French Polynesia
| Pros |
|---|
| Absence of personal income tax for individuals residing within the territory. |
| High degree of internal autonomy allowing for specific local business incentives. |
| Exceptional lifestyle quality within a secure, stable, and politically calm environment. |
| Cons |
|---|
| Heavy reliance on expensive imports and high operational costs due to geographic isolation. |
| Complex administrative bureaucracy and rigid labor laws inherited from the French legal system. |
| Limited infrastructure development and high costs for telecommunications and energy services. |
Long story short: Here, you pay zero income tax: French Polynesia has never had a personal income tax, a rare fiscal anomaly for such a developed territory.
The catch: a 16% VAT, heavy payroll charges, and an administration that locks down access to trades through licenses that are nearly impossible for foreigners to get, even though corruption stays rare.
Other than that: solid infrastructure in Papeete, reliable banks that are slow with non-residents, excellent safety in the nice neighborhoods, great food mixing fresh fish and French cuisine, and landscapes that will take your breath away.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
French Polynesia 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.
French Polynesia 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.
French Polynesia 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.
French Polynesia 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 French Polynesia 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: NO.
Foreign tax offices see next to nothing of what you do in French Polynesia: 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.
French Polynesia 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 French Polynesia.
Connected to the world?
Long story short: COMPLETELY CUT OFF.
French Polynesia 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.
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Picked by similarity of strategic profile to French Polynesia. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.