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We're in the EU (EU passports) and planning on spending the next couple years traveling. Income is coming through a company I have set in a country I was never a resident of.

The only taxes I'm normally liable for is my personal income, at my place of residence.

During the travel period, we will not stay longer than 2-3 month in a specific country, therefore we don't establish tax residence in any of them.

In that situation, can I avoid paying income tax during that time?

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    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_traveler
    – TomTom
    Commented Feb 16, 2019 at 17:07
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    I think in general, most jurisdictions consider that once you have established residency, residency is maintained by not establishing a residency elsewhere, not by continued presence.
    – chepner
    Commented Feb 16, 2019 at 19:00

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No.

All tax treaties (which allow personal/investment income paid in one country to get shifted to another country) require you to claim (at least in your mind; paperwork might not be needed) an official country of residence for each piece of income. So, you will then need to file taxes for at least one claimed country. If you claim multiple countries, you probably can use foreign tax credits to prevent double-taxation, but your total taxes are probably minimized claiming just one country for all income.

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  • so, if I understand properly, I need to elect where my tax residence is. But if I don't spend a minimum of time in a place, I can't establish a residence there since I wouldn't be able to get a tax id in that location. How can that work then?
    – Thomas
    Commented Feb 16, 2019 at 21:33
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    As @chepner commented, you probably should just stick with the country you last filed taxes with. If you really can't get a different tax ID, it seems you have no other option.
    – bobuhito
    Commented Feb 16, 2019 at 23:36
  • If you don't establish a new tax residence, your existing tax residence remains in place. This is true on both the international level and on a state-by-state level within the US. People who plan to travel indefinitely sometimes work very hard to establish residency in a low-tax jurisdiction.
    – stannius
    Commented Mar 30, 2022 at 15:24

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