Cyprus's 183-Day Tax Residency Rule

Q: How many days can you stay in Cyprus without becoming a tax resident?

Up to 183 days in a calendar year. Spending more than 183 days in Cyprus in a tax year makes you a tax resident under the main day-count test. Because Cyprus counts the arrival day in and the departure day out, this works out to counting nights, so 183 nights is still under the line and 184 crosses it. A separate 60-day rule can also make you resident on as few as 60 days if extra conditions are met.

Q: What is the Cyprus 60-day rule?

The 60-day rule is an alternative test. You are a Cyprus tax resident even on as few as 60 days in the year if, in that same year, you stay at least 60 days in Cyprus, do not spend more than 183 days in any other single country, are not tax resident anywhere else, carry on a business, are employed or hold an office in a Cyprus company, and maintain a permanent home in Cyprus that you own or rent. All five conditions must be met.

Q: Is the Cyprus rule based on the calendar year?

Yes. The Cyprus tax year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, and both the 183-day rule and the 60-day rule are measured over that calendar year rather than a rolling 12-month window.

More than 183 days in a calendar year makes you a Cyprus tax resident, and a separate 60-day rule can make you resident too. Here is exactly how the count works.

Last verified: July 2026

In short: you become a Cyprus tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in Cyprus during a calendar year. Cyprus counts the day of arrival as a day in and the day of departure as a day out, so in practice you are counting nights. That means 183 nights is still under the line and 184 crosses it. A separate 60-day rule can also make you resident on as few as 60 days if you meet extra conditions.

Threshold: More than 183 days
Counting window: Calendar year
A day counts if: You spend the night
Other residence test: 60-day rule (conditions apply)
Tax year: Calendar year
Legal basis: Income Tax Law of 2002

The rule

Cyprus treats you as a tax resident for a year if you stay there for one or more periods that in total exceed 183 days in that tax year. The tax year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December. Two points decide most real cases:

The window is the calendar year. The 183 days are measured over a single calendar year, not a rolling 12-month period. The count resets on 1 January.
Arrival counts in, departure counts out. The day you arrive in Cyprus counts as a day in the country, and the day you leave counts as a day outside it. If you arrive and depart on the same day, that counts as one day in; if you depart and later arrive on the same day, that counts as one day out. In practice this is the same as counting the nights you spend in Cyprus.

How to count it

List every Cyprus trip in the calendar year with arrival and departure dates.
Count the arrival day as a day in Cyprus, and do not count the departure day. This is the same as counting overnights.
Add up those days across all your Cyprus stays in the same calendar year.
If the total exceeds 183 days, the main day-count test is met and you are a Cyprus tax resident for that year.

Example. Say you fly into Cyprus and, counting the arrival day in but the departure day out, your stays for the year add up to exactly 183 days.

That is not enough: the rule requires more than 183 days. Because arrival counts in and departure counts out, 183 days here means 183 nights, and 183 nights leaves you under the line. Stay one more night so the tally reaches 184 and you have crossed it, making you resident for the year. The asymmetry between the arrival and departure days is why an exact 183-night trip is not resident but a 184-night trip is.

Beyond the day count

The 183-day count is one route in, not the only one. Cyprus also has a 60-day rule, and the two tests are alternatives: meeting either one makes you a tax resident. Under the 60-day rule you are resident for the year if, in that same year, you meet all five of these conditions: you stay at least 60 days in Cyprus; you do not stay more than 183 days in any other single country; you are not a tax resident of any other country; you carry on a business, are employed, or hold an office in a Cyprus company at any time during the year; and you maintain a permanent home in Cyprus that you either own or rent. If you fail any one of the five, the 60-day rule does not apply, though you can still be resident under the 183-day rule. And if another country also claims you as resident, a double-tax treaty decides the matter through tie-breaker rules such as permanent home and centre of vital interests.

Official source: the definition of "resident in the Republic" in Cyprus's Income Tax Law of 2002 (Law 118(I)/2002), as set out by the Cyprus Tax Department.

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FAQ

How many days can you stay in Cyprus without becoming a tax resident?

Up to 183 days in a calendar year. Because the arrival day counts in and the departure day counts out, that is really 183 nights, so 184 or more triggers residency under the main test.

What is the Cyprus 60-day rule?

An alternative test: you are resident on as few as 60 days if, in the same year, you stay at least 60 days in Cyprus, spend no more than 183 days in any other single country, are not tax resident elsewhere, have a business, job or office in a Cyprus company, and keep a permanent home in Cyprus that you own or rent. All five conditions must hold.

Is the Cyprus rule based on the calendar year?

Yes. The Cyprus tax year is the calendar year, and both the 183-day rule and the 60-day rule are measured over it rather than a rolling 12-month window.