How the remittance basis works
Most countries tax residents on the arising basis: foreign income is taxed in the year it is earned, wherever it is kept. A remittance basis swaps that for a test of what you bring in, so the same income is taxed only in the year, and to the extent, that it reaches the country.
Ireland's statute shows the mechanics. For a resident who is not domiciled in Ireland, tax on income from foreign securities and possessions is computed on the actual sums received in Ireland in the year, under section 71(3) of the Taxes Consolidation Act, Revenue's manual explains. Income left abroad is not exempt; it waits, and it is taxed in whatever later year it comes in.
That is the difference from territorial taxation, where foreign income stays outside the tax net even if you bring it home. Under a remittance basis it stays taxable while you live there and falls due the moment it crosses the border.
The basis only helps once you are resident in the new country. Until you have properly left your old one, it stays your tax home under the default rules for digital nomads and taxes the same foreign income whether or not you bring it anywhere.
| Rent arising in the year | €30,000 (about $34,100) |
|---|---|
| Brought into Ireland in the year | €8,000 (about $9,100) |
| Taxed in Ireland this yearAt the normal Irish rates | €8,000 (about $9,100) |
| Left abroadTaxed in the year it is brought in, if ever | €22,000 (about $25,000) |
Modeled on the worked example in Revenue's remittance basis manual, a US-domiciled resident taxed only on the rent he brings in.
Countries with a remittance basis in 2026
At least 6 countries still use a remittance basis in 2026. Malta, Ireland and Barbados tie it mainly to domicile, giving it to residents whose permanent home is legally elsewhere, which makes it the core of non-dom status; Thailand, Mauritius and Japan tie it to residence or to years in the country instead.
Remittance basis regimes, checked October 12, 2026
| Country | Who gets it | Foreign income taxed when | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malta | Residents not domiciled or not ordinarily resident | Received in Malta; foreign capital gains never taxed | €5,000 (about $5,690) minimum tax once foreign income reaches €35,000 (about $39,800) and not all of it is brought in |
| Ireland | Residents not domiciled in Ireland | Brought into Ireland | Pay for duties done in Ireland is taxed in full |
| Thailand | Residents (180 days or more in the calendar year) | Brought in, in any year, if earned from January 1, 2024 | Work done in Thailand is Thai income wherever it is paid |
| Mauritius | Residents | Received in Mauritius or dealt with there for you | Premium and golden visas: foreign card spending is not a remittance |
| Barbados | Residents not domiciled in Barbados | To the extent a benefit is obtained in Barbados | Domiciled residents are taxed on worldwide income |
| Japan | Non-permanent residents (non-Japanese, 5 years or less in the last 10) | Paid in Japan or remitted to Japan | Ends after 5 years of residence in 10 |
| United Kingdom | Nobody since April 6, 2025 | Older income is still taxed when brought in | Replaced by the 4-year FIG regime |
The UK: remittance basis abolished in April 2025
The UK's remittance basis ended on April 6, 2025, and UK residents are now taxed on foreign income as it arises. People who arrive after at least 10 consecutive tax years of non-residence can claim the 4-year FIG regime instead, which exempts qualifying foreign income and gains whether or not they come to the UK, HMRC's helpsheet HS266 explains.
Foreign income and gains that arose to a former remittance basis user before April 6, 2025 are still taxed at the usual rates if brought into the UK later, unless designated under the Temporary Repatriation Facility at 12% for 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027, and 15% for 2027 to 2028, HMRC's helpsheet HS264 says.
Malta: tax on what reaches Malta
Malta taxes residents who are not domiciled there, or not ordinarily resident, on foreign income only when it is received in Malta, and does not tax their foreign capital gains even if they are brought in, under article 4 of the Income Tax Act.
A non-dom whose foreign income is €35,000 (about $39,800) or more, and who does not bring all of it into Malta, pays at least €5,000 (about $5,690) a year, under article 56(27) of the same act. Nationals of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who apply by December 31, 2026 can still join the Global Residence Programme, which taxes remitted foreign income at 15% with a €15,000 (about $17,100) minimum under its rules, and keep those terms until December 31, 2031.
From January 1, 2027, the Individual Tax Programme Rules, 2026 replace it and the matching Residence Programme for EU, EEA and Swiss nationals: the same 15% on remitted income, but a €35,000 (about $39,800) minimum and a home bought for at least €700,000 (about $796,000) or rented for at least €14,000 (about $15,900) a year, PwC's Malta summary reports.
Each of these routes covers only income that can stay abroad. Fees for work done in Malta are Maltese income and taxed however they are paid, which leaves Malta's non-dom regime useful for dividends, interest and rent kept abroad.
Ireland: non-doms taxed on foreign income they bring in
Ireland applies the remittance basis to residents who satisfy Revenue that they are not domiciled in Ireland, with no time limit, Revenue's manual on the remittance basis says.
Work done in Ireland is outside it. Since January 1, 2006, pay from a foreign employment for duties performed in Ireland is taxed in full under PAYE, and only the part for duties done abroad can still use the remittance basis, so a remote employee who works the whole year from Cork pays Ireland's normal rates on all of it.
Savings from before the move get a concession. Under a long-standing Revenue practice, income earned abroad before January 1 of the year you become Irish resident is not taxed even if you bring it in later.
Thailand: foreign income from 2024 is taxed when brought in
Thailand moved to a stricter remittance rule in 2024. Foreign income is taxed when it was earned from January 1, 2024 onward by someone who spent 180 days or more in Thailand that year, and it is then brought into Thailand, even in a later year, the Revenue Department's guide for foreigners states.
Foreign income earned before January 1, 2024 comes in tax free at any time, and so does foreign income from a year in which you were not Thai resident. A partial transfer is taxed in proportion, and tax paid abroad can be credited only where Thailand has a tax treaty with the source country, of which it has 61, the Revenue Department's 2025 manual notes.
None of this covers work done in Thailand, which is taxed whether it is paid inside or outside the country, so the Thai rules on foreign income help only with income from work or investments abroad.
Income from your arrival year is not savings
You move to Dublin or Bangkok on July 1, 2026, and your portfolio paid dividends between January and June. That money is not savings from before the move: Ireland's concession covers only income from before January 1 of your arrival year, and Thailand taxes foreign income from any year since 2024 in which you spend 180 days or more there. Bring it in and it is taxed; live first on what you held on December 31, 2025.
Mauritius: Premium Visa earnings kept abroad pay nothing
Mauritius taxes its residents' foreign income only when it is received in Mauritius or dealt with there on their behalf, under section 5(3) of the Income Tax Act. For Premium Visa holders, and golden visa holders since the Finance Act 2026, section 73B goes further: pay for work done remotely from Mauritius counts as Mauritian income only when it is remitted, and spending in Mauritius with a foreign credit or debit card is deemed not to be a remittance.
Money paid into a Mauritian bank account is different: it is taxed unless the holder declares that tax on it was paid in their country of origin or residence. Earnings left abroad, with local bills paid by foreign card, pay 0%, the rate the Index scores for remote workers in Mauritius.
What you do bring in is taxed at the normal rates, which from the income year starting July 1, 2026 are 0% on the first MUR 500,000 (about $10,500), 10% on the next MUR 500,000 (about $10,500), 20% on the next MUR 11 million (about $232,000) and 35% above, under the Finance Act 2026.
Source: Mauritius Income Tax Act sections 5(3) and 73B, and Finance Act 2026 section 7(v) (the 2026 bands), listed under Sources
Show the numbers
| Tax due | |
|---|---|
| Nothing brought in | $0 |
| $10,000 brought in | $0 |
| $25,000 brought in | $1,840 |
| $50,000 brought in | $6,840 |
| $100,000 brought in | $16,800 |
Living on $25,000 a year sent in by transfer costs about $1,840 in tax at the 2026 bands, and nothing if the same bills are paid by foreign card.
Barbados and Japan: non-doms and non-permanent residents
Barbados taxes a resident who is not domiciled there on Barbados income and on foreign income to the extent a benefit is obtained in Barbados, while domiciled residents pay on worldwide income, PwC's Barbados summary notes. From income year 2026 the rates are 11.5% on the first BBD 50,000 (about $25,000) of taxable income and 27.5% above, under the Barbados Revenue Authority's policy note. Remote workers on the Barbados Welcome Stamp sit outside this altogether, because the stamp treats them as non-resident for income tax.
Japan applies a remittance rule to non-permanent residents: residents without Japanese nationality who have lived in Japan for 5 years or less in total over the last 10. They are taxed on income that is not foreign-source, plus foreign-source income paid in Japan or remitted to Japan, the National Tax Agency explains.
What counts as a remittance
Ireland's statute and the old UK rules define bringing money in broadly, because a rule limited to bank transfers would be easy to get around. These are the cases that catch people:
- Transfers, cash and property. A wire to a local account, cash carried in, or goods bought abroad with foreign income and brought in.
- Local costs paid from abroad. Under the UK rules, foreign income used to pay for a service provided in the UK, or used abroad to pay a UK debt, counted as remitted, HMRC's helpsheet HS264 lists.
- Loans. Ireland's section 72 taxes as a remittance a loan brought in to live on and repaid abroad from foreign income.
- Your spouse and children. Ireland treats money a non-dom passes to a spouse or civil partner abroad, which later comes into Ireland, as remitted by the non-dom; the UK rules covered spouses and children under 18 the same way.
- Income that changed form. Foreign income invested abroad stays income, so bringing in the investment or its proceeds is a remittance of that income.
- Mixed accounts. Ireland treats a transfer from an account that holds both capital and income as coming out of the income first, until all the income in it has been brought in, Revenue's manual says.
Money you held before you became resident can usually come in without tax. In Thailand that is foreign income earned before January 1, 2024 or in a year you spent under 180 days there; in Ireland, by Revenue practice, it is income from before January 1 of the year you become resident, so the months of your arrival year before you move do not count.
Setting up your accounts for a remittance basis
Works
Before moving, you split your money 3 ways: the savings you hold on December 31 before your arrival year in one account, future foreign income in a second and investment sale proceeds in a third. You live on transfers from the savings account, whose statements show that every transfer is capital held before the cutoff.
Fails
You keep one foreign account for everything and send home a monthly sum to live on. Each transfer counts as income first, so it is taxed in full while the account still holds years of savings from before the move.
Who the remittance basis suits
Of the legal ways to pay less tax as a nomad, the remittance basis is the one that rewards leaving income abroad, which makes it a tool for investors, retirees living on part of their income and people arriving with savings, rather than for people who live on what they earn.
It is the wrong tool for:
- Freelancers and remote employees, whose work in the country is local income, taxed whether or not the money comes in, except for Premium and golden visa holders in Mauritius; several countries' special tax regimes for new residents cut the rate on that work instead.
- People who spend most of what they earn, since everything brought in to live on is taxed at the normal rates.
- US citizens, who stay taxable in the US on worldwide income whatever basis the new country uses.
How to use the remittance basis without losing it
Using the remittance basis, step by step
- Check the entry test for your arrival year: not domiciled or not ordinarily resident in Malta, not domiciled in Ireland or Barbados, 180 days in Thailand in the year the income is earned, 5 years or less of residence in the last 10 in Japan.
- Record what each foreign account holds on December 31 before the year you become resident: that balance is what Ireland's concession and Thailand's non-resident-year rule leave untaxed.
- Live on that balance first, and pay new foreign income into a separate account.
- In Thailand, report foreign income brought in with your Thai income on form P.N.D. 90 or 91.
- Keep evidence of where each transfer came from, in English or Thai for Thailand, and a foreign tax payment certificate if you claim a treaty credit.
- Plan the end: Japan's treatment stops after 5 years of residence in 10, and Ireland's and Malta's last only while you keep the status that qualified you.
David's note
I would treat a remittance basis as a place to hold wealth, not a way to earn it. If most of your money is fees for your own work, the remittance basis will not shelter it in any of these countries except Mauritius, so choose the country by what it charges on that work.
