Cyprus · Tax regime
60-Day Tax Residency Rule
Reformed
Last verified July 2026
Amended for tax years from 1 January 2026: the condition requiring that the individual not be tax resident in any other state has been removed. The remaining conditions are unchanged.
The removal of the no-other-residency condition from 1 January 2026 is the most practically useful change in the entire Cyprus reform, and almost nobody is talking about it. It turns the 60-day rule from a test you could only pass by being tax resident nowhere else, a demanding and awkward negative to prove, into one you can satisfy purely on positive Cyprus facts. Any dual-residency conflicts are then left where they belong, to be resolved under treaty tie-breaker rules.
Qualifying routes
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60 days' presence plus Cyprus ties
No investment required.
The facts
- Total landed cost
- There is no government charge. The real cost is maintaining a permanent home in Cyprus, whether owned or rented, and building genuine substance through a Cyprus business, employment or directorship.
- Route type
- Tax regime, not a visa
- Physical presence
- At least 60 days in Cyprus in the tax year, and no more than 183 days in any single other state.
- Family
- Assessed individually
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable. This is a tax test, not an immigration status.
- Citizenship
- Not applicable
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- At least 60 days' physical presence in Cyprus in the tax yearNo more than 183 days present in any other single state in the tax yearCarry on business in Cyprus, be employed in Cyprus, or hold office as a director of a Cyprus tax resident company, without that connection ending during the yearMaintain a permanent home in Cyprus, whether owned or rentedFrom 1 January 2026, it is no longer necessary to prove non-residence elsewhere
What can go wrong
- Removing the condition does not remove the conflict. If two states both claim you, the treaty tie-breaker decides. It looks first at your permanent home, then your centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality. 60 days rarely wins a serious contest against a state where your family lives.
- The Cyprus tie must be real, and it must not lapse during the year. That means business activity, employment, or a directorship of a Cyprus tax resident company, sustained through to 31 December.
- The permanent home in Cyprus must be owned or rented by you, and it must be available throughout the year.
- A Cyprus tax residency certificate is not a shield against a determined foreign revenue authority. It is one input to a tie-breaker test, not the final answer.
- 60 days is a floor for the Cyprus test. It is not a safe harbour against everyone else's day-count and domicile rules.