Croatia: 7 things you should know before moving to Croatia
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00:00 Intro
01:00 Taxes
02:25 Croatia and Schengen
03:20 Croatia currency: euro and kuna
04:05 Croatian bureaucracy
04:54 Real estate in Croatia
05:57 Visa and residence permits
07:22 Business opportunities
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Taxes
Croatia has lower than average taxes than in most countries in the European Union. So in the sense of taxes, living in Croatia is better than living in most Western European countries. Especially countries with extremely high taxes such as France or Sweden.
Capital gains tax are low at a rate of ?%, which can be great if you are a stock investor or if you want to invest in real estate. This is in my opinion the best advantage of the Croatian tax system.
If you want to work as a freelancer, or if you work remotely for companies abroad, the situation is also favorable. Pausalni obrt is an option, with very low relative overall income tax, as well as social contributions at a rate of roughly 15% including all of that.
The highest bracket of personal income tax is 30%. Much lower than some countries in the region like Slovenia, where the highest bracket is 50%.
Schengen
Despite being a member of the European Union, Croatia is still not a member of the Schengen free movement area.
That means that in other words, all passengers must go through immigration when arriving or exiting Croatia.
There are advantages and disadvantages to that. The disadvantage is that you will always waste more time exiting or entering Croatia, regardless if you are driving, riding the train or flying.
The advantage is that, if you are a non-EU citizen coming from a visa exempt country such as the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Israel and a few other countries, you have the 90 days to stay in the Schengen area as usual, but also more 90 days to stay in Croatia.
Currency
Croatia has joined the euro as of 2023.
Bureaucracy
The level of bureaucracy is one of the huge disadvantages of Croatia. Getting anything done, both at an individual or corporate level is usually a long, burdensome process with many steps involved being redundant, the most pure bureaucracy.
The good news is that this is slowly changing, and a number of processes can now be done online. Compared to the Croatian bureaucracy of 5 years ago, things have improved sharply.
Two good examples of the Croatian inefficient bureaucracy are building permits and residence permits.
Real Estate
Real estate in Croatia can be divided in basically three price categories:
The first category encompasses real estate at the seaside. That includes all major cities on the Croatian coast such as Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Rijeka, Pula, as well as smaller towns at the seaside. This is the most expensive place to buy real estate in Croatia.
Visa and Residence Permits
Visa and residence permits is one of the most critical categories if you are planning a move to Croatia.
If you are an EU citizen, no problem, you can just come to Croatia and register your stay.
If you are not an EU citizen, Croatia is one of the most difficult countries in Central and Eastern Europe to get a residence permit. Residence permits in Croatia are less flexible than even a number of Western European countries such as Italy, Portugal and Spain.
Business opportunities
The GDP of Croatia is heavily dependent on tourism, at around 20% of the GDP. So, if you want to do business in Croatia, one of the best options is to invest in tourism. Activities such as rental cars, all types of stays including airbnb, hostel, hotels. And finally coffee and restaurants.
Croatia is also a great place if you work online, as I have mentioned income taxes in the country are favorable. Being Croatia part of the EU it is relatively easy to work with companies from all the bloc.
