Marshall Islands
| Pros |
|---|
| Absence of corporate, dividend, or capital gains taxes for non-resident international business companies |
| World-leading legal framework for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations and blockchain-based corporate structures |
| High levels of personal safety and minimal government interference in daily private life |
| Cons |
|---|
| Significant geographic isolation leading to high transport costs and limited global market access |
| Fragile infrastructure with inconsistent electricity and slow internet speeds outside major urban centers |
| Heavy reliance on foreign aid and increasing international pressure regarding tax transparency standards |
Long story short: Here, nobody comes after your wallet: the Marshall Islands barely tax locals and the administration will never bother you, it mostly exists to register offshore companies and ships.
The flip side: quiet corruption favors local clans, the economy runs on American aid and fishing, banks are fragile and increasingly cut off from the international system, and Majuro's infrastructure stays basic.
Besides that: low crime, excellent fresh fish, and gorgeous lagoons, but everything else gets imported at a steep price.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
Marshall Islands 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.
Marshall Islands 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.
Marshall Islands 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.
Marshall Islands 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: LITTLE.
Coming and going from Marshall Islands costs you nothing worth mentioning. Territorial regime (foreign income stays foreign), no exit tax at the door.
You show up with your stuff, you leave with your stuff, plus whatever you earned abroad in between. Borders the way they should all work.
Is your money watched?
Long story short: PARTLY.
Marshall Islands 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.
Marshall Islands 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 Marshall Islands.
Connected to the world?
Long story short: POORLY CONNECTED.
The two rails that matter are both dead in Marshall Islands. 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 Marshall Islands. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.