USE CASE · DIGITAL NOMAD TAX
Digital nomad taxes, without the surprises.
A nomad lifestyle is a multi-jurisdiction lifestyle. Schengen 90/180, accidental tax residency, US foreign earned income exclusion, employer permanent-establishment risk. Heed tracks your residency days, Schengen 90/180 and rule changes from one dashboard.
- Thailand DTV visaApproved
- Tax residencyUnknown
- A visa is not a tax status. The days still count.
With Heed
- Thailand, 142 of 180 days38 to go
- Programmes you qualify for, in Visa MatchMatched
- Rule watchedWatchingThailand's foreign-income rules, watched for the next change
An example. The rules and changes in it are real ones from Heed's data.
The problem
Where it goes wrong.
- 01
Most nomads don't realise they have triggered tax residency until a tax authority writes to them.
- 02
The Schengen 90/180 rule, US substantial presence, and Thai more-than-180-day rule all run on different clocks. Tracking them in your head is a losing game.
- 03
Nomad visas (Portugal, Spain, Estonia, Barbados) come with tax conditions most blog posts gloss over.
How Heed solves it
Three tools, one decision layer.
Log presence across multiple jurisdictions. Warned 28 days before the line in Avoid mode, and at 50%, 85% and 100% of a goal in Establish mode.
Track my daysJurisdictions at a glance
Nomad jurisdictions worth knowing.
A snapshot for orientation. Each country's full rules, with their official sources, live in its tax guide and in your dashboard.
- PTPortugalD8 digital nomad visa. NHR closed to new applicants but IFICI scheme available for some.
- AEUnited Arab EmiratesVirtual Working Programme. 0% personal tax. 183 days for tax residency; 90 days if you hold a UAE residence permit and have a UAE home or job/business.
- EEEstoniaDigital Nomad Visa. e-Residency available separately. 183-day tax rule.
- ESSpainDigital Nomad Visa under Beckham regime. 24% on Spanish employment income up to EUR 600k (47% above), for 6 tax years.
- THThailandDTV 5-year nomad visa. More than 180 days in a calendar year triggers tax residency. Foreign-source income rules tightening.
- BBBarbados12-month Welcome Stamp. Income earned outside Barbados not taxed locally.
- GEGeorgiaVisa-free stay of up to a year for citizens of many countries. Up to 1% tax for individual entrepreneurs <500k GEL turnover.
- MTMaltaNomad Residence Permit. 10% flat rate on income from authorised work (none for the first 12 months unless you opt in earlier).
Questions
Common questions.
Straight answers. Heed is intelligence, not advice.
In most cases no, but it depends on the country. Thailand triggers at more than 180 days in a calendar year, the UK uses a Statutory Residence Test with ties, and the US uses a 3-year weighted formula. Heed tracks the actual rule for each jurisdiction you visit.
Schengen's 90 days in any 180 is an immigration rule, not a tax rule. Tax residency follows each country's own test, often 183 days in a year, but sometimes a home or your main interests there count sooner. Heed tracks the two separately so you don't conflate them.
US citizens are taxed on worldwide income regardless of where they live. Heed does not run the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion test (physical presence, 330 days) or foreign tax credit calculations. Ask Heed can explain them for each host country, and Heed watches the rule changes; check your own position with an adviser.
Yes. Every plan covers all the jurisdictions we track, so you can monitor any combination at once. Signal, the entry plan, gives you the Change Feed, alerts and Residency Tracker across all of them; Pro adds the deeper tools like the Scenario Planner and Position Optimiser.
Keep reading
Related use cases.
Stop guessing. Start monitoring.
One profile, several countries watched, and an alert when something that affects you actually changes.