# Haiti

 Country code: HT · Currency: HTG · Language: French

**Pros**
- Minimal state interference: Limited government capacity and low regulatory oversight for agile entrepreneurs.
- Tax exemptions: Significant fiscal incentives and duty-free imports for businesses within designated industrial parks.
- Resilient informal markets: Vast opportunities for decentralized trade and private solutions in underserved sectors.

**Cons**
- Extreme security risks: Widespread gang control and high kidnapping rates against physical safety and assets.
- Weak rule of law: Pervasive corruption and judicial instability for contract enforcement and property rights.
- Infrastructure deficit: Chronic electricity shortages and dilapidated transport routes with high operational costs.

Long story short: In Haiti, the state will never come knocking: neither the tax office nor the administration has the means to bother you, and a good network buys off the rest. The flip side of that freedom: gangs control a good chunk of Port-au-Prince, and Pétion-Ville isn't the safe haven it used to be.

Other than that: excellent Creole food, gorgeous scenery, a banking system that's solid but stingy with credit, electricity that's basically a private matter, and real economic potential for those who can stomach the risk.

## Will your income be taxed?

Long story short: NO.
**Haiti** 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.
**Haiti** 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 | UNREGULATED | Fallback rate: 30% · The Central Bank of Haiti (BRH) has issued multiple warnings (2014, 2018) stating that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender and are not regulated or supervised. In the absence of specific crypto-asset legislation, general tax principles apply. Gains from the sale or exchange of crypto-assets are treated as taxable income subject to the progressive individual income tax scale, which reaches a maximum rate of 30% for income exceeding 1,000,000 HTG. |
| 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.
**Haiti** charges *no corporate income tax*, but treats *misuse of corporate assets as a crime*. Even as sole shareholder, dipping into company funds for personal use can land you in front of a judge; your own consent doesn't erase the offense.

Registries stay *non-public*, so at least your name stays off the internet.

Fiscally royal; just keep the books straight, because this is not a place to get casual with the company card.

**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 | CRIMINAL | criminal liability · Article 32 of the Decree of August 28, 1960 (Décret du 28 août 1960 sur les sociétés anonymes) and Article 337 of the Penal Code (Code Pénal) · Haiti follows the civil law principle of the 'Autonomy of the Legal Entity' (personnalité morale). Under Article 32 of the 1960 Decree, directors who use the company's assets or credit for personal purposes, or to favor another entity in which they have an interest, are subject to the criminal penalties defined in Article 337 of the Penal Code (1 to 3 years of imprisonment). This criminal liability applies even if the director is the sole shareholder and the company is solvent, as the assets are legally distinct from the individual's personal patrimony. Additionally, for companies with state participation or public funding, Article 5.14 of the 2014 Anti-Corruption Law provides a specific criminalization of the misuse of corporate assets. |
| Shareholders privacy | PRIVATE | Registre Public du Commerce (Ministère du Commerce et de l'Industrie) |
| Directors privacy | PRIVATE | Registre Public du Commerce (Ministère du Commerce et de l'Industrie) |

**03.3 Incorporation cost**

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

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Professional Legal and Notary Fees | USD 764 |  |
| Government Registration and Publication Fees (MCI & Le Moniteur) | USD 237 |  |
| Total | USD 1,001 |  |

## A good fit for a holding?

Long story short: NO.
**Haiti** 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 | NONE | no dividend participation exemption regime |
| 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.
**Haiti** 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 | 5 years | available path to naturalisation |
| Marriage | — | not available |
| Birth | jus soli | available path to naturalisation |
| Descent | — | not available |
| Investment | — | not available |

## Is your money watched?

Long story short: NO.
Nobody's reading over your shoulder in **Haiti**. 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 · 2 pending**

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

## Is it blacklisted?

Long story short: YES.
**Haiti** sits on the **FATF grey/black list**, the one flag that chases a transaction around the planet.

Enhanced due diligence becomes mandatory for your counterparties everywhere, correspondent banking dries up, and some institutions slam the door outright.

No structuring cleverness offsets a FATF listing: the compliance cost is welded to the country's name.

**Blacklist exposure — Listed by 1 authority**

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

## Do you feel free there?

Long story short: NO.
Press freedom in **Haiti** is *locked down* (RSF rank **\#111**). Independent media and civic space operate under pressure (when they operate at all), and that kind of grip usually spills over into economic life too.

Small mercy: crypto isn't formally banned.

**08.1 Press freedom**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Press freedom · RSF index | 111/180 | score 51 · ↓ 18 ranks year-on-year |

Central bank digital currency

    Program Status Cross-border Sources     Gourde Digitale

La Banque de la Republique d'Haiti

   RESEARCH   —   [announce →](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iATIM_r4ABI "Announcement")

 programs 1

## Connected to the world?

Long story short: COMPLETELY CUT OFF.
**Haiti** 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 — 0/6 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 | Not 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 — 1/2 available**

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

  SEE ALSO## Other jurisdictions worth comparing

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

  PROFILE-ADJACENT Same shape, comparable overall friction.

 [   Nepal NP  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/np) [   Gambia GM  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/gm) [   Solomon Islands SB  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/sb)

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

 [   St. Martin MF  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/mf) [   St. Pierre & Miquelon PM  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/pm) [   Angola AO  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/ao)