St. Martin
| Pros |
|---|
| Exemption from French VAT and wealth tax to boost local investment and capital retention. |
| Strategic duty-free status allowing unrestricted movement of goods and minimal customs interference. |
| Unique dual-governance environment providing access to European markets within a Caribbean lifestyle. |
| Cons |
|---|
| Complex French administrative regulations creating significant bureaucratic hurdles for small business operations. |
| High vulnerability to natural disasters requiring expensive private insurance and infrastructure reinforcement. |
| Elevated security risks and property crime rates impacting operational costs and personal safety. |
Long story short: After five years of residency in Saint Martin, you stop paying a single cent of local income tax, written in black and white into the collectivity's own tax code.
The catch: local administration drags its feet on everything, the island is still nursing Irma's wounds on the roads, and banks eye every new account with suspicion, slippery ground when it comes to money laundering.
Besides that: the French side stays calm in its wealthy neighborhoods, unlike its Dutch neighbor. Excellent Creole-French food, gorgeous scenery, tiny market, and everything imported costs a fortune.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
Saint Martin 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.
Saint Martin 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, BUT EXPOSED.
Saint Martin has no corporate income tax but stacks the two nastiest non-fiscal frictions: criminal liability for misuse of corporate assets (jail on the table for sloppy intra-company spending) and public registries (your name served up to anyone with a browser).
The sticker says zero; the exposure says otherwise, on every other axis.
A good fit for a holding?
Long story short: NO.
Saint Martin 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.
Saint Martin 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.
Foreign tax offices see next to nothing of what you do in Saint Martin: it has signed few exchange frameworks.
But the corporate registries are public: your shareholdings and directorships are one search away for anyone curious. Invisible from abroad, on display at home.
Is it blacklisted?
Long story short: SOMEWHAT.
Saint Martin 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 Saint Martin.
Connected to the world?
Long story short: POORLY CONNECTED.
The two rails that matter are both dead in Saint Martin. 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.
Other jurisdictions worth comparing
Picked by similarity of strategic profile to St. Martin. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.