Latvia.
A flat 25.5% on capital — softened by an account that defers it.
Price it in your money
Tell me where you live now and what you spend a month, and every cost here becomes your number — the same life, priced country by country, in your own currency.
A guide, not a quote. I move your monthly spend by each country’s official price level (Eurostat and the World Bank, whole-economy, EU-27 = 100) — no exchange rates, so it stays in your own currency. But averages hide rent and the city you pick, and changing country is rarely a straight swap. Read these as the right ballpark, then price the real thing.
EU-27 = 100 · 2025. Living in Latvia runs about 17% cheaper than the EU average.
Eurostat (prc_ppp_ind) / World Bank, 2025, CC BY 4.0. Whole-economy price level — country averages hide big regional and rent spread.
A €2,500 a month reference life runs about €2,080 a month here — roughly €24,960 a year, and a ×30 number near €749,000.
The reference life the calculators use, scaled by the index above — the same whole-economy figure, a guide not a quote.
Where in Europe
Cold Baltic — long winters, gentle bright summers.
a roof here, against the EU-27 average
In Latvia, buy prices are up 114% since 2015 (+7.6% last year); rents up 28% since 2015.
Deloitte's Property Index doesn't price this country, so there's no per-m² tag here — the comparative level and the trend above are the official read.
Read these as the shape, not the price. Housing is the most divergent cost in Europe, and a national average buries the thing that actually decides it — the city, the street, new-build against old. Treat it as a ballpark, then price the real place. Not property or mortgage advice.
Level vs the EU: Eurostat comparative price level for housing (prc_ppp_ind, EU-27 = 100, 2024). Trend: Eurostat house price index and actual-rentals index (2015 = 100, 2025).
The rules that matter for an exit.
Gains on shares and fund units are taxed at a flat 25.5% — no holding-period relief and no small-gains allowance; the personal allowance doesn't reach capital income, so the first euro is taxed. The rate was 20% until the 2025 reform lifted it.
The softener is Latvia's investment account: hold shares, bonds, funds and ETFs inside it and gains, dividends and interest compound untaxed — the 25.5% falls due only when your withdrawals overtake what you've paid in, and only on the excess. It defers the tax; it doesn't discount it.
No advance tax on an accumulating fund — it's taxed only at sale, and the account defers even that.
Dividends carry the same 25.5% — but fall to nothing where the company has already paid corporate tax on the profit (a Latvian or EU/EEA company, or one that can show tax withheld at source). How a foreign fund's distribution is treated is the grey area worth confirming.
No wealth tax, and no exit tax on individuals leaving.
No inheritance tax; gifts between close family are exempt (from non-relatives, only above €1,425 a year, taxed as income).
The 2025 reform lifted capital income from 20% to 25.5%, so treat any older '20%' figure as stale, and a 3% surcharge reaches total income above €200,000. The account's exact reach — which foreign funds qualify, how a foreign ETF's dividend is treated — deserves an adviser's read before you build on it.
Can you actually move here?
Hold an EU or EEA passport and the door isn't the question — freedom of movement covers the move itself. The clocks and the tax-residency rules below still run for you.
With your passport, skip the doors — the clocks and the tax-residency rules are what matter for you.
No EU passport means one of the doors on the left — each checked against the authority that issues it.
No passive route — the nomad visa wants active remote work for OECD-country employers (≈€4,200/mo, 2026).
Open but in its endgame — €250,000 in property (+5% state fee) still buys a permit as of mid-2026; a law scrapping the route from January 2027 awaits a parliamentary re-vote.
permanent residency at 5 yrs · dual restricted · Latvian + exams on the constitution, anthem and history
in any twelve-month period; a declared Latvian residence also counts
Latvia's property permit is the last Baltic golden visa standing, and it's on the clock: parliament voted in June 2026 to scrap the property and deposit routes from 2027, the president sent the law back, and the autumn re-vote decides. Beyond that there's no savings route, state healthcare only really opens at permanent residence, and the ten-year passport clock allows dual citizenship only with EU, EFTA and NATO countries.
The June 2026 replacement Immigration Law (property and deposit routes abolished from 1 January 2027) was returned by the president on 19 June 2026 — the autumn re-vote decides whether current rules survive past year-end.
Check it yourself: PMLP — real-estate-owner permit · PMLP — naturalisation
Getting-in rules checked July 2026. They move faster than tax law — confirm the current rule with the authority before you plan a move around it. Education, not immigration advice.
State-funded care covers permanent residents and working EU nationals — a non-working temporary resident is largely outside it, paying list prices or carrying private cover until permanent residence at year five.
Private cover: the nomad visa wants cover with at least €42,600 insurer liability.
Healthcare access checked July 2026. Systems are stable but details shift — confirm before you rely on them. Education, not health-insurance advice.
Common questions
- What is Latvia's capital gains tax rate?
- A flat 25.5% on gains from shares and fund units — with no holding-period relief and no small-gains allowance, so the first euro is taxed. The rate was 20% until the 2025 reform lifted it, so treat any older '20%' figure as stale.
- Can I defer capital gains tax in Latvia?
- Yes — Latvia's investment account lets shares, bonds, funds and ETFs compound untaxed, with the 25.5% falling due only when your withdrawals overtake what you've paid in, and only on the excess. It defers the tax; it doesn't discount it.
- Does Latvia tax accumulating ETFs every year?
- No — there's no advance tax on an accumulating fund; it's taxed only at sale, and the investment account defers even that.
- Does Latvia have a wealth tax or an exit tax?
- No wealth tax, and no exit tax on individuals leaving. (Note a 3% surcharge reaches total income above €200,000.)
- Can an American or a Brit retire early in Latvia?
- No passive route — the nomad visa wants active remote work for OECD-country employers (≈€4,200/mo, 2026). An EU or EEA passport skips the visa question entirely — freedom of movement covers the move itself. Confirm with the immigration authority — routes open and close.
- How long until a Latvia passport?
- 10 years of legal residence is the general naturalisation rule, with Latvian + exams on the constitution, anthem and history. Dual citizenship is allowed only in limited cases. Permanent residency usually comes at 5 years.
Run your own numbers.
The Exit Calculator
Years to your number, at your savings rate.
OpenWhere You Live
What an annual wealth tax does to the maths — illustrative, deliberately.
OpenThe Geoarbitrage Map
The same life, priced across 58 countries.
OpenThe whole system — wrappers, funds, withdrawal, the blank page — is in the guide: The European FIRE guide
None of this is tax or investment advice — it's education, kept deliberately at the level that survives fact-checking. Rules shift with every budget round; the specifics of your situation belong with a licensed adviser in your country. I'm happily not one.
This page was last verified against official sources on 9 July 2026. What's changed on the map
Know a figure here that’s wrong or out of date? Point me to the line and a source — every correction gets checked, and it’s how the map stays right.
Report a correctionBring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.
Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.