Dominica

DM XCD$ English
Pros
Attractive tax exemptions for offshore entities and absence of capital gains or inheritance taxes.
Robust Citizenship by Investment program to secure global mobility and residency for foreign investors.
High degree of personal safety and a tranquil lifestyle within a stable democratic framework.
Cons
Significant vulnerability to extreme weather events to cause frequent disruptions to physical infrastructure and logistics.
Limited international air connectivity and high energy costs to impact operational efficiency for physical businesses.
Bureaucratic delays in judicial processes and property registration to slow down commercial dispute resolutions.

Long story short: Here, the state doesn't care about taxing you: its real business is selling you a passport.

The flip side: the local banking system is a wreck, foreign banks blacklist anything that smells of Dominica because of the citizenship-by-investment scandals. Infrastructure holds together with duct tape, and one hurricane can flatten everything overnight.

Other than that: breathtaking volcanic scenery, decent security in Roseau's wealthier neighborhoods, solid Creole food, and a tiny local market that quickly caps your ambitions.

VERYLOW TAX 2.2/10 HOLDING 0.5/10 DIVIDENDPIPELINE 0.5/10 CRYPTOHAVEN 2/10 PRIVACYGRADE 2/10

Will your income be taxed?

Long story short: NO.
Dominica 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
Personal income tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What residents pay on what they earn: salary, freelance income, sometimes dividends too. We show the system (flat or progressive) and the top rate.
Source et informations complémentairesno personal income tax framework
01.2 Tax residence test
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
Income tax simulatori
N/A
no income tax framework — nothing to simulate

Will your wealth be taxed?

Long story short: NO.
Dominica 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
Capital gains
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The tax on your profit when you sell something that gained value: stocks, property, crypto, a business. Some countries skip it entirely.
Source et informations complémentairesno capital gains regime
Dividend tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What you pay when your company sends you dividends. It stacks on top of corporate tax, so the combined bill is what really counts.
Source et informations complémentairesno dividend tax
Interest income
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The tax on income from savings, bonds and loans. Matters when choosing where to park your cash.
Source et informations complémentairesno interest income tax
02.2 Wealth & estate
Wealth tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?A yearly tax on what you own above a threshold, whether you sell or not. Most countries scrapped it; a few still run one.
Source et informations complémentairesno annual wealth tax · no real-estate wealth tax · no net-worth assessment
Inheritance system
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What heirs pay on what they inherit, by category (spouse, children, others), with allowances and top rates. Plenty of countries charge nothing at all.
Source et informations complémentairesno 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
Crypto · tax regime
UNREGULATED
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De quoi s’agit-il ?How crypto gains are taxed here: zero, flat, progressive or grey zone. Includes whether crypto-to-crypto swaps count as taxable events.
Source et informations complémentairesFallback rate: 0% · Dominica does not impose Capital Gains Tax on individuals, meaning casual investors generally pay 0% on crypto profits. However, if an individual is deemed to be trading as a business (professional trader), gains are treated as business income and subject to progressive personal income tax rates ranging from 15% to 35% (after a tax-free allowance of XCD 30,000). The Virtual Asset Business Act 2022 regulates service providers but does not establish a specific tax regime for individual holders.
Crypto-to-crypto
NEUTRAL
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De quoi s’agit-il ?How crypto gains are taxed here: zero, flat, progressive or grey zone. Includes whether crypto-to-crypto swaps count as taxable events.
Source et informations complémentairesa swap is not a taxable realisation event
FATF travel rule
NOT SIGNED
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Does this country enforce the crypto Travel Rule? If yes, exchanges must identify senders and recipients, like banks do for wire transfers.
Source et informations complémentairesno information-sharing obligation on VASP transfers

Easy to run a company there?

Long story short: YES.
Dominica runs no corporate income tax and no criminal liability for misuse of corporate assets: fiscally and legally featherweight.

The catch: registries are public, so your name as shareholder is one search away for any curious stranger. They won't tax you, they won't prosecute you. They'll just put you in the shop window.

03.1 Rates
Corporate tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What companies pay on their profits. The headline rate is a starting point: IP boxes and holding regimes often pull the real rate lower.
Source et informations complémentairesno corporate income tax framework
VAT standard rate
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The sales tax baked into almost everything you buy here. One standard rate, plus reduced rates on things like food or books.
Source et informations complémentairesno general VAT · no consumption tax framework
03.2 Regime & registry
IP Box · Patent Box
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?A discounted tax rate on income from patents, software and designs, often 5 to 10%. A magnet for tech and licensing businesses.
Source et informations complémentairesno IP regime · IP income taxed under standard corporate rules
Misuse of corporate assets
NO CRIMINAL
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De quoi s’agit-il ?If you spend company money on yourself, is it a crime (prison possible) or a civil matter? Some countries prosecute even sole shareholders.
Source et informations complémentairesno criminal liability · Dominica follows Common Law principles where a company is a separate legal entity (Salomon v Salomon), but the criminal law of theft (Theft Act, Chapter 10:33) requires 'dishonesty'. In a solvent company, a sole shareholder-director is considered the 'mind and will' of the entity; thus, their consent to the use of funds negates the element of dishonesty required for a criminal conviction. Such acts are instead treated as a civil breach of fiduciary duty under the Companies Act (Chapter 81:01, Sections 97-99) or as a tax/distribution issue.
Shareholders privacy
PUBLIC PAYWALL
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De quoi s’agit-il ?How visible a company's shareholders and directors are: free public registry, paywalled, restricted or fully private. More privacy, but sometimes warier banks.
Source et informations complémentairesCompanies and Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
Directors privacy
PUBLIC PAYWALL
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De quoi s’agit-il ?How visible a company's shareholders and directors are: free public registry, paywalled, restricted or fully private. More privacy, but sometimes warier banks.
Source et informations complémentairesCompanies and Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
03.3 Incorporation cost
In this country, the most standard company form is called Private Limited Liability Company. The costs below are for incorporating a company in its simplest form, for reference only.
Government Registration and Filing Fees (CIPO)
USD 370
Professional Legal and Incorporation Services
USD 2,000
Total
USD 2,370

A good fit for a holding?

Long story short: NO.
Dominica 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
Territorial · individuals
WORLDWIDE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Does this country tax only local income (territorial) or everything you earn worldwide? Territorial means your foreign income stays untaxed here. Huge.
Source et informations complémentairesworldwide income taxation regardless of source
Territorial · corporates
WORLDWIDE
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Source et informations complémentairesworldwide corporate taxation
Participation exemption
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Can a holding company receive dividends from its subsidiaries tax-free? The cornerstone of any serious holding structure.
Source et informations complémentairesno dividend participation exemption regime
CFC rules
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Anti-offshore rules: they tax you at home on your foreign company's profits, even if nothing was distributed. Where they exist, offshore setups get tricky.
Source et informations complémentairesno controlled foreign corporation regime · foreign-source corporate income out of scope
04.2 Withholding tax · non-resident
WHT · dividends
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The cut this country takes when it sends dividends, interest or royalties abroad. Tax treaties can shrink it; blacklists can inflate it.
Source et informations complémentairesno withholding on outbound dividends
WHT · interest
NONE
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Source et informations complémentairesno withholding on outbound interest
WHT · royalties
NONE
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Source et informations complémentairesno withholding on outbound royalties
Tax-haven WHT
NONE
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Source et informations complémentairesno punitive rate on record
04.3 Treaty network
Treaties signed
0
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Deals with other countries to avoid double taxation and cut withholding taxes. The bigger the network, the easier your money moves across borders.
Source et informations complémentairesactive
Treaties pending
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Source et informations complémentairesin negotiation
Tax treaty network
origin · DM 0% > 0% no treaty
Inspect a country
Hover any country on the map to read its withholding-tax treaty with DM.
Country Status Dividends Interest Royalties
// no treaties match

Easy to come and go?

Long story short: SOME.
Dominica 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
Exit tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What the country charges you for leaving: tax on your unrealized gains, as if you'd sold everything at the border. Here you'll see if it exists and when it triggers.
Source et informations complémentairesno triggers active · residence change tax-free · no deemed-disposal mechanism
Dual citizenship
ALLOWED
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Source et informations complémentairesnaturalised citizens may keep their existing nationality
05.2 Citizenship paths
Residence
7 years
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Source et informations complémentairesavailable path to naturalisation
Marriage
3 years
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Source et informations complémentairesavailable path to naturalisation
Birth
jus soli
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Source et informations complémentairesavailable path to naturalisation
Descent
1 gen
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Source et informations complémentairesavailable path to naturalisation
Investment
available
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Source et informations complémentairesavailable path to naturalisation

Is your money watched?

Long story short: PARTLY.
Dominica has signed most of the standard exchange frameworks and runs a public corporate registry. Your accounts get reported to your home tax office, and your shareholdings sit in the shop window.

Watched on both axes: not wall-to-wall, but don't come here for discretion.

Multilateral reporting frameworks 3/9 active · 3 pending
CRS
2020
CARF
FATCA
2014
MLI
BEPS
MAAC
2019
GLOBAL FORUM
EOIR
CRYPTO TRAVEL RULE

Is it blacklisted?

Long story short: SOMEWHAT.
Dominica 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.

Blacklist exposure Listed by 3 authorities
EMBARGO
un / us / eu sanctions
FATF
grey / black list
EU
non-cooperative list
FRANCE
ETNC list
SPAIN
tax-haven list
PORTUGAL
favourable regimes
BRAZIL
low-tax list

Do you feel free there?

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

08.1 Press freedom
Press freedom · RSF index
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The RSF world ranking of press freedom. A good proxy for censorship and civil liberties. The lower the rank, the freer the press.
Central bank digital currencyi
NONE
no announced CBDC program · no pilot · no retail or wholesale prototype on record

Connected to the world?

Long story short: POORLY CONNECTED.
The two rails that matter are both dead in Dominica. Stripe won't onboard you, so card payments mean a foreign structure or a local processor with its own rules. Amazon doesn't deliver either.

Some secondary services run (3/11), but for an online business this is swimming against the current.

Accept payments 1/6 available
Stripe
card payments
PayPal
wallet payments
Adyen
enterprise psp
Mollie
eu payments
GoCardless
direct debit
Paddle
merchant of record
Bank and move money 1/3 available
Wise
multi-currency
Revolut
personal banking
Revolut Business
business banking
Buy and sell on Amazon 1/2 available
Amazon
consumer delivery
Amazon Seller
marketplace selling
SEE ALSO

Other jurisdictions worth comparing

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

PROFILE-ADJACENT Same shape, comparable overall friction.
NOTABLY MORE FAVORABLE Same family of strategies, higher total score.
NOTABLY LESS FAVORABLE Same family of strategies, lower total score.