Am I a Cyprus tax resident? The 183-day and 60-day rules

You need this if

• You moved to Cyprus or left it during the year and need to know whether that year counts as a resident one.
• You spend fewer than 184 days a year in Cyprus but work, run a business or hold an office here and keep a home here — the 60-day rule is written for that case.
• You are completing the 2025 return and have reached the question on tax residence in part 3.
• You split the year between Cyprus and another country and need to know whether Cyprus taxes your income from everywhere or only from here.

You do not need this if

• You already know you are resident and need a certificate to show another country. That is the tax residence certificate guide.
• Your real question is whether you pay the defence contribution on dividends and interest. Residence is only half of it; the other half is domicile.
• You are asking about a company. A company’s residence is a different paragraph of article 2 and is not covered here.

• Your travel dates for the year: the entry and exit stamps in your passport, boarding passes, e-tickets. These are the evidence the department’s own residence form asks for.
• A count of your days in Cyprus for that calendar year, made with the arrival and departure rules below.
• The number of days you spent in each other country during the same year.
• For the 60-day rule: an employment contract still in force on 31 December, or the registration of your business, or the Registrar of Companies record that shows you by name as an officer of a Cyprus tax resident company.
• The title deed or the rental contract of your home in Cyprus.
• For 2025 and earlier years on the 60-day route: whether any other state treated you as its tax resident for that year.

1. 1

   Take one tax year at a time

   The Income Tax Law defines the tax year as the twelve months starting on 1 January. Residence is tested separately for each tax year: being resident last year says nothing about this one, and a person can be resident one year and not the next.

2. 2

   Count your days in Cyprus

   Article 2 of the law sets the counting. The day you arrive in Cyprus counts as a day in Cyprus; the day you leave counts as a day outside it. Arriving and leaving on the same day counts as one day in Cyprus; leaving and coming back on the same day counts as one day outside. The Tax Department’s residency page repeats the same four rules.

3. 3

   More than 183 days: you are resident

   The first test is staying in Cyprus for one or more periods that together exceed 183 days in the tax year — so 184 days at least. Nothing else is asked under this rule: no job, no home, no question about other countries.

4. 4

   Fewer: check the 60-day rule as it stands for 2026

   From tax year 2026 you are also resident if you did not stay in any one other state for periods adding up to more than 183 days in the same year, and you meet all three of the following at once: you stayed in Cyprus for at least 60 days; you carry on any business in Cyprus, or are employed in Cyprus, or hold an office in a person that is a Cyprus tax resident, at any time in the year; and you maintain a permanent home in Cyprus that you own or rent. That is the text of Ν.244(Ι)/2025, in force from 1 January 2026.

   PracticeThe department’s presentation of the 2026 reform reads “employed in Cyprus” as not necessarily by a Cypriot employer. That is its reading in a seminar deck, not a line of the law.

5. 5

   For 2017 to 2025, add a fifth condition

   The 60-day rule entered the law with effect from 1 January 2017, and until the end of 2025 it had one more condition: you must not have been a tax resident of any other state for the same tax year. The 2026 text removed it, and the department’s presentation of the reform says so in as many words. Circular 1/2022 had softened it for years before: being treated as a UK tax resident for part of the year, only because the UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, did not break it, and the same could apply to other states with a non-calendar tax year with the Commissioner’s prior approval.

   PracticeThe certificate form T.F.126 on the department’s site is still the 2022 edition and still asks you to declare that you are not and will not become a tax resident elsewhere.

6. 6

   Keep the business, the job or the office going until 31 December

   The law adds a proviso to the 60-day rule: you do not meet it if, during that year, your business in Cyprus, your employment in Cyprus or your office ends. Circular 1/2022 reads it the same way round: the activity has to be kept up to and including 31 December, so a job that starts in October and is still running at the end of the year counts. An office counts only if you hold it personally and by name, as it appears in the register of the Registrar of Companies, until 31 December.

7. 7

   Check that the home is a permanent one

   The home has to be in Cyprus and owned or rented by you. Circular 1/2022 describes a permanent home as one you have arranged to be kept for your permanent use and to be available to you at any time and continuously.

8. 8

   Neither test met: you are not resident that year

   A resident is taxed on income from sources both inside and outside Cyprus; a non-resident only on the Cyprus income listed in article 5(2) of the law — employment exercised here, a business carried on here, rents from property here and the like. The department’s guide to the 2025 return puts it plainly: a non-resident declares only income from sources in the Republic and selects the country of their tax residence.

9. 9

   Give the answer in the return

   The 2025 return asks it in part 3, section A, “Tax residence”: yes or no. The department’s guide for that year lists the 183-day rule and the 60-day rule with all five of its 2025 conditions, the activity lasting until 31 December 2025 included. Yes means you declare your worldwide income; no means Cyprus-source income only and your country of residence.

10. 10

    If you have dividends or interest, ask the domicile question next

    The defence contribution reaches only a person who is a Cyprus tax resident and, in addition, domiciled in Cyprus. Circular 1/2022 applies the same to a resident under the 60-day rule. Whether you are domiciled is a separate test — domicile of origin, the 17-of-20 rule — and it has its own guide.

Tax year

1 January to 31 DecemberResidence is tested for each tax year separately.

183-day rule

more than 183 days184 at least, in one or more periods within the tax year.

Counting the days

arrival in, departure outArrival and departure on one day counts as a day in Cyprus; departure and return on one day counts as a day outside.

60-day rule, from 2026

four conditions, all at onceNo more than 183 days in any one other state; at least 60 days here; business, employment or an office here until 31 December; a permanent home here, owned or rented.

60-day rule, 2017–2025

five conditionsThe same four plus: not a tax resident of any other state for that year.

Resident

income from everywhereArticle 5(1) of the Income Tax Law.

Non-resident

Cyprus-source income onlyThe categories listed in article 5(2).

Defence contribution

resident and domiciledResidence alone does not bring it; domicile is the second condition.

Filing, from tax year 2026

residents aged 25 to 70 fileWhatever their income, according to the department’s FAQ on the 2026 reform.

• Treating 183 days as enough. The law says periods that exceed 183 days, so 183 is one short.
• Counting the day you fly out as a day in Cyprus. The departure day is a day outside; only the arrival day counts as a day here.
• Applying the 2025 rule to 2026 or the other way round. Being a tax resident of another state for the same year defeats the 60-day rule up to 2025 and no longer does from 2026.
• Leaving the job, closing the business or resigning as a director in December. Under the proviso to the 60-day rule, an activity that ends in the year does not count, even on 20 December.
• Relying on an office held through a nominee, or in a company that is registered in Cyprus but not tax resident here. Circular 1/2022 counts an office only if you hold it personally and by name in the Registrar of Companies record, in a company that is a Cyprus tax resident.
• Calling a holiday let or a room booked for a few weeks a permanent home. The circular describes a home kept for your permanent use and available to you at any time and continuously.
• Assuming that a residence permit, the yellow slip or citizenship makes you a tax resident. Article 2 turns on days, activity and a home; none of those documents is among its conditions.
• Spending more than 183 days in a single other country and still relying on the 60-day rule. That one condition closes the route, whatever your job and home here.

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

• Tax Department — Tax Residency/DomicilityThe department’s own statement of both rules and of the day counting.
• Guide for the completion of the income tax return for individuals 2025Part 3, section A: the residence question and what each answer means for the rest of the return.
• Form T.F.126 (2022) — declaration for a tax residence certificate under the 60-day ruleOnly if you need the certificate. gov.cy currently publishes it in Greek; an English edition of the 2022 form was on the department’s old site.

• Income Tax Law 118(I)/2002, art. 2 (“resident of the Republic”, “tax year”, the day counting) and art. 5 (residents on worldwide income, non-residents on the listed Cyprus income), consolidated text on CyLaw
• Ν.244(Ι)/2025, art. 2(a): the definition of “resident of the Republic” rewritten without the condition of not being a tax resident elsewhere; in force from 1 January 202631.12.2025
• Income Tax Law as in force until 2025, consolidated by the Tax Department up to 219(I)/2025: the 60-day proviso of 119(I)/2017 with its five conditions, and the day counting added by 162(I)/2003
• Circular 1/2022: the 60-day conditions read closely — the activity kept until 31 December, an office held personally and by name, the permanent home, the allowance for non-calendar tax years, and the defence contribution only with domicile01.02.2022
• Tax Department, “Tax Residency/Domicility”: the two rules, the day counting, and residence for the defence contribution
• Tax Department presentation of the 2026 reform for individuals, slides on filing and on tax residence: the removed condition, the employer need not be Cypriot, the activity until 31/1211.05.2026
• Tax Department FAQ on the 2026 reform, question 6: from 2026 a tax resident aged 25 to 70 files a return whatever their income11.05.2026
• Guide for the completion of the income tax return for individuals 2025, part 3 A “Tax residence”: the 2025 conditions and what each answer means06/2026
• Special Contribution for the Defence Law 117(I)/2002, art. 2: a resident for the contribution is a resident for income tax who also has a domicile in Cyprus