Aruba
| Pros |
|---|
| High safety standards and political stability within a secure Caribbean legal framework. |
| Modern infrastructure and reliable telecommunications supporting remote business operations and global connectivity. |
| Special economic zones providing significant tax exemptions for international trade and export-oriented services. |
| Cons |
|---|
| Elevated personal income tax brackets and complex indirect taxation increasing the overall fiscal burden. |
| Significant economic vulnerability due to over-reliance on the tourism sector and external market fluctuations. |
| Onerous bureaucratic procedures and slow administrative timelines for business licensing and residency permits. |
Long story short: Here nobody will ask you for an envelope under the table: corruption is basically nonexistent, and the administration, modeled on the Dutch system, runs smoothly. But it runs on its own clock, between accumulating work permits and business licenses, and the tax bite gets serious the moment your business takes off.
Other than that: banks are solid but locked down tight, opening a business account is an obstacle course. Infrastructure is spotless, the upscale neighborhoods of Oranjestad and Palm Beach are quiet at night, the Caribbean-Dutch food is decent, everything is imported so it's pricey, and the desert-like beaches are breathtaking.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
Aruba 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.
Aruba 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.
Aruba 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.
Aruba 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.
Aruba 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: PARTLY.
Aruba plays along with some of the exchange machinery (typically CRS, MLI, MAAC), so a slice of your financial life gets shipped to treaty partners. Corporate registries stay non-public, so ownership stays opaque.
Half-watched: they see some of the money, none of the structure.
Is it blacklisted?
Long story short: SOMEWHAT.
Aruba is flagged by a few national tax administrations (drawn from FR/ES/PT/BR) and sits outside the FATF club.
The friction is selective: anti-abuse rules fire on specific corridors, and counterparties ask more questions than usual. Neither the FATF nor the EU has it on their lists, which keeps the damage contained: a nuisance, not a scarlet letter.
Do you feel free there?
Long story short:
Not enough data to tell how free you'd actually feel in Aruba.
| Program | Status | Cross-border | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Digital Florin
Central Bank van Aruba
|
RESEARCH | — | announce → |
Connected to the world?
Long story short: COMPLETELY CUT OFF.
Aruba 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 Aruba. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.