Togo
| Pros |
|---|
| Strategic maritime access via the deep-water Port of Lomé for regional West African trade expansion. |
| Stable monetary environment through the CFA Franc pegged to the Euro, minimizing exchange rate volatility. |
| Streamlined business creation processes and attractive investment incentives for foreign entrepreneurs in specific economic zones. |
| Cons |
|---|
| Persistent systemic corruption and weak judicial independence hindering fair contract enforcement and property rights protection. |
| Inadequate infrastructure and unreliable electricity supply outside major urban centers impacting operational efficiency. |
| Significant state control over political life and periodic restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression. |
Long story short: Setting up a company in Lomé takes two days, one counter, no visible shakedown: Togo figured out that pampering entrepreneurs pays more than fleecing them.
The flip side: tax audits hit at random, cops at checkpoints hold their hand out, and getting a bank loan is an obstacle course.
Beyond that: the wealthy districts of Lomé stay quiet, the food is excellent, beaches and lakes are worth the trip, and the CFA franc spares you exchange-rate headaches.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
Togo 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.
Togo 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.
Togo 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.
Togo 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ∅ // no treaties match | ||||
Easy to come and go?
Long story short: SOME.
Togo 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 Togo: 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: NO.
Togo sits on no major blacklist, though it's outside the FATF club.
Some counterparties will run a bit of extra due diligence out of habit, but there's no formal stigma: you won't get hassled for dealing with it.
Do you feel free there?
Long story short: NO.
Press freedom in Togo is locked down (RSF rank #121). 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.
Connected to the world?
Long story short: POORLY CONNECTED.
The two rails that matter are both dead in Togo. 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 Togo. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.