Non-dom in Cyprus: the T.D.38 declaration

You need this if

• You are a Cyprus tax resident, you have been resident for fewer than 17 of the last 20 years, and you receive dividends or interest.
• You have no domicile of origin in Cyprus — the ordinary case for someone who moved here as an adult. That is option 2 on the form.
• You have a Cyprus domicile of origin but keep a domicile of choice abroad and were non-resident here for at least 20 consecutive years (option 1(a)), or you were non-resident in every year from 1995 to 2014 (option 1(b)).
• You already hold a Tax Department ruling on your domicile: circular 2017/3 says the forms are filed anyway, with the ruling attached.

You do not need this if

• Your income is salary, pension or business profit. The defence contribution does not reach those at all, so there is nothing for the declaration to exempt.
• You have been a Cyprus tax resident for at least 17 of the last 20 years. The proviso to article 2(3) then treats you as domiciled whatever your origin, and no declaration changes that — the alternative method under article 3D is the question instead.
• Your only relevant income is rent. The defence contribution on rents was abolished from 1 January 2026 for everyone, so the status adds nothing there. GESY on rents stays.
• You are hoping to escape GESY. The 2.65% contribution is a different law, and non-dom status does nothing about it.

• Your tax identification code and the address the Tax Department holds for you.
• The ground you are claiming — option 1(a), 1(b) or 2 on T.D.38 — and two years: the one from which you claim the exemption, and the one in which you expect to complete 17 of the last 20 as a Cyprus tax resident.
• Your birth certificate, and evidence of your father’s place of birth — his birth certificate, identity card, passport, or an affidavit. Where your father was not alive when you were born, the same for your mother.
• A list of the countries you have lived in since birth with the dates, your father’s full name and your mother’s full maiden name. T.D.38Qa asks for all of it.
• For option 1(a) only, the material T.D.38Qb asks for: official documentation of the country you claim as your domicile, passports and how each citizenship was acquired, residence permits, titles or rental contracts for homes here and abroad, bank accounts and credit cards here and abroad, the country and details of your principal lawyer, accountant and banker with an invoice each, employment or business evidence, and your family’s whereabouts.
• Evidence of the years you were not a Cyprus tax resident: certificates from foreign tax and local authorities, foreign utility bills, foreign employment records and social insurance certificates, and anything that shows the periods you spent in Cyprus.
• A copy of any tax ruling the department has already given you about your domicile.

1. 1

   Check the 17-of-20 rule before anything else

   The proviso to article 2(3) of the defence contribution law says that a person who has been a Cyprus tax resident for at least 17 of the last 20 years is treated as domiciled here regardless of their domicile of origin. That is the first question in the Tax Department’s own decision tree, and a “yes” ends the matter: the declaration is refused, because the status is gone. Circular 2026/2 adds the other end of it — once you are treated as domiciled you stay so until you have completed 20 tax years, not necessarily consecutive, as a non-resident.

2. 2

   Pick the ground you are claiming on T.D.38

   The form declares that you have been a Cyprus tax resident for fewer than 17 of the last 20 years and then asks you to tick one of three: 1(a) you have a Cyprus domicile of origin but hold and maintain a domicile of choice elsewhere and were non-resident for at least 20 consecutive years, naming the years; 1(b) you have a Cyprus domicile of origin but were non-resident in every year from 1995 to 2014; or 2 you do not have a Cyprus domicile of origin. You then write the years from and to which you claim the exemption — the “to” being the year you expect to complete 17 of the last 20.

3. 3

   Complete questionnaire T.D.38Qa — in every case

   The domicile-of-origin questionnaire asks for your date and place of birth, whether your father was alive when you were born, whether his domicile of origin or of choice was outside Cyprus at that moment — or your mother’s, if he was not alive — every country you have lived in with dates, and your parents’ names. Evidence of the parent’s place of birth is attached. If your domicile of origin is Cyprus and you were tax resident here in any year between 1995 and 2014, the questionnaire tells you to complete T.D.38Qb as well.

4. 4

   Complete T.D.38Qb only if you ticked 1(a)

   The domicile-of-choice questionnaire is the long one: citizenships and how they were acquired, where you spend most days of the year and why, homes owned here and abroad, bank accounts and credit cards on both sides, where your principal lawyer, accountant and banker sit, directorships and business interests, property you have sold and what you did with the proceeds, and where your spouse and children live and go to school. Each block names the evidence to attach, and the form ends with a checklist of which paragraphs you have attached evidence for.

5. 5

   Submit it to the district office that holds your tax file

   T.D.38 with its questionnaires goes to the Returns Management Branch of the district office where your tax file is kept. It is not part of the income tax return and is not filed with it. Circular 2017/3 changed one thing about this: the declaration is accepted without being examined on the spot.

   PracticeThe declaration is signed under the Assessment and Collection of Taxes Law, which makes a false or careless answer a criminal offence, not a matter of correction later.

6. 6

   Wait for the letter, not for a certificate

   An officer examines the declaration and the questionnaire, the District Head approves or rejects it, you are informed by letter, your personal data in the department’s records is updated, and the original goes into a separate file for future reference. That letter is what the status rests on.

7. 7

   Stop the withholding at source with T.D.624/NP

   The exemption does not reach the paying institutions by itself. An individual who is exempt completes form T.D.624/NP and gives it to each organisation that pays them interest, dividends or rents, so that the defence contribution is not withheld from the payment. Without it the money is deducted at source and you are left reclaiming it.

8. 8

   File again every three years if you claimed 1(a)

   Circular 2016/8 is explicit that the declaration is submitted separately every three years where the claim rests on a domicile of choice abroad, and again at the moment you abandon that domicile of choice or become domiciled here under the 17-of-20 rule. Options 1(b) and 2 do not carry the three-year cycle, but the duty to declare a change does.

9. 9

   When the 17 years are up, look at article 3D

   From tax year 2026 a person without a Cyprus domicile of origin who has just been treated as domiciled under the 17-of-20 rule may apply, on form T.D.631, to pay the defence contribution as a flat amount instead: €50,000 a year, €250,000 for a five-year period, in one payment, and at most two such periods. The application is for the five years beginning with the year you are treated as acquiring domicile, and it must reach the Commissioner by 30 June of that first year. Acceptance is his decision, and the money is due by the end of the month following acceptance.

   PracticeThe dates are unforgiving. Someone treated as domiciled in 2023 or earlier can never use this route; those treated as domiciled in 2024 or 2025 had until 30 June 2026 to apply for the 2026–2030 period, and that window has closed.

What the status exempts

defence contribution onlyDividends and interest for a resident individual. Income tax, social insurance and GESY are untouched.

Defence contribution on dividends, 2026

5%Dividends from a Cyprus resident company out of profits of 2025 or earlier keep 17% for payments up to 2031.

Defence contribution on interest

17%3% for qualifying government and listed corporate bonds.

Defence contribution on rents

abolished from 1.1.2026For everyone, not only non-doms — so the status is worth less than it was.

GESY on dividends, interest and rents

2.65%Payable whatever your domicile, on income up to the €180,000 annual cap shared with your other income.

Fee for the declaration

€0Neither the form nor the circulars name a fee.

Renewal

every 3 years for option 1(a)And on any change: leaving the domicile of choice, or completing 17 of the last 20 years here.

Alternative method, article 3D

€250,000 per five years€50,000 a year, one payment, at most two periods, application by 30 June of the first year.

• Reading non-dom as a general tax break. It touches one contribution — the defence one — and only dividends and interest now that rents are out of it. Salary and business profits were never in scope.
• Filing T.D.38 with the income tax return, or posting it somewhere central. It goes to the Returns Management Branch of the district office that holds your file, on its own.
• Skipping T.D.38Qa because the case looks obvious. It accompanies the declaration in every case; only T.D.38Qb is conditional, on option 1(a).
• Filing the declaration and then wondering why the bank still deducts. The paying institution needs form T.D.624/NP from you before it stops withholding.
• Relying on a passport. Circular 2016/8 warns that citizenship and passports do not by themselves settle domicile, and that the burden of proving non-dom status sits on the taxpayer.
• Forgetting the three-year cycle on option 1(a), or not filing when the position changes. The department expects a fresh declaration, not silence.
• Moving assets to a non-dom spouse or a relative up to the third degree to keep income out of the charge. The anti-avoidance rule introduced by law 119(I)/2015 taxes the income anyway, and it can be collected from either side of the transfer.
• Treating the €250,000 route as always available. It is for people without a Cyprus domicile of origin, it starts in the year you are treated as acquiring domicile, and a late application is not accepted — nor can the payment be set off against a refund you are owed.

Anything marked “practice” is what the department does in the office, not a rule you can hold it to. Rules carry a source.

• Form T.D.38 — declaration of individual for exemption as non-domiciled (2016)The Greek version, Τ.Φ.38, is on the same forms page of the Tax Department.
• Form T.D.38Qa — questionnaire to determine domicile of origin (2017)Filed with T.D.38 in every case.
• Form T.D.38Qb — questionnaire to determine domicile of choice (2017)Only where option 1(a) is ticked.
• Form T.D.624/NP — declaration to stop the deduction at sourceGiven to the bank or company that pays you the interest, dividends or rents.
• Form T.D.631 — application for the alternative method (2026)The €250,000 election under article 3D.
• Tax Department district officesWhere the declaration is handed in — the office that holds your tax file.

• Form T.D.38, “Declaration of individual for exemption as non-domiciled”: the three grounds, where and when it is submitted2016
• Forms T.D.38Qa and T.D.38Qb: the questions and the evidence each one asks to be attached2017
• Circular 2016/8 of the Tax Department: the decision tree, the 17-of-20 rule, the evidence, the anti-avoidance rule and the burden of proof, the three-year cycle, and form T.D.62428.06.2016
• Circular 2017/3: T.D.38 goes to the Returns Management Branch and is not examined immediately; the questionnaires are published; holders of a domicile ruling file too17.01.2017
• Circular 2026/2 on the alternative method under article 3D: who may elect, the five-year period, the 30 June deadline, the €250,000 in one payment, and the transitional window for 2024–20252026
• The Special Contribution for the Defence of the Republic Law 117(I)/2002 as amended — art. 2(3) proviso, arts. 3 to 3C on the rates, art. 3D on the alternative method