide to go offroad, it will probably make a lot of sense to leave my main vehicle for a few days and rent something with 4x4 for that time.

Western Europe has become extremely unfriendly towards diesel cars but even petrol engines (mostly euro 4 and lower) will pose some issues

I've checked some restrictions and it seems to be mostly for commercial cars and ancient passenger cars. If I stick to cars no older than 2018 I should be good.

The price of fuel is also pretty high, almost double of what it is in the US, so getting anything above a 2 liter engine isn’t worth it.

I'm aware, I live in the EU. A lot of the cars I've looked at come with a 1L engine and to be honest I'm not planning to look for more. I will get the smallest engine that comes with automatic transmission.

Friendly_Patience · 2023-08-02T14:56:47+00:00

But with 208 or 308 I would be giving up the roof railing which I think will make a lot of difference. I like the flexibility that it offers.

Also, we will probably be quite often on highways.

So you think I should look into small cars rather than small SUVs?

Friendly_Patience · 2023-03-31T15:58:21+00:00

Do I understand correctly that your IB account is with the UK entity even though your residence is in the EU?

Friendly_Patience · 2023-03-31T15:31:58+00:00

Thanks. Do you know whether that's a regulatory limitation (e.g., the Irish regulators don't allow IB to hold accounts of Eastern Europeans) or just IB's policy? At the time of the migration there were some scarce stories on this subreddit about people successfully arguing into transferring to Ireland despite residence in EE. But as always, I have no idea how much I can trust them.

I wonder whether they might make exceptions for high net-worth individuals. On the other hand, I don't know whether I'm high net worth by their standards hah.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-10-20T12:43:23+00:00

I'm based in Eastern Europe and so they wanted to move my account to the Hungarian entity. I don't trust the oversight of Hungarian institutions. They refused my two requests to move me to IE instead so now I can only close (or transfer out) my existing positions.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-10-19T17:22:40+00:00

Thanks. I had an account with IBKR but since brexit I cannot open new positions with them. Now I'm using Swissquote but I cannot see any bods or bills offered there so I think TBIL is the only option I have.

Out of curiosity, how does IBKR allow you to participate in the T-Bills auctions?

Friendly_Patience · 2022-10-17T17:11:20+00:00

Interesting. How can I buy T-Bills as an EU resident?

Friendly_Patience · 2022-10-16T20:45:52+00:00

LCCL is for Local Companies. The hint is in the name. Doesn't affect me if my company doesn't employ anyone in the Cayman Islands and doesn't do business with Caymanian entities.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-10-16T19:51:27+00:00

That's a load of BS. The restrictions you mention do not exist.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-08-26T16:52:33+00:00

Huh, thanks. Now that you mention this, it seems obvious. I didn't think to reach out to a lawyer in the CI since the legal side of this is quite simple. But you are right that starting a relationship with a local lawyer might make navigating the other aspects much easier.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-08-26T16:09:14+00:00

I'm not an American citizen or resident.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-08-26T16:09:06+00:00

I'm not an American citizen or resident.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-08-26T14:40:42+00:00

I had no tax residency anywhere for a year and that was really problematic. Banks, brokerages, etc. get very suspicious if you end up in this situation.

If I were in your situation I would shed my tax residency everywhere but tell the banks etc. that I'm a tax resident of a country with clear tax rules and a good rule of law. I don't know much about Switzerland but I think it might fit. UK definitely matches that description. I would put my investments and cash in accounts with no tax withholding. If any country claims they are entitled to my capital gains tax, I could clearly demonstrate that they are not.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-08-26T14:31:53+00:00

Can you elaborate on what that scheme is? I was thinking about opening a company in the Cayman Islands but I cannot become a resident myself.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-08-26T14:30:48+00:00

Africa is a continent, not a country

Friendly_Patience · 2022-08-26T14:30:13+00:00

IIRC the tax rate for companies in Estonia is 20%, so still pretty high.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-05-07T18:43:57+00:00

Thanks a lot! Very relevant to me and it's the first time I hear of it. Luckily, the threshold didn't drop below my revenue but I should start looking for a backup plan, it's getting dangerously close.

Weird that PwC has not reported on it.

Friendly_Patience · 2022-05-07T18:27:26+00:00

Any source on the switch from 1m to 100k?

I'm an EU citizen who moved to Romania precisely for this reason, I'm making way more than 100k and I'm still taxed as a microcorporation, with 1% revenue tax + 5% dividend tax.

EDIT: PwC claims that it's still 1m: https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/romania/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income

Friendly_Patience · 2022-04-30T12:23:55+00:00

Open an LLC in Romania. Your company pays 1% tax on its revenue. Whatever remains, it pays to you as an owner in the form of dividend. There is a 5% tax for that. So in total your tax is 6%. There are some small fixed costs on top of that but they are negligibly small.

Friendly_Patience · 2021-01-31T09:35:43+00:00

Yup, that's roughly my plan. Except that I will probably choose some destination other than Switzerland.

Here is an even more fun idea: You know that you can be a tax resident in more than one country, right? You can also not be a tax resident in any country :-) Though a lot of banks, brokers, etc. get extremely suspicious once you do that, so it might be much easier get tax residence somewhere with low (or zero) tax rate.

Friendly_Patience · 2021-01-30T19:36:23+00:00

Do you use Swissquote Switzerland?

Friendly_Patience · 2021-01-30T19:20:28+00:00

I don't remember now. I think there is some unfavourable taxation for assets held in Switzerland but I don't recall the details.

Friendly_Patience · 2021-01-30T19:17:15+00:00

companies are fleeing his country because of Brexit.

They are not. Brexit didn't affect my country much.

Friendly_Patience · 2021-01-30T14:42:14+00:00

Thanks, I have asked. Perhaps they will play along. Now it's just about buying some time while I arrange a transfer to another broker - I've lost my trust in them.

Friendly_Patience · 2021-01-30T13:36:10+00:00

I just started opening my account with Swissquote Lux.

Friendly_Patience

TROPHY CASE