Cyprus tax for individuals in 2026: income tax rates, non-dom, capital gains and the company rate

Cyprus is searched as a tax haven and taxed as an ordinary EU country with a few large exceptions. The scale is progressive and the top rate is 35%. What makes Cyprus different is what the scale does not reach: dividends, interest and gains on shares are outside income tax, and for a resident whose domicile is elsewhere the special defence contribution on dividends and interest does not apply either.

Everything below is read from the consolidated texts on cylaw.org on 25 and 26 October 2026: the Income Tax Law, Law 118(I)/2002, as amended by Law 244(I)/2025; the Special Contribution for the Defence of the Republic Law, Law 117(I)/2002, as amended by Law 245(I)/2025; and the Capital Gains Tax Law, Law 52/1980. cylaw.org is the Cyprus Bar Association's database, a reproduction of the official texts.

Cyprus income tax rates for individuals from 2026

The Second Schedule to the Income Tax Law sets a new scale "from the tax year 2026 onwards":

The previous scale, which still applies to 2025 and earlier, started taxing at €19,500 and reached 35% above €60,000. On the new scale, €30,000 of taxable income pays €1,600, €50,000 pays €6,900, €80,000 pays €16,300 and €120,000 pays €30,300.

Who is a Cyprus tax resident: 183 days, or the 60-day rule

Article 2 of the Income Tax Law gives two tests. A person is resident if he spends more than 183 days in Cyprus in the tax year. Or, under the 60-day rule, if cumulatively he:

• spends at least 60 days in Cyprus;
• spends no more than 183 days in any other single state;
• carries on a business, is employed or holds an office in Cyprus at any time in the year;
• and keeps a permanent home in Cyprus, owned or rented.

The 60-day rule is built for people with work or a business in Cyprus. A retiree or a remote worker for a foreign company does not meet its third condition and becomes resident only at 183 days.

Cyprus tax on dividends, interest and shares: exempt from income tax

Article 8 of the Income Tax Law exempts from income tax, among other things:

• (19) an individual's interest income in full;
• (20) dividend income;
• (22) gains from the disposal of securities.

That does not make them tax-free for everyone. Dividends and interest are the base of the special defence contribution, and that contribution is the subject of the non-dom rule below.

Cyprus non-dom: no defence contribution on dividends and interest

The Special Contribution for the Defence of the Republic Law charges dividends and interest received by a "resident", and article 2 defines a resident as a Cyprus tax resident who is also domiciled in Cyprus. A tax resident without Cypriot domicile is outside the charge. Put together with article 8 of the Income Tax Law, a non-domiciled resident's dividends and interest are taxed neither by income tax nor by the defence contribution.

The status runs until the person has been resident for seventeen of the last twenty years, when he is treated as domiciled. From 2026, article 3D, added by Law 245(I)/2025, lets a person in that position elect a fixed contribution of €50,000 a year for five years, paid as €250,000 in one sum. The same 2025 law also removed rents from the defence contribution altogether. How Cyprus compares with Malta, Greece and Portugal on this is in non-dom regimes in Europe.

Cyprus tax on foreign pensions: 5% above €5,000, or the scale

Under article 20, a resident's pension for services rendered abroad is taxed at 5% on the amount above €5,000, not added to other income, and the resident may choose each year between that and the ordinary scale. With the 2026 scale starting at €22,000, the ordinary scale is cheaper on a pension below about €27,700 a year. The detail is in retiring in Cyprus.

Cyprus tax exemptions for newcomers working in Cyprus: 50% or 25%

Two exemptions in article 8 reduce tax on income from employment or business carried on in Cyprus:

• (23A), 50% for seventeen years: half of the remuneration from employment in Cyprus is exempt for a person who was not resident for at least fifteen consecutive years before his first employment in Cyprus, starting from 1 January 2022, in any year in which the remuneration exceeds €55,000.
• (21B), 25% up to €25,000 a year: a quarter of the remuneration from employment, or the profits of a business, in Cyprus, capped at €25,000 a year, for a person who starts between 2025 and 2030, earns more than €30,000 in his first twelve months, and was not resident in the seven previous tax years.

Both are for work done in Cyprus. Whether a remote employee of a foreign company working from Cyprus counts as employed "in the Republic" is a question for a Cypriot tax adviser before relying on either.

Cyprus capital gains tax: 20% on Cyprus property only

The Capital Gains Tax Law, article 4, charges 20% on gains from the disposal of "property", which article 2 defines as immovable property in Cyprus, shares in companies that own such property, and shares in companies at least 20% of whose value comes from Cyprus property. Gains on anything else — foreign property, ordinary shares — are outside it.

Article 5 sets the exemptions:

• a lifetime allowance of €30,000 of gains for an individual, €50,000 for a farmer selling agricultural land;
• €150,000 on a main residence the owner has lived in for at least five years, on up to one and a half decares of land; the period rises to ten years for a second or later disposal of a main residence, and the exemption is lost if the home is sold more than a year after the owner stopped living in it;
• only one of the two, whichever is larger;
• no tax on gains from shares listed on a regulated market of a recognised stock exchange.

Cyprus corporate tax rate: 15%

Paragraph 2 of the Second Schedule now reads: companies "are subject to corporation tax at the rate of fifteen per cent (15%) on every euro of taxable income".

Cyprus property taxes for owners

There is no annual immovable property tax: it was abolished from 1 January 2017. Buying a new home carries VAT, at 19% or 5% for a qualifying main residence, and stamp duty was abolished from 1 January 2026. How that adds up on a purchase for permanent residency is in the Cyprus golden visa guide.

Frequently asked questions

Where this sits in the rest of the site

How Cyprus compares with other countries on non-dom is in non-dom regimes in Europe, and the Maltese scale, remittance basis and property tax in Malta tax for individuals. The investor residence route is in the Cyprus golden visa guide, the retirement route in retiring in Cyprus and remote work in the Cyprus digital nomad visa. Every figure is traced on the sources page.

If tax is part of why you are considering Cyprus

We do not give tax advice. What we do is put a person who knows what they are asking in front of a licensed adviser in Cyprus. The questions that decide this are rarely the rate. They are which residence test you will meet, whether your domicile stays outside Cyprus, and whether your home country agrees you have left. Send them through the enquiry form. We take no part in the fee.

Sources: where each figure comes from

• The 2026 scale and the 15% company rate: Law 118(I)/2002, Second Schedule, paragraphs 1(γ) and 2, as amended by Law 244(I)/2025; residence tests: article 2; exemptions for interest, dividends, securities, (21B) and (23A): article 8; foreign pensions: article 20. Consolidated text on cylaw.org, read 26 October 2026.
• The defence contribution and domicile: Law 117(I)/2002, article 2, and article 3D added by Law 245(I)/2025, as recorded in our Cyprus verification file of 22 October 2026.
• Capital gains tax: Law 52/1980, articles 2, 4 and 5, consolidated text on cylaw.org, read 26 October 2026.
• Property tax abolished: Law 24/1980, article 27, as amended by Law 86(I)/2016; stamp duty: Law 239(I)/2025. As recorded in our Cyprus verification file.
• Not published here: whether remote work for a foreign employer counts as employment in Cyprus for (21B) and (23A); deductions and allowances under the scale; and the General Healthcare System contribution.