Spanish Tax Grab, Revolut Becomes Largest Bank in Lithuania and we Celebrate a Late EU Summer

1 Revolut is now Lithuania’s Largest Bank – and the EU’s Largest Private Tech Company

Unless you’ve been living under a financial rock for the last five years, you’ve probably noticed the rise of so-called Neo-Banks. Effectively, digital banks that offer no high street branch.

Possibly the most famous example is Wise (formally Transferwise). There are many other entrance to the market, however, especially in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

These tech startups came to light when a niche in the market was created by rapid technological advancements.

Increased security features such as facial scanning, two factor authentication and increased KYC and AML procedures meant that regulators would allow a non-physical presence for banking.

Customers enjoyed lower fees, instant transfers, and more importantly, a more user-friendly experience. As a result the popularity of these banks has boomed.

Most people don’t know though that one of the leading examples, Revolut, started its life in Lithuania.

The company seems to play down it’s Eastern European roots, focusing on the big money and “credibility” that a presence in the City of London has given them, despite both founders of the company being locals to the Baltics. I think it’ s natural though, that they returned to their roots, and obtained their first European banking license through the central bank in Lithuania.

Recently, it’s been announced that Revolut has become Lithuania’s largest bank, in under five years.

What’s even more remarkable about this particular story, is that the company’s still privately owned, and now valued it over €45 billion.

It’s going to be one hell of a public listing when these boys finally climb down off their super yacht, and let the rest of us take an equity stake.

As a bit of a unicorn hunter myself though, I have to say that stories like this reinforce my own decision to use Lithuania as a home-base for Europe.

Revolut is just one example, of a booming local tech sector, thriving economy, and fantastic lifestyle. And I for one am grateful the lovely Lithuanians that let me sprinkle my own modest tax dollar at local eateries, cigar lounges and the odd tank driving range (yep – I said TANK).

2 Tax Take: Why the Smart Money’s “Going Offline”

A couple of people enquiring about our services over the past year have turned detective to verify I’m alive, and I guess not scamming them, or trying to.

Almost always this ends in tears, for them anyway. I simply have no digital footprint.

Not because I’m a phantom (as many of you have shared a bottle or two with me now know), but because my life is mine. Private. All for me. And I want to keep it that way.

You probably have no interest in the eggs I ate on Sunday, any more than I have an interest that your second grade teacher just died. Thus, (anti)social media has never been my thing. I missed the boat, not by design, simply as I didn’t care enough. Anyone that wanted to lunch with me, message me, abuse me, or send me pics of their kids, found a way, and vise versa.

Now it seems I’m not alone (and at times it has seemed lonely to be fair). Many of our clients (and others yet to have the privilege) are leaving the online world in droves. Ai has taken data harvesting to new levels and in the article I share today, you can see exactly why, in my humble opinion, it’s still a really good idea to stay as analogue as possible.

In the latest news, the HMRC in the UK is now using a range of intrusive legislation backed by Ai and our friends at social media and online retail giants to track, and attack unsuspecting people going about their lives and making the mistake of, for example, selling more than £1000 worth of second hand clothes (or one designer handbag) on Vinted in a year.

HMRC now will class those people (often without them knowing it) as “Traders”, an insist they file the relevant tax return, pay tax on their sold junk, and/or face the consequences (and possible penalties) for not knowing about it.

Now, in no way am I suggesting we shouldn’t pay our fair share. But what is our fair share, is getting increasingly hard to understand.

When tax rates approach 50%, 60% or even higher in real terms, that effectively means we are working for six or seven months of every year, for someone else, without pay. Perhaps that’s fair. You be the judge.

As an organisation, of course we would never encourage, or facilitate tax avoidance.

But what I do know after years of working in this space, is that the rich get richer whilst us poor, get poorer. And for one very good reason. They structure their earnings in a way that is “compliant“, while actually paying very little in hard, money terms. Just look at the headline rates companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon actually pay.

I get that this article may be a little off-topic, in terms of gaining European residency. Although… Perhaps, it isn’t?

Many of our clients are enjoying significant tax savings, simply by becoming European tax resident. Some EU countries, such as Lithuania offer a structured tax approach from a little as 6% on company profits. Couple that with perhaps slightly less posting of your latest trip to Louis Vuitton in Paris, and your home government may just decide to tax the hell out of some other poor bugger at home, who perhaps didn’t take the first step to greater freedom, and a better life as a global citizen, than you did.

3 We Celebrate Vilnius Day 2025!

Lithuania’s capital came alive on the weekend, with the whole CBD saturated in music, carnival rides, handicraft stalls, and sports activities for the whole family…

Every year the city comes together, and people travel from all over Europe to celebrate Vilnius, one of the oldest cities in the region.

Fun fact – Vilnius was once the capital of Europe’s largest empire (under Lithuanian rule). To be fair, we’re going back a bit in terms of years, but the locals don’t seem to mind, and still find ways to drink litres of mead and homebrew cider to celebrate.

4 Spanish Tax Grab: “Spain’s mafia-like taxman won’t leave expats like us alone”

I really hate being repetitive, so my apologies for this being the second article in one newsletter about taxes!

I couldn’t really avoid throwing this one in as well though, for all of our readers whose goal is residency in Europe, and who have, or are considering Spain as their base.

As I’ve said many times to people lately, we should think about European residency, as just that. European.

Of course, you need to domicile your residency in a particular country, however, with visa free travel throughout Europe (once you’re resident in one of the states), in all practical terms, as long as you don’t abuse the system, you can move and live freely in the union for at least a good chunk of each year.

Many of our clients have enjoyed getting a home-base “lock and leave”, in Lithuania, for example, while spending several months in Spain for the warmer weather.

The benefit in this approach, it is obvious when you read the linked article.

When choosing a destination to become resident in Europe, most people look at the easiest route, or perhaps the fastest. Very few people go a layer deeper and consider the taxes.

Or the general spirit or attitude of the government or people in that country at the time. Spain, for example is becoming particularly unfriendly to ex-pats. Whilst government websites still offer attractive Visa options, in all reality, the bureaucracy is a nightmare and processing can be delayed months, or even years. If ultimately successful, you then have to deal with local taxes and bureaucracy. If that wasn’t bad enough, they now seem to be aggressively going after global assets and income as well.

Conversely, Lithuania for example, has no double taxation agreement with Australia, for example, and thus no default information sharing. The tax rates in Lithuania are also significantly lower (from 6% to around 15% with the right structure) than some of the large European countries such as Spain, France or Italy.

The smart money seems to shop around for a clean, safe, affordable base, and obtains residency on the basis of it being a tax friendly jurisdiction, then enjoys those tax savings living their best life throughout Europe.

If you’d like to know more about tax efficient structures in the EU, which also offer full resident access to all 27 EU member states, book some time in my calendar below.

https://calendly.com/baltic_capital/gateway-to-europe-meet-up

5 Charming Wooden Garden House – for €89k

FOR SALE:

Price: 89 000 Eur

GARDEN HOUSE FOR SALE WITH A 7.4 ACRES PLOT NEAR THE FOREST IN A QUIET LOCATION

• Plot area: 7.39 acres
• 2-story brick house with a basement, total area 87.18 sq. m.
• The plot also has a large greenhouse and an 11 sq. m. farm building
  
  (There is an opportunity to purchase the adjacent unfinished residential house)

LAYOUT:

• Basement: sauna and swimming pool.
• First floor: room, kitchen, bathroom, hallway.
• Second floor: large room, balcony.

OTHER ADVANTAGES:

• Newly replaced roof
• Good windows, security doors.
• Heating: electric radiators, solid fuel stove
• Electricity: available.
• Water: well (with pump)
• Equipped kitchen, neat bathroom,
• Sauna in the basement, previously used as a swimming pool.
• Flat, neat plot.

LOCATION:

• Near a forest and river, very quiet location
• Only 1 km of unpaved road to reach the house
• Convenient access by car
• Only 1.3 km to public transport stop
• 5.5 km to Maxima, Iki, Norfa, and Lidl stores

Website for the sales listing –

https://m.aruodas.lt/namai-vilniaus-rajone-viktariskiu-k-prekybos-2-oji-g-parduodamas-sodo-namas-su-aru-sklypu-2-1709006/?center=1&search_pos=173&return_url=%2Fnamai%2Fvilniuje%2Fpuslapis%2F7%2F%3Fchange_region%3D1%26FRadius%3D20%26FBuildingType%3Dbox%252Cgarden_house%252Csummerhouse%26FPriceMax%3D100000%26obj%3D2%26FRegion%3D461%26FDistrict%3D1#gallery