Quick answer — what happens to your company when you leave a high-tax country? Your company does not leave with you. It usually stays tax resident where it was incorporated or where it is managed, and several countries — including Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada — can tax the unrealised gain on your shares when you emigrate. Founders choose between keeping the company and managing it from abroad, closing it, or relocating or restructuring it.
Most guides to becoming location-independent focus on where to go. For founders who already own a company, the harder question is what to leave behind. A German GmbH, a French SASU, a Dutch BV or a UK Ltd was built for a founder who lives in that country. Once you leave, three things change at once: your personal tax residency, the company's place of management, and the way your home country taxes your shares.
Handled well, the departure can be clean: the company continues, you pay yourself in a tax-efficient way from abroad, and any exit tax is deferred or paid in instalments. Handled badly, you can face an exit tax bill on value you never received, a company that remains fully taxable at home, and a new country that also claims a share of the profits.
This guide is not for owners who are staying in their country, for employees changing jobs abroad, or for settled expats. For personal tax corridors, such as moving from France to Portugal, see our relocation guides instead.
Comparing all the situations a founder can be in? Go back to our overview on structuring your business when you go location-independent.
The table compares how the main departure countries treat a founder who leaves with shares in their own company.
After you leave, your company sits between two countries: the one where it is registered and the one where you now live and work. Four rules decide where it is taxed.
Most countries treat a company incorporated there as resident there, and many also treat a company as resident where it is effectively managed. After you move, your old company may therefore be resident in your old country by incorporation and in your new country by management. The tax treaty between them then decides, often through a tie-breaker based on effective management or a mutual agreement between tax authorities.
If you run the company from your new country, your home office or regular workplace there can create a permanent establishment of the company. Part of its profits would then be taxed in your new country, with registration and filings there.
Several countries tax the unrealised gain on shares in your company when you cease to be resident, as if you had sold them. Thresholds, deferral options and the time after which the tax lapses differ widely. If your company has grown in value, this can be the largest single cost of leaving.
Banks will update your file when your address and tax residence change, and may ask for a tax residency certificate from your new country. Update beneficial-ownership registers, company registers and tax authorities with your new address, and keep a registered office or domiciliation service in the company's country.
There are three ways to deal with your company, and each has its own cost profile.
The cheapest option depends on three numbers:
A founder with a small company and few reserves may simply close it and start again abroad. A founder with a valuable company may keep it, defer the exit tax and plan distributions carefully. Model all three options before your departure date.
Start planning six to twelve months before you leave. Most of the expensive mistakes happen in the last few weeks.
Most banks keep the company account open after you move, but they will review your file. Expect questions about your new residence, the company's activity and where it is managed. If your bank restricts non-resident managers, add an account with a payment institution in the company's country or region before you leave.
The Founder Exit Guide lists everything to do in the 12 months before and after your departure — get it when you plan your company's exit with Heavnn.
Yes, in most countries. The company stays registered and taxed where it is, and you manage it as a non-resident. Check whether your new country could treat the company as managed there or as having a permanent establishment there.
It is a tax some countries charge when you stop being resident, calculated as if you had sold your shares at their market value. Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada all have versions of it, with different thresholds and deferral options.
It depends on its value and reserves. Closing first can avoid cross-border complications but triggers tax on distributed reserves. Keeping it can make sense if it has clients, staff or contracts tied to the country, or if exit tax can be deferred.
Usually yes, if it remains incorporated there. Your new country may also tax part of its profits if you manage it from there. The tax treaty decides how double taxation is avoided.
Most founders use dividends, which face withholding tax in the company's country and tax in their new country. Salary or director's fees can remain taxable in the old country under some treaties and may keep you in its social security system.
The best time to plan your company's exit is six months before you leave. Heavnn models keep, close and relocate side by side for your situation.
This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Rules are summarised as of October 2026.
