EU exit tax cheatsheet — six jurisdictions compared

Most founders moving from Europe to Thailand or Paraguay don’t owe an exit tax. They worry about it for months before discovering they’re well under the threshold and the home authority just wants the paperwork filed. A small minority — shareholders with substantial holdings, founders who built and are about to sell — do owe one, and need a structured plan before the move date.

This is the one-page cheatsheet we use with members. Eight jurisdictions, the legal basis for each exit-tax regime, the thresholds that actually apply, and the form you file on the way out.

What is an exit tax — and who has one

An exit tax is a tax levied at the moment a person ceases to be a tax resident of a country, designed to capture unrealised gains that would otherwise escape the home tax base. Not every European country has one, and the ones that do almost always target shareholders with substantial holdings, not salaried or freelance income.

The eight European jurisdictions where CERØ runs exits, ranked by exit-tax severity for a founder with €5M in private company shares:

The pattern: the four most aggressive regimes (Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands) target shareholders. Salaried and freelance earners almost never trigger them. Portugal and Italy don’t levy a personal exit tax at all. The UK is procedurally light at the door but bites hard if the founder returns within five years.

Germany — the strictest of the eight

The §6 Wegzugsteuer is the most demanding regime in the table. Three conditions stack:

1. The taxpayer holds a direct or indirect shareholding of 1% or more in a corporation (German or foreign).
2. The taxpayer has been unrestricted German tax resident for at least 7 of the last 12 years.
3. The taxpayer ceases that residency.

If all three are met, Germany deems a sale at the residency-end date. The unrealised gain — fair market value minus acquisition cost — is taxed at the personal capital gains rate, currently ~25% plus the solidarity surcharge plus (where applicable) church tax. For a founder with €5M in shares acquired at €100k, the deemed gain is €4.9M and the tax bill lands around €1.25M before instalment relief.

Since 2022 the deferral mechanism is tighter. Pre-2022, moving to an EU/EEA jurisdiction permitted indefinite interest-free deferral. The ATAD-Umsetzungsgesetz killed that. Today the deferral is granted only against acceptable security (a bank guarantee or insurance bond covering the tax liability) and can be settled in five equal annual instalments. Moves to Thailand or Paraguay — both outside the EU/EEA — never qualified for the old indefinite deferral and now require the same instalment-or-security structure.

The path most CERØ German members use: sell down to under 1%, hold the rest through a Stiftung or non-German holding structure prior to the move date, and execute the residency shift in a year when the deemed gain is structurally minimised. The detail matters; we co-build it with German tax counsel before the visa is filed.

Spain — the threshold rules out most

Article 95 bis of the Spanish IRPF Law applies a deemed-sale tax on unrealised gains when a long-term Spanish tax resident leaves the country and their share portfolio crosses one of two thresholds:

• Total market value of shareholdings > €4,000,000, or
• Shareholding ≥ 25% of a company worth > €1,000,000.

Plus the residency precondition: at least 10 of the previous 15 years as Spanish tax resident.

For most freelancers earning €60–200k a year from self-employed income, Article 95 bis does not apply. They have no qualifying shareholdings, or the shareholdings sit below the threshold. The Modelo 030 declaration of departure is the only paperwork that matters; the substantive exit-tax bill is zero.

For a founder who built a Spanish company worth €2M and owns 100%, the Article 95 bis bill on a €1.9M deemed gain at 23% effective lands around €437k. The mitigation strategy is the same shape as Germany: restructure before the move, sell or transfer below the 25% threshold, or relocate the operating entity to a non-Spanish structure 12+ months ahead of the residence change.

United Kingdom — no exit tax, but a five-year clawback

The UK is the outlier. There is no classical exit tax. The Statutory Residence Test (Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45) determines residency for the year, and the P85 form notifies HMRC of departure. So far, so light.

The bear trap is §10A of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 — the temporary non-residence rules. If a UK tax resident leaves, becomes non-resident, sells assets while non-resident, and then returns to UK residency within five complete tax years, the gains realised during the non-residence period are deemed to arise in the year of return and taxed by HMRC at that point.

For a founder selling a UK company for £10M after departure, the question is whether the founder stays out for the full five tax years. If they return early, the gain is clawed back. If they stay out, the gain is permanently outside the UK tax net.

The procedural exit is faster than Germany or Spain. The risk is the unspoken five-year horizon.

France — deferral if you stay close, security if you move far

Article 167 bis of the CGI taxes a deemed disposal of shares when a French tax resident emigrates and either holds shares worth €800,000+ or controls 50%+ of a company. The flat rate is 30% (12.8% income tax + 17.2% social contributions, 2026 brackets).

The key feature is the deferral. If the move is to an EU/EEA state with a French tax-cooperation treaty, the deferral is automatic. After eight years, if the shares are still held, the tax is cancelled. If the move is outside the EU/EEA — Thailand, Paraguay — the founder must post a financial guarantee to access the deferral.

Most CERØ French members fall under the 50% threshold (freelance, multi-shareholder startups), and the €800k threshold rarely fires alone. For larger cases, the guarantee structure is workable and the eight-year clock provides a clean horizon.

Netherlands — the conserverende aanslag

A 5%+ shareholding in a company triggers the Dutch conserverende aanslag at the moment of emigration. The unrealised gain is assessed but not collected immediately. The assessment is “preserved” for ten years. If during that decade the shares are sold, dividends paid, or capital reduced, the corresponding tax becomes due.

For founders moving to Thailand or Paraguay, the conserverende aanslag is workable provided the move date is chosen carefully and the holding is not the imminent exit. Like the UK temporary non-residence rules, the structure favours founders who can wait out the holding period.

Portugal, Italy and Belgium — much lighter

Portugal has no personal exit tax. Italy has no personal exit tax (the TUIR 166-bis only catches businesses migrating their tax seat). Belgium’s exit-tax regime targets deemed distributions of movable income in some structured holdings but rarely affects salary or freelance income.

For founders moving from these three jurisdictions, the exit paperwork is the only substantive concern. Portugal: AT online residency change. Italy: AIRE consular registration within 90 days. Belgium: BRP-equivalent emigration declaration.

The filing sequence that matters

The single most common mistake CERØ sees from members who attempted the exit alone is filing the home-country paperwork after the new tax residency is established. The home authority then has a gap — a period where the taxpayer was no longer paying home tax but the new tax residency had not been formally communicated. That gap is the audit trigger.

The correct sequence:

1. Day –30: Open the new tax residency (bank, visa, lease).
2. Day 0 (departure): File the home-country change-of-residence form before boarding the plane.
3. Day +60 to +90: New country issues the tax-residency certificate (Paraguay) or qualifies for the 180-day rule (Thailand).
4. Spring of year after departure: Final partial-year home-country return is filed, attaching the new-country tax-residency certificate as evidence.
5. Years 1–5 after departure: Maintain the documentary trail. Audits land at 3–5 years out.

The CERØ exit playbook builds this sequence around each member’s specific country and shareholding situation. The thresholds in this cheatsheet narrow the question — most readers will discover their exit-tax exposure is zero. For the minority where it is not, the planning happens before the move date, never after.

Where to go from here

If you want the per-country drilldown on the exit form and timing for your jurisdiction, see the existing guides on leaving Spain tax residency, leaving Germany tax residency, or leaving UK tax residency.

If you want to put numbers on the upside before doing any of this, run the Thailand tax calculator.

If you want a 30-minute call to map your specific exit and confirm whether you fall under any of the exit-tax thresholds above, book the diagnosis call. On that call we tell you exactly which forms apply to your situation and which don’t.