Tax analysis
Cross-country comparisons and structures, built on the country profiles and their official sources.
The total tax burden on distributed profit: 29 countries ranked (2026)The same €100 of company profit reaches its owner after roughly 5% total tax in Malta and almost 55% in Denmark. This ranking combines corporate income tax and the shareholder-level dividend tax for all 27 EU countries, the UK and the US.Read →Malta’s 5% effective corporate tax: how the 6/7 refund worksMalta has the EU’s highest statutory corporate tax — 35% — and its lowest effective one. On distribution, shareholders claim back 6/7 of the tax paid on trading profit, cutting the real burden to about 5%, and the full-imputation system means no further tax on the dividend.Read →Cyprus: 0% dividend tax for non-domiciled residentsFor a company owner willing to move, Cyprus offers the EU’s cleanest personal exit: a resident without Cypriot domicile pays no tax on dividends at all. Combined with the 15% corporate rate, the all-in burden on distributed profit is 15%. Dividends flowing in from other countries keep their low source-country rate.Read →0% corporate tax while profit stays in the company: Estonia and LatviaEstonia and Latvia are the only EU countries where corporate profit is untaxed until it leaves the company — 0% on retained or reinvested profit, for companies of any size, indefinitely. The tax arrives only on distribution: 22% in Estonia, 20% in Latvia, with no further tax at the shareholder.Read →Hungary as a holding location: 9% corporate tax, 0% withholdingHungary charges the EU’s lowest corporate income tax at 9% and, unusually, levies no withholding tax at all on dividends, interest or royalties paid to non-resident companies. Most EU states grant 0% only under the Parent–Subsidiary Directive’s holding conditions or a treaty; Hungary grants it unilaterally, to corporate recipients anywhere.Read →Why foreign corporations choose IrelandOur distributed-profit ranking puts Ireland near the bottom: roughly 48% by the time dividends reach a resident owner. Yet Ireland is one of the densest hubs for multinational headquarters in Europe. The contradiction disappears once you see who Ireland is built for — groups, not owners.Read →Why Interactive Brokers left Hungary for IrelandAfter Brexit, Interactive Brokers spread its EU business across three new hubs: Dublin, Luxembourg and Budapest, where the group already had a strong team and Hungary offered the EU’s lowest corporate tax at 9%. In September 2023 it announced the Hungarian brokerage would fold into the Irish one. Between those two dates, two tax events rewired the calculation.Read →Deduct at 30%, pay tax at 9%: intra-group interest and the rules that cap itEvery euro of interest a German operating company pays to a group lender reduces profit taxed at roughly 30%, and Germany withholds nothing on most interest leaving the country. If the lender sits in Hungary, the same euro is taxed at 9% on arrival. That 21-point spread per euro is the oldest structure in international tax, and a stack of rules now exists specifically to cap it.Read →Italy’s 1.2% dividend withholding for EU companiesItaly’s standard dividend withholding for non-residents is 26%. But if the recipient is a company subject to corporate tax in an EU or EEA state, the rate drops to 1.2%: no minimum holding, no waiting period. For corporate portfolio stakes in Italian companies, that turns one of Europe’s heavier withholding taxes into one of its lightest.Read →Romania’s 1% tax on turnover: the micro-enterprise regime in 2026A Romanian micro-enterprise pays 1% of its turnover instead of the 16% corporate tax — the lowest company-level burden in the EU for a profitable small business. From 2026 the regime is tighter: revenue up to €100,000, at least one employee, and the old 3% tier is gone.Read →US LLCs and a country without VAT: what the US system offers European foundersThe United States runs on different plumbing: no VAT anywhere in the system, a flat 21% federal corporate tax, and an entity, the LLC, that by default pays no tax itself and passes everything to its owner. Each of those differences creates an opening for a European business, and each has a sharp edge.Read →€6,700 or €105,000? The VAT registration gap and the EU SME schemeHow much can a small business sell before it must charge VAT? In Denmark, about €6,700 a year. In the UK, about €105,000 — sixteen times more. And since 2025 the answer has a new twist: under the EU SME scheme, a company established in one member state can use another member state’s domestic threshold, up to €100,000 of EU-wide turnover.Read →
This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Rates and deadlines change — always verify against the linked laws and official sources, or ask a licensed advisor, before acting.