# Turkmenistan

 Country code: TM · Currency: TMT · Language: Russian

**Pros**
- To maintain low personal and corporate tax rates minimizing direct state fiscal extraction.
- To access exceptionally low-cost natural gas and electricity for energy-intensive industrial or technological operations.
- To benefit from high levels of public order and minimal street crime within controlled environments.

**Cons**
- To navigate pervasive government monopolies and heavy-handed bureaucratic interference in almost every private sector.
- To endure severe internet censorship and restricted access to global communication platforms and digital tools.
- To face extreme difficulty in currency conversion and profit repatriation due to rigid capital controls.

Long story short: Here, the state will never tax you, it doesn't need to: it already owns the gas, the cotton, and pretty much the whole economy.

The flip side: setting up your business without a partner close to the regime is basically a fantasy, the official manat bears no relation to its black market rate, and getting your money out of the country is a real headache.

Besides that: Ashgabat, the all white marble capital, is oddly calm and safe, the food is decent, and the Karakum desert with its burning gas crater is worth the trip.

## Will your income be taxed?

Long story short: NO.
**Turkmenistan** 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.

**01.1 Income tax**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Personal income tax | NONE | no personal income tax framework |

**01.2 Tax residence test**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 183-day rule | does not exist here |  |
| Economic interest | does not exist here |  |
| Family centre | does not exist here |  |
| Habitual abode | does not exist here |  |
| Extended-stay test | does not exist here |  |

## Will your wealth be taxed?

Long story short: NO.
**Turkmenistan** 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.

**02.1 Investment income**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital gains | NONE | no capital gains regime |
| Dividend tax | NONE | no dividend tax |
| Interest income | NONE | no interest income tax |

**02.2 Wealth & estate**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wealth tax | NONE | no annual wealth tax · no real-estate wealth tax · no net-worth assessment |
| Inheritance system | NONE | no estate tax · no heir-based duties · no succession tax framework. Wealth transfers across heir-classes are not taxed in this jurisdiction. Only standard probate / registration fees may apply. |

**02.3 Crypto**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Crypto · tax regime | UNREGULATED | Fallback rate: 10% · The "Law on Virtual Assets" (effective Jan 1, 2026) legalizes crypto as digital property but not legal tender. No specific crypto tax regime exists, so gains are taxed under the general Tax Code at a flat 10% Personal Income Tax rate. Individual entrepreneurs may qualify for a 2% simplified tax rate on turnover. |
| Crypto-to-crypto | TAXABLE | each swap counts as a disposal — gains realised at every trade |
| FATF travel rule | NOT SIGNED | no information-sharing obligation on VASP transfers |

## Easy to run a company there?

Long story short: YES.
**Turkmenistan** 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.

**03.1 Rates**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Corporate tax | NONE | no corporate income tax framework |
| VAT standard rate | NONE | no general VAT · no consumption tax framework |

**03.2 Regime & registry**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| IP Box · Patent Box | NONE | no IP regime · IP income taxed under standard corporate rules |
| Misuse of corporate assets | NO CRIMINAL | no criminal liability · Under the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan, offenses such as 'Abuse of Authority' (Article 290) and 'Embezzlement' (Article 229) require the act to be committed 'contrary to the legitimate interests of the organization' and to cause 'significant harm' to the rights of others or the state. In a sole-shareholder scenario where the company is solvent, the owner's consent effectively defines the organization's interest, and the lack of an aggrieved party (since the owner is the sole beneficiary) prevents the act from meeting the criminal threshold. Such conduct is instead treated as a civil breach of accounting standards or a tax violation (e.g., undeclared dividends). |
| Shareholders privacy | PRIVATE | Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Ýuridik şahslaryň bitewi döwlet sanawy) |
| Directors privacy | PRIVATE | Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Ýuridik şahslaryň bitewi döwlet sanawy) |

**03.3 Incorporation cost**

_In this country, the most standard company form is called Hojalyk Jemgyýeti (Economic Society). The costs below are for incorporating a company in its simplest form, for reference only._

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| State Registration Fee | USD 2,286 |  |
| Professional Incorporation and Legal Services | USD 5,000 |  |
| Name Reservation and Administrative Fees | USD 100 |  |
| Total | USD 7,386 |  |

## A good fit for a holding?

Long story short: NO.
**Turkmenistan** 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.

**04.1 Substance & exemptions**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Territorial · individuals | WORLDWIDE | worldwide income taxation regardless of source |
| Territorial · corporates | WORLDWIDE | worldwide corporate taxation |
| Participation exemption | NONE | no dividend participation exemption regime |
| CFC rules | NONE | no controlled foreign corporation regime · foreign-source corporate income out of scope |

**04.2 Withholding tax · non-resident**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| WHT · dividends | NONE | no withholding on outbound dividends |
| WHT · interest | NONE | no withholding on outbound interest |
| WHT · royalties | NONE | no withholding on outbound royalties |
| Tax-haven WHT | NONE | no punitive rate on record |

**04.3 Treaty network**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Treaties signed | 0 | active |
| Treaties pending | — | in negotiation |

## Easy to come and go?

Long story short: SOME.
**Turkmenistan** 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.

**05.1 Exit & dual nationality**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Exit tax | NONE | no triggers active · residence change tax-free · no deemed-disposal mechanism |
| Dual citizenship | FORBIDDEN | naturalisation requires renouncing existing citizenship |

**05.2 Citizenship paths**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Residence | 5 years | available path to naturalisation |
| Marriage | — | not available |
| Birth | — | not available |
| Descent | — | not available |
| Investment | — | not available |

## Is your money watched?

Long story short: NO.
Nobody's reading over your shoulder in **Turkmenistan**. It has joined *almost none* of the big automatic-exchange machines (CRS, FATCA, CARF, MLI, MAAC), and its corporate registries are *non-public*.

Your account movements stay out of foreign tax offices; your name stays out of search boxes. Here, discretion isn't a perk; it's the factory setting.

**Multilateral reporting frameworks — 1/9 active**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CRS | None | — |
| CARF | None | — |
| FATCA | In force | 2014 |
| MLI | None | — |
| BEPS | None | — |
| MAAC | None | — |
| GLOBAL FORUM | None | — |
| EOIR | None | — |
| CRYPTO TRAVEL RULE | None | — |

## Is it blacklisted?

Long story short: NO.
**Turkmenistan** 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.

**Blacklist exposure — Clear everywhere**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| EMBARGO | Clear | un / us / eu sanctions |
| FATF | Clear | grey / black list |
| EU | Clear | non-cooperative list |
| FRANCE | Clear | ETNC list |
| SPAIN | Clear | tax-haven list |
| PORTUGAL | Clear | favourable regimes |
| BRAZIL | Clear | low-tax list |

## Do you feel free there?

Long story short: NO.
Press freedom in **Turkmenistan** is *locked down* (RSF rank **\#174**). 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.

**08.1 Press freedom**

| Metric | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Press freedom · RSF index | 174/180 | score 19 · ↑ 1 rank year-on-year |

Central bank digital currency

NONE

no announced CBDC program · no pilot · no retail or wholesale prototype on record

## Connected to the world?

Long story short: POORLY CONNECTED.
The two rails that matter are both dead in **Turkmenistan**. *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.

**Accept payments — 1/6 available**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Stripe | Not available | card payments |
| PayPal | Not available | wallet payments |
| Adyen | Not available | enterprise psp |
| Mollie | Not available | eu payments |
| GoCardless | Not available | direct debit |
| Paddle | Available | merchant of record |

**Bank and move money — 1/3 available**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wise | Available | multi-currency |
| Revolut | Not available | personal banking |
| Revolut Business | Not available | business banking |

**Buy and sell on Amazon — 1/2 available**

| Item | Status | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Amazon | Not available | consumer delivery |
| Amazon Seller | Available | marketplace selling |

  SEE ALSO## Other jurisdictions worth comparing

Picked by similarity of strategic profile to Turkmenistan. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.

  PROFILE-ADJACENT Same shape, comparable overall friction.

 [   São Tomé & Príncipe ST  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/st) [   Eritrea ER  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/er) [   Burundi BI  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/bi)

  NOTABLY MORE FAVORABLE Same family of strategies, higher total score.

 [   Suriname SR  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/sr) [   Azerbaijan AZ  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/az) [   Timor-Leste TL  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/tl)

  NOTABLY LESS FAVORABLE Same family of strategies, lower total score.

 [   Gambia GM  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/gm) [   St. Martin MF  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/mf) [   St. Pierre & Miquelon PM  → ](https://stateless.sx/en/country/pm)