Vanuatu
| Pros |
|---|
| Absence of personal income, corporate, capital gains, or inheritance taxes for residents and businesses. |
| Fast-track citizenship by investment program providing increased global mobility and alternative residency options. |
| Minimal government interference in private enterprise and simplified registration for international business companies. |
| Cons |
|---|
| Inadequate infrastructure with frequent power outages and limited high-speed internet outside the capital. |
| Significant vulnerability to devastating natural disasters like cyclones, impacting long-term physical asset security. |
| Persistent concerns regarding government transparency and occasional political instability affecting legal predictability. |
Long story short: Here, you'll never get fleeced by the taxman: zero income tax, zero corporate tax, zero capital gains tax.
The flip side: you'll struggle to open a business account since local banks have gotten skittish, and the administration runs on Melanesian time. A quiet backhander sometimes unlocks things faster than a complete file.
Beyond that: you'll feel safe in the nice neighborhoods, the food mixes fresh fish with French-style bakeries, the volcanic scenery is worth the trip, but cyclones hit hard every season.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
Vanuatu 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.
Vanuatu 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.
Vanuatu runs no corporate income tax and no criminal liability for misuse of corporate assets: fiscally and legally featherweight.
The catch: registries are public, so your name as shareholder is one search away for any curious stranger. They won't tax you, they won't prosecute you. They'll just put you in the shop window.
A good fit for a holding?
Long story short: NO.
Vanuatu 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 Vanuatu 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.
Vanuatu has signed most of the standard exchange frameworks and runs a public corporate registry. Your accounts get reported to your home tax office, and your shareholdings sit in the shop window.
Watched on both axes: not wall-to-wall, but don't come here for discretion.
Is it blacklisted?
Long story short: YES.
Vanuatu stacks the EU non-cooperative list on top of national blacklists. Counterparties routinely fire anti-abuse rules, jack up withholding, or refuse the deal entirely, and the EU layer makes the friction automatic across the whole bloc.
The jurisdiction itself is the risk; the substance of what you do there is a footnote.
Do you feel free there?
Long story short:
Not enough data to tell how free you'd actually feel in Vanuatu.
| Program | Status | Cross-border | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
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Vanuatu CBDC
The purpose of this groundbreaking study is to chart a path for the Pacific Island countries into the age of digital finance. It will systematically investigate financial infrastructures in four countries: Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. In addition to assessing current procedures for wholesale settlements (i.e., between financial institutions) and cash-based and cashless retail settlements (e.g., between end users), SORAMITSU will evaluate the potential risks and benefits of introducing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and other novel digital assets.
Reserve Bank of Vanuatu
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RESEARCH | — | announce → |
Connected to the world?
Long story short: POORLY CONNECTED.
The two rails that matter are both dead in Vanuatu. 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 (4/11), but for an online business this is swimming against the current.
Other jurisdictions worth comparing
Picked by similarity of strategic profile to Vanuatu. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.