Episode 084 – How I Moved to Bulgaria to Pay 10% Income Tax | Paul Otto
Hello everyone! Today Araminta talks with Paul, a German who is living in Sofia, Bulgaria. He used to be a professional poker player and he talks with us about his very interesting journey and why and how he moved there. Enjoy!
We also talk about:
- Online poker
- Tax Havens
- Tax residencies in Europe
- Cyrillic alphabet
- Advice for moving to Sofia
- Cryptocurrency
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From professional poker to a coaching business
Paul is 30 and moved from Germany to Scotland and then to Bulgaria: he became a professional online poker player and moving to Scotland allowed him to have his gambling earnings legal and tax-free. He then started a poker coaching business, and his tax rates changed consequently: hence the move to Bulgaria, where almost everything is taxed 10%.
Settling down in Eastern Europe
Many factors played a role in Paul’s choice of Bulgaria – and Sofia in particular – as his destination to settle down: of course taxation was high on the list, but also the fact that the Sofia airport is very well connected, cost of living and so on. Once he targeted Sofia he went there, checked that everything was ok, then found an apartment, hired an accountant to set everything up, opened a local bank account and he was good to go. How easy many of the steps were compared ot other European countries was a plus as well.
Advice for digital nomads around Europe
Paul shares his experience in the digital nomad lifestyle and explains how remaining in Europe is the best choice for him, considering also how easy can be to switch back and the difficulties to move finances and assets to and from the EU space compared to having a tax residency within that space. The indicators he considered when moving to Bulgaria bring very interesting insights on the process as well.