Sint Maarten
| Pros |
|---|
| Absence of capital gains and wealth taxes to maximize private capital retention and investment growth |
| Strategic location as a duty-free Caribbean hub with high-capacity international air and sea connectivity |
| Dual-jurisdiction environment for unique access to both European standards and Caribbean market flexibility |
| Cons |
|---|
| Persistent political instability and administrative corruption with negative effects on business predictability and legal certainty |
| Fragile utility infrastructure and high climate vulnerability with the need for significant private contingency systems |
| Increasing international pressure for tax transparency and complex local labor regulations for reduced operational autonomy |
Long story short: Here, the Dutch government is too busy with its own political crises to bother digging through your accounts. Corporate taxes stay low, paperwork is minimal, and nobody really checks what you declare.
The flip side: infrastructure still carries the scars of Irma, local banks stay wary of new accounts, and corruption runs deep through parts of the administration.
Other than that: in upscale neighborhoods like Cupecoy, safety is nothing to worry about, Caribbean food is excellent, and the beaches are absolutely worth the trip.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
Sint Maarten 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.
Sint Maarten 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.
Sint Maarten 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.
Sint Maarten 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.
Sint Maarten 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: PARTLY.
Sint Maarten 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.
Sint Maarten 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 Sint Maarten.
Connected to the world?
Long story short: COMPLETELY CUT OFF.
Sint Maarten 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.
Other jurisdictions worth comparing
Picked by similarity of strategic profile to Sint Maarten. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.