American Samoa
| Pros |
|---|
| Exemption from US federal income tax on income sourced within the territory |
| Strategic access to US markets while maintaining local control over business regulations |
| High level of personal safety and a close-knit community oriented toward traditional values |
| Cons |
|---|
| Restrictive communal land ownership laws limiting private property acquisition for non-indigenous entrepreneurs |
| Significant geographic isolation leading to high transportation costs and limited infrastructure development |
| Potential for administrative delays and local political influence within the regulatory environment |
Long story short: The real secret of American Samoa: almost no US federal tax on income earned locally, and the territory hands out its own tax breaks to businesses that set up shop in Pago Pago. A rare gift in the Pacific.
The catch: the whole economy runs on a single tuna cannery and a handful of supply ships, everything else costs a fortune to ship in. Land belongs to matai families, you can't buy it, only lease it, and local banks offer bare-bones service, nowhere near mainland US banking standards.
Other than that: crime is practically nonexistent, the administration follows the American model without the full federal red tape, food mixes Samoan dishes with pricey US imports, and the volcanic scenery is breathtaking.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
American Samoa doesn't tax personal income, and nobody comes sniffing around when you settle in. No withholding, no tax return, no centre-of-vital-interests trap waiting to snap shut.
Earn what you want: the taxman here simply doesn't know your name.
Will your wealth be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
American Samoa keeps its hands off what you hold. No capital gains tax, no annual wealth grab, no inheritance regime.
Your portfolio compounds in peace and leaves the way it came in; nobody's standing at the door with their palm out.
Easy to run a company there?
Long story short: YES.
American Samoa is maximum operational chill: no corporate income tax on standard profits, no criminal liability for misuse of corporate assets, and non-public registries.
The state doesn't take a cut, doesn't park a prosecutor over your intra-company flows, and doesn't put your name in a search box.
VAT sits at n/a. Run your thing; nobody's looking over your shoulder.
A good fit for a holding?
Long story short: NO.
American Samoa has no treaty network at all, which buries the holding question, full stop.
Every dividend in or out eats the statutory withholding at full rate, and no domestic regime can patch a hole that sits on the source side. Don't park a holding here.
| Country | Status | Dividends | Interest | Royalties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| ∅ // no treaties match | ||||
Easy to come and go?
Long story short: SOME.
American Samoa taxes your worldwide income while you're resident, but at least the exit is free: no exit tax on the way out.
Leaving costs you paperwork, not money; your unrealised gains walk out the door with you, untouched.
Is your money watched?
Long story short: NO.
Nobody's reading over your shoulder in American Samoa. It has joined almost none of the big automatic-exchange machines (CRS, FATCA, CARF, MLI, MAAC), and its corporate registries are non-public.
Your account movements stay out of foreign tax offices; your name stays out of search boxes. Here, discretion isn't a perk; it's the factory setting.
Is it blacklisted?
Long story short: YES.
American Samoa stacks the EU non-cooperative list on top of national blacklists. Counterparties routinely fire anti-abuse rules, jack up withholding, or refuse the deal entirely, and the EU layer makes the friction automatic across the whole bloc.
The jurisdiction itself is the risk; the substance of what you do there is a footnote.
Do you feel free there?
Long story short:
Not enough data to tell how free you'd actually feel in American Samoa.
Connected to the world?
Long story short: COMPLETELY CUT OFF.
American Samoa is unplugged from the global money grid: 2/11 of the services we track work here. No Stripe, no Amazon, and almost nothing around them either.
Whatever your plan is, the payment layer gets built from scratch, with local banks and local rules. Come for other reasons; connectivity isn't one of them.
Other jurisdictions worth comparing
Picked by similarity of strategic profile to American Samoa. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.