Every expat tax regime ranked by take-home on $150k

By Skyler Bissell · Updated July 2026 · 10 min read

Every country with an expat tax break sells it the same way: a headline rate that sounds unbeatable in isolation. The only fair way to rank them is to stop reading the brochures and run the same salary through each one. So that is what this is. Thirteen inbound tax regimes, one $150,000 salary, each in the city that regime is built around, all taxed by the same engine, ranked by what a single filer actually keeps.

The surprise is how tightly the good ones cluster, and how a couple of famous "low tax" countries land near the bottom once you count the whole bill.

The ranking

Same $150,000 salary in every row, converted to the local currency, taxed as a single filer on income tax plus employee social contributions with the regime applied, before living costs. Take-home is converted back to dollars so the thirteen line up directly. "Added vs ordinary" is what the regime hands back against paying that country's normal tax.

Take-home is after income tax and employee social contributions, before living costs and before any US tax. The percentage is the share of the $150k gross that survives. Figures are engine-computed and rounded; see the method note at the end for the exact basis.

The top of the table: four regimes at roughly 25% tax

The best inbound deals in Europe do not spread out. Greece's 50% exemption and Italy's impatriati finish first and second at about 77% and 76% of gross kept, with the Netherlands 30% ruling and Sweden's expert relief within about two points behind. Different mechanics, same landing zone: a half-off taxable base in Greece and Italy, a tax-free slice of salary in the Netherlands and Sweden, all netting out near a 25% effective rate at this income.

Three footnotes on the leaders. Greece and Italy win here partly because their ordinary taxes are brutal, so halving the base clears more than a 25-30% slice does; the same math is why their "added vs ordinary" figures dwarf everyone else's. Italy carries the sharpest edges in the set: a four-year stay commitment with a full clawback if you leave early, a five-year term against Greece's seven, and a 60% exemption if you move with a minor child (the €90k Milan line by line is here). And the Dutch rate drops to 27% from 2027, which shaves the Netherlands slightly without moving its rank.

The flat-rate middle: Spain, Poland, Portugal, Denmark

Spain's Beckham Law keeps about 73% at this salary, its flat 24% dragged up a couple of points by uncapped-until-the-ceiling social security. It is a strong six-year deal and the one with the deepest coverage here: the head-to-head with the 30% ruling, a full worked $150k example, and what happens when the six years end.

Poland's B2B ryczałt looks like a headline steal at 12%, but it is a self-employed lump-sum, not an employee regime: once contributions are counted it lands near 73%, mid-table, and you carry the admin and the lack of an employer. Portugal's IFICI (the NHR successor) is a flat 20% for a remarkable ten years and keeps 69%; Denmark's researcher scheme is a 27% flat that becomes about 32.8% once the 8% labour-market contribution is added first, and keeps 67%. A clear step below the leaders, still well ahead of ordinary tax in either country.

The honest no's: UK, Norway, Ireland, Germany

Four countries on the list give a $150k salaried arrival no usable break, and it is worth being precise about why, because each fails differently.

• Norway, the PAYE scheme. Norway's 25% flat PAYE is real, but it is capped below a $150k salary, so a high earner is over the ceiling and back on ordinary tax at about 62% kept. It helps modest new arrivals, not this one.
• Ireland, SARP. SARP exempts 30% of salary above €100k, a genuine relief, but we model it conservatively as a footnote rather than a rate, so Dublin here shows ordinary Irish tax at about 61% kept. Treat the Irish figure as a floor.
• UK, the FIG regime. The 2025 foreign-income-and-gains regime relieves foreign income and gains for four years, and does nothing for a UK salary. A London earner pays ordinary UK tax, and at this salary the personal-allowance taper above £100k is already biting: about 58% kept.
• Germany, nothing. There is no inbound regime for ordinary employees, so Berlin is full ordinary tax and social insurance from day one, about 51% kept, the lowest on the list. What you buy with it is public services, not a discount.

The paradox: the size of the break doesn't set the rank

Read the last column and the ordering loosens. Italy hands back the most against ordinary tax, about $31,000 a year, with Greece and Portugal close behind near $29,000 each. Yet Portugal finishes seventh, and Belgium, whose regime returns a solid $24,000, finishes second-to-last. A break is only as good as the tax it discounts: Belgium's ordinary rates are so steep that even a large exclusion lands you at 54% kept, worse than Sweden manages with a much smaller handback on a gentler base. The lesson for anyone comparing offers is to ignore the size of the discount and read the take-home, which is the only number that ends up in your account. (Belgium is also understated here: its allowance rose to 35% with the cap removed from 2025, and our engine still models the old 30%, so its real position is a touch better than shown, though not enough to leave the bottom of the table.)

So which regime is "best"?

The top four are close enough that the tax rate should not pick your country. The best regime is the one you qualify for, in a city whose whole cost math already works: rent you can live with, childcare that is not a second mortgage, healthcare you are not privately insuring. A regime is a discount on one line of the ledger. The ordinary tax it discounts is another, and the safety net that decides a family move is a third. This table settles the first line; it is not meant to settle the move.

One caveat that overrides everything for Americans: US citizens are taxed on worldwide income, and a lower foreign rate shrinks the foreign tax credit against the US bill, so some of a regime's saving can come back home. The ranking above is the local-tax half only. Put your own salary and family through the full picture:

• Run your salary through any city in the calculator →
• Expat tax breaks, decoded: the pillar this table belongs to, on how much each regime really moves take-home
• Italy's impatriati regime, the Netherlands 30% ruling, and Spain's Beckham Law: the three regimes with full explainers
• How countries actually tax your salary: the ordinary-rate map every regime is a discount against
• NYC vs Milan and NYC vs Amsterdam: a US salary against the leaders, whole package counted

FAQ

What is the best expat tax regime in 2026?

By engine-computed take-home on a $150,000 salary, the half-off regimes lead: Greece's 50% exemption keeps about 76.7% of gross (roughly $115,000) and Italy's impatriati 76.4%, just ahead of the Netherlands 30% ruling at 75.1% and Sweden's expert relief at 74.6%. But the best regime is the one you actually qualify for, in a city whose whole cost math (housing, childcare, healthcare) already works for you, not the one with the lowest headline rate.

Which country lets expats keep the most on a high salary?

On a $150k salary with the regime applied, the top four converge near a 25% effective rate: Greece keeps about 76.7%, Italy 76.4%, the Netherlands 75.1%, and Sweden 74.6%. Spain's Beckham and Poland's B2B lump-sum sit near 73%, Portugal's IFICI at 69%, and Denmark's researcher scheme at 67%. Without a usable regime, Norway keeps about 62%, Ireland 61%, the UK 58%, and Germany just 51%.

Does Spain's Beckham Law beat the Netherlands 30% ruling?

They are close, and it flips by salary. At $150k-equivalent both land near the top, with the Netherlands slightly ahead on take-home. At a round €100k the 30% ruling wins more clearly, while at €150k the two nearly tie and Spain edges ahead from 2027 once the Dutch rate drops to 27%. Neither is a runaway; the deciding factor is usually the rest of the cost of living.

Why does Germany rank last for expats?

Germany has no inbound tax regime for ordinary employees, so a new arrival pays full ordinary tax and social insurance from day one. On a $150k-equivalent salary that is about a 49% effective rate, leaving roughly 51% of gross, the lowest take-home in this set. The trade is real public services rather than a tax discount, but on the salary line alone Germany is the most expensive place on the list to earn.

Do these expat tax regimes help US citizens?

On the local-tax side, yes. But US citizens are taxed on worldwide income, and a lower foreign tax rate means a smaller foreign tax credit against the US bill, so part of a regime's saving can be clawed back at home. A flat 24% in Spain or a big exemption elsewhere can leave more US tax to settle than an ordinary-rate country would. Model both sides with someone who does expat returns; this ranking is the local half only.

How is this expat tax regime ranking calculated?

Each regime's flagship city is run through cityparity's per-city engine on the same salary: $150,000 converted to the local currency at the site's build FX rate, taxed as a single filer on income tax plus employee social contributions, before living costs, with the regime applied. The resulting take-home is converted back to US dollars so the thirteen are directly comparable. It is the local-tax picture only, and excludes US tax and cost of living.

Method: each figure is $150,000 converted to the flagship city's currency at the site's build FX rate (about €0.875, £0.744, DKK 6.53, SEK 9.67, PLN 3.80, NOK 9.65 to the dollar), run through cityparity's per-city engine as a single filer (income tax plus employee social contributions, before living costs, regime applied), with take-home converted back to dollars. It excludes US tax and cost of living. Regime rates and durations are current at publication from official and firm sources; the honest-note regimes (UK FIG, Norway PAYE, Ireland SARP) are modeled without salary relief, and Belgium is modeled at the pre-2025 30% allowance. Confirm your own case with an adviser. See the methodology.