# American Samoa

 Country code: AS

**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.

**01.1 Income tax**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Personal income tax | NONE | no personal income tax framework |

**01.2 Tax residence test**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 183-day rule | does not exist here |  |
| Economic interest | does not exist here |  |
| Family centre | does not exist here |  |
| Habitual abode | does not exist here |  |
| Extended-stay test | does not exist here |  |

## 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.

**02.1 Investment income**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital gains | NONE | no capital gains regime |
| Dividend tax | NONE | no dividend tax |
| Interest income | NONE | no interest income tax |

**02.2 Wealth & estate**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wealth tax | NONE | no annual wealth tax · no real-estate wealth tax · no net-worth assessment |
| Inheritance system | NONE | no estate tax · no heir-based duties · no succession tax framework. Wealth transfers across heir-classes are not taxed in this jurisdiction. Only standard probate / registration fees may apply. |

**02.3 Crypto**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Crypto · tax regime | PROGRESSIVE | Rate: 20% · American Samoa adopts the U.S. Internal Revenue Code as of December 31, 2000 (ASCA § 11.0403). Consequently, it follows U.S. principles treating cryptocurrency as property. Long-term capital gains (assets held >12 months) are taxed at a maximum rate of 20%, while short-term gains and professional trading are taxed as ordinary income at progressive rates reaching 39.6%. Residents are also subject to a 2% wage tax on earned income and an alternative minimum tax of 4% on adjusted gross income (AGI). |
| Crypto-to-crypto | TAXABLE | each swap counts as a disposal — gains realised at every trade |
| FATF travel rule | NOT SIGNED | no information-sharing obligation on VASP transfers |

## 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.

**03.1 Rates**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Corporate tax | NONE | no corporate income tax framework |
| VAT standard rate | NONE | no general VAT · no consumption tax framework |

**03.2 Regime & registry**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| IP Box · Patent Box | NONE | no IP regime · IP income taxed under standard corporate rules |
| Misuse of corporate assets | NO CRIMINAL | no criminal liability · American Samoa follows U.S. common law principles where the misuse of corporate assets by a sole shareholder-director of a solvent company is not a criminal offense. Under the American Samoa Code Annotated (ASCA), crimes such as stealing (§ 46.4103) and embezzlement (§ 46.4104) require the misappropriation of property belonging to 'another.' In a sole-owner scenario, the owner's consent to the use of funds typically negates the criminal intent required for theft. Such conduct is instead addressed through civil remedies, such as 'piercing the corporate veil' to hold the individual liable for corporate debts, or through tax penalties for undeclared personal benefits (constructive dividends). |
| Shareholders privacy | PRIVATE | Department of Commerce (DOC) - Territorial Registrar |
| Directors privacy | PRIVATE | Department of Commerce (DOC) - Territorial Registrar |

**03.3 Incorporation cost**

_In this country, the most standard company form is called Limited Liability Company (LLC). The costs below are for incorporating a company in its simplest form, for reference only._

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Articles of Organization Filing Fee | USD 50 |  |
| General Business License Fee | USD 150 |  |
| Professional Incorporation Service (Online Portal) | USD 100 |  |
| Registered Agent Initial Fee | USD 50 |  |
| Total | USD 350 |  |

## 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.

**04.1 Substance & exemptions**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Territorial · individuals | WORLDWIDE | worldwide income taxation regardless of source |
| Territorial · corporates | WORLDWIDE | worldwide corporate taxation |
| Participation exemption | 100% | 10% holding · 12 months min |
| CFC rules | NONE | no controlled foreign corporation regime · foreign-source corporate income out of scope |

**04.2 Withholding tax · non-resident**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| WHT · dividends | NONE | no withholding on outbound dividends |
| WHT · interest | NONE | no withholding on outbound interest |
| WHT · royalties | NONE | no withholding on outbound royalties |
| Tax-haven WHT | NONE | no punitive rate on record |

**04.3 Treaty network**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Treaties signed | 0 | active |
| Treaties pending | — | in negotiation |

## 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.

**05.1 Exit & dual nationality**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Exit tax | NONE | no triggers active · residence change tax-free · no deemed-disposal mechanism |
| Dual citizenship | FORBIDDEN | naturalisation requires renouncing existing citizenship |

**05.2 Citizenship paths**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Residence | — | not available |
| Marriage | — | not available |
| Birth | — | not available |
| Descent | — | not available |
| Investment | — | not available |

## 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.

**Multilateral reporting frameworks — 0/9 active**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CRS | None | — |
| CARF | None | — |
| FATCA | None | — |
| MLI | None | — |
| BEPS | None | — |
| MAAC | None | — |
| GLOBAL FORUM | None | — |
| EOIR | None | — |
| CRYPTO TRAVEL RULE | None | — |

## 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.

**Blacklist exposure — Listed by 5 authorities**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| EMBARGO | Clear | un / us / eu sanctions |
| FATF | Clear | grey / black list |
| EU | Listed | non-cooperative list |
| FRANCE | Listed | ETNC list |
| SPAIN | Listed | tax-haven list |
| PORTUGAL | Listed | favourable regimes |
| BRAZIL | Listed | low-tax list |

## Do you feel free there?

Long story short:
Not enough data to tell how free you'd actually feel in **American Samoa**.

**08.1 Press freedom**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Press freedom · RSF index | — |  |

Central bank digital currency

NONE

no announced CBDC program · no pilot · no retail or wholesale prototype on record

## 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.

**Accept payments — 1/6 available**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Stripe | Not available | card payments |
| PayPal | Not available | wallet payments |
| Adyen | Not available | enterprise psp |
| Mollie | Not available | eu payments |
| GoCardless | Not available | direct debit |
| Paddle | Available | merchant of record |

**Bank and move money — 1/3 available**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wise | Available | multi-currency |
| Revolut | Not available | personal banking |
| Revolut Business | Not available | business banking |

**Buy and sell on Amazon — 0/2 available**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Amazon | Not available | consumer delivery |
| Amazon Seller | Not available | marketplace selling |

  SEE ALSO## Other jurisdictions worth comparing

Picked by similarity of strategic profile to American Samoa. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.

  PROFILE-ADJACENT Same shape, comparable overall friction.

 [   Northern Mariana Islands MP  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/mp) [   Andorra AD  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/ad) [   Aruba AW  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/aw)

  NOTABLY MORE FAVORABLE Same family of strategies, higher total score.

 [   Lebanon LB  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/lb) [   Faroe Islands FO  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/fo) [   Indonesia ID  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/id)

  NOTABLY LESS FAVORABLE Same family of strategies, lower total score.

 [   Gambia GM  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/gm) [   Falkland Islands FK  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/fk) [   Tonga TO  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/to)