The condition that used to sink most plans is gone. Until the 2026 tax year a person who was tax resident anywhere else could not use the rule at all; Law 244(I)/2025 replaced the definition and dropped that test. One gateway and three conditions are left, and one proviso still costs a whole year.
The 60-day rule is the reason a good number of people look at Cyprus at all. It exists for those whose year is genuinely spread across countries, and it says that presence of at least 60 days can be enough to make a person tax resident in the Republic. Until the end of 2025 it also carried a condition that had nothing to do with Cyprus and that defeated most of the people who wanted it. That condition no longer exists.
What changed on 1 January 2026
The rule got materially wider, and the change is a substitution rather than a tweak. Section 2(a) of Law 244(I)/2025, the Income Tax (Amending) (No. 4) Law of 2025, published in Official Gazette 5070 on 31 December 2025, replaced the whole definition of resident of the Republic in section 2 of the Income Tax Law, 118(I)/2002. By section 25 of that Law it took effect on 1 January 2026.
What went is the second of the two negatives the old proviso opened with: the requirement that the individual not be a tax resident in any other state for the same year. It is not in the substituted definition. A person who is treated as resident by the country they are leaving is no longer shut out of the Cyprus 60-day rule by that fact alone.
Dual residence no longer defeats the 60-day rule. Which state actually taxes what is then a treaty question rather than a Cyprus one.
That is the good news, and it should be read with its limit. Being resident in two states at once is not a comfortable position; it is the beginning of a tie-breaker under whichever double tax convention applies, and of a set of filing obligations in both. What has changed is that Cyprus no longer refuses residence at the door.
The gateway, and the three conditions
One test decides whether you get to the conditions at all, and three conditions decide the rest. The gateway in section 2 is that the individual does not remain in one other state for one or more periods totalling more than 183 days within the same tax year. Note the words: it is measured against a single state, so a year spread across three countries can pass it comfortably.
Pass that, and the definition requires the following cumulatively:
- (aa) remains in the Republic for at least 60 days in the tax year
- (bb) carries on any business in the Republic, and/or is employed in the Republic, and/or holds an office in a person tax resident in the Republic, at any time during the tax year
- (cc) maintains a permanent home in the Republic which is owned or rented by them
Three conditions behind one gateway, all of them about Cyprus and all of them within the control of somebody planning a move. That is the whole of it.
The proviso that still costs a whole year
End the business, the employment or the office during the year and you lose the year, not the remainder of it. That disqualification survived the rewrite untouched, and it is now the one provision in the rule most likely to defeat a plan.
It sits as a proviso to condition (bb) and is drafted as a disqualification rather than as a condition: an individual is not treated as satisfying (bb) if, during that year, the carrying on of any business in the Republic, or the employment in the Republic, or the holding of an office in a person tax resident in the Republic, is terminated.
It bites on the year, not on the day the job ended. A directorship resigned in November, a consultancy wound up in September, an employment that ended when a project finished, each costs the whole tax year, however comfortably the sixty days and the permanent home were satisfied. The same logic reaches the home: a tenancy that lapsed in October is a failed condition rather than a detail.
So the planning question has moved. It used to be "are you resident anywhere else", which was answered by another country's law and often could not be fixed. It is now "does every Cyprus limb survive to 31 December", which is answered by what you do here and can be arranged.
What the old rule said, and why it still matters
Any year up to and including 2025 is judged on the old definition, so the repealed condition still decides open years and open assessments.
The proviso in force until the end of the 2025 tax year was added to the definition of resident of the Republic by section 2 of Law 119(I)/2017, which by section 3 of the same Law is deemed to have come into force on 1 January 2017. It opened with two negatives before it reached anything positive: an individual who does not remain in any other state for one or more periods totalling more than 183 days in the same tax year, and who is not a tax resident in any other state for that same tax year, provided they satisfied cumulatively the three requirements that followed.
Two separate tests, and a person could pass the day count in every other country and still fail the second. Residence in the country a person is leaving is rarely decided by a day count alone: different systems reach it through domicile, a permanent home, a centre of vital interests, family, or where a business is actually run. Somebody could spend 70 days in Cyprus, rent a flat, take a directorship, keep under 183 days everywhere else, and still be treated as resident by the country they thought they had left. For years up to 2025 that is still the position, and it is still worth establishing before an old year is filed or defended.
The days are counted, not estimated
Presence is counted by day, and the convention is specific. The day of arrival in Cyprus counts as a day in Cyprus, and the day of departure counts as a day outside it. Arriving and departing on the same day counts as one day in Cyprus; departing and returning on the same day counts as one day outside it.
A person relying on 60 days should therefore keep the evidence as they go: boarding passes, stamps where they exist, card transactions. Reconstructing a year of movement from memory two years later, in front of an authority that has its own record, is a poor position that is entirely avoidable.
If you are relying on the 60-day rule this year, tell us your days and where else you were resident at office@kleanthousplatis.com, or the enquiry form. We reply within one business day.
What this means in practice
- Check which year you are dealing with first. From the 2026 tax year the residence of the country you are leaving no longer bars the rule. For 2025 and earlier it still does, and an open year is judged on the law of that year.
- Keep every Cyprus limb alive to 31 December. The business, employment or office ending during the year costs the whole year under the proviso to (bb), and a tenancy that lapsed in October is a failed condition rather than a technicality.
- Measure the gateway against a single state. It asks whether you spent more than 183 days in one other state, so a year split across three countries can pass it while a year split across two may not.
- Note that the 183-day rule is a separate route and needs none of the other conditions. Where presence in Cyprus is comfortably over 183 days, none of this arises.
- Where you are now resident in two states, the question moves to the tie-breaker in the applicable double tax convention and to filing in both. Cyprus no longer refuses residence at the door, which is not the same as the other country releasing you.
- Keep a day log from the first year, not from the year in which someone asks.
The position on a particular year, under both rules, and whether the non-dom exemption from the special defence contribution is available, can be worked through on our tax residency and non-dom checker, which sets out which condition decided the answer.
Questions we are asked
What does section 2 say now?
Section 2(a) of Law 244(I)/2025 replaced the definition of resident of the Republic with effect from 1 January 2026. For an individual it is now either more than 183 days in Cyprus in the tax year, or: an individual who does not remain in one other state for one or more periods totalling more than 183 days within the same tax year, provided they satisfy cumulatively that they remain in the Republic for at least 60 days in the tax year; carry on any business in the Republic and/or are employed in the Republic and/or hold an office in a person tax resident in the Republic at any time during the year, subject to a proviso disqualifying them if any of those is terminated during the year; and maintain a permanent home in the Republic which they own or rent. The requirement that the individual not be a tax resident in any other state is no longer there.
Does it matter if the permanent home stops being held?
Yes. The permanent residential property in Cyprus, owned or rented, has to be held through the year. A tenancy that lapsed in October is a failed condition rather than a detail, in the same way that a business, employment or office which ceased before 31 December costs the year.
What are the conditions of the Cyprus 60 day rule?
From the 2026 tax year: one gateway and three conditions. The gateway is that you do not remain in one other state for periods totalling more than 183 days in the same tax year. Then, cumulatively, at least sixty days of presence in Cyprus in the tax year; a business carried on in Cyprus and/or employment in Cyprus and/or an office in a person tax resident in Cyprus at any time during the year, none of them terminated during that year; and a permanent home in Cyprus owned or rented by you. For tax years up to 2025 there was a fifth requirement, that you not be a tax resident in any other state, and Law 244(I)/2025 removed it.
I am still tax resident in my old country. Can I use the rule?
From the 2026 tax year, yes. The requirement that you not be a tax resident in any other state was in the definition until the end of 2025 and is not in the definition Law 244(I)/2025 substituted. What still applies is the gateway, so you must not have spent more than 183 days in that one other state in the same year. Being resident in two states at once then raises the tie-breaker in the applicable double tax convention and filing obligations in both, which is a different problem from the one Cyprus used to create. For a tax year up to and including 2025 the old requirement still decides the answer.
How exactly are the days counted?
By day, on a specific convention. The day of arrival in Cyprus counts as a day in Cyprus and the day of departure counts as a day outside it; arriving and departing on the same day counts as one day in Cyprus, and departing and returning on the same day counts as one day outside it. Anyone relying on sixty days should keep the evidence as they go, because reconstructing a year of movement from memory in front of an authority with its own record is an avoidable weakness.
Do the conditions apply if I am here more than 183 days?
No. The 183 day rule is a separate route and needs none of the other conditions, so where presence in Cyprus is comfortably over 183 days none of the 60 day requirements arise at all.
Does it matter if my Cyprus employment or tenancy ends during the year?
Yes, and this is treated as a failed condition rather than a technicality. The business, employment or office must not have ceased by the end of the tax year, and the permanent residential property has to be held through it, so an activity that stopped before 31 December or a tenancy that lapsed in October costs the year.
Sources
- Income Tax Law of 2002, Law 118(I)/2002, consolidated text
- Income Tax (Amending) (No. 4) Law of 2025, Law 244(I)/2025, Official Gazette 5070, 31 December 2025
- Income Tax (Amending) Law of 2017, Law 119(I)/2017, as published in the Official Gazette
This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
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Klitos Platis
Advocate, Partner
Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia · Published 18 August 2026
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