High level of personal safety and low violent crime rates compared to other Caribbean nations.
Recent legalization of small and medium private enterprises for limited market-driven business growth.
Access to a highly skilled, educated workforce at significantly lower costs than international averages.
Cons
Pervasive state intervention in all economic sectors and restrictive centralized control over foreign currency.
Frequent power grid failures and unreliable telecommunications infrastructure with daily business operations and logistics disruptions.
Absence of robust legal protections for private property and high risk of arbitrary state expropriation.
Starting a business in Cuba usually means a forced marriage with the State, which grabs its cut before you sell a single thing.
Since 2021 though, small private outfits have been popping up all over Havana, and a good bribe unlocks plenty of locked administrative doors. The banking system is flat out dead: you'll pay everything in cash, dollars or black market rate.
Beyond that: daily blackouts, roads falling apart, but Vedado and Miramar stay quiet. Food's good, beaches are stunning.
Cuba 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.
01.1Income tax
Personal income tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What residents pay on what they earn: salary, freelance income, sometimes dividends too. We show the system (flat or progressive) and the top rate.
Source et informations complémentairesno personal income tax framework
01.2Tax residence test
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
Income tax simulatori
N/A
no income tax framework — nothing to simulate
Will your wealth be taxed?NO.
Cuba 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.
02.1Investment income
Capital gains
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The tax on your profit when you sell something that gained value: stocks, property, crypto, a business. Some countries skip it entirely.
Source et informations complémentairesno capital gains regime
Dividend tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What you pay when your company sends you dividends. It stacks on top of corporate tax, so the combined bill is what really counts.
Source et informations complémentairesno dividend tax
Interest income
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The tax on income from savings, bonds and loans. Matters when choosing where to park your cash.
Source et informations complémentairesno interest income tax
02.2Wealth & estate
Wealth tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?A yearly tax on what you own above a threshold, whether you sell or not. Most countries scrapped it; a few still run one.
Source et informations complémentairesno annual wealth tax · no real-estate wealth tax · no net-worth assessment
Inheritance system
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What heirs pay on what they inherit, by category (spouse, children, others), with allowances and top rates. Plenty of countries charge nothing at all.
Source et informations complémentairesno 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.
02.3Crypto
Crypto · tax regime
UNREGULATED
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De quoi s’agit-il ?How crypto gains are taxed here: zero, flat, progressive or grey zone. Includes whether crypto-to-crypto swaps count as taxable events.
Source et informations complémentairesFallback rate: 50% · Cuba officially recognized and regulated the use of virtual assets for commercial transactions and investments through Central Bank (BCC) Resolution 215/2021 and Resolution 89/2022. However, the Tax Authority (ONAT) has not issued specific crypto-tax guidelines. Consequently, crypto gains fall under general personal income tax rules (Ley 113 del Sistema Tributario), which apply a progressive scale with a top marginal rate of 50%.
Crypto-to-crypto
TAXABLE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?How crypto gains are taxed here: zero, flat, progressive or grey zone. Includes whether crypto-to-crypto swaps count as taxable events.
Source et informations complémentaireseach swap counts as a disposal — gains realised at every trade
FATF travel rule
NOT SIGNED
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Does this country enforce the crypto Travel Rule? If yes, exchanges must identify senders and recipients, like banks do for wire transfers.
Source et informations complémentairesno information-sharing obligation on VASP transfers
Easy to run a company there?YES.
Cuba 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.
03.1Rates
Corporate tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What companies pay on their profits. The headline rate is a starting point: IP boxes and holding regimes often pull the real rate lower.
Source et informations complémentairesno corporate income tax framework
VAT standard rate
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The sales tax baked into almost everything you buy here. One standard rate, plus reduced rates on things like food or books.
Source et informations complémentairesno general VAT · no consumption tax framework
03.2Regime & registry
IP Box · Patent Box
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?A discounted tax rate on income from patents, software and designs, often 5 to 10%. A magnet for tech and licensing businesses.
Source et informations complémentairesno IP regime · IP income taxed under standard corporate rules
Misuse of corporate assets
NO CRIMINAL
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De quoi s’agit-il ?If you spend company money on yourself, is it a crime (prison possible) or a civil matter? Some countries prosecute even sole shareholders.
Source et informations complémentairesno criminal liability · Under the 2022 Penal Code (Ley 151/2022), offenses such as 'Malversación' (Embezzlement, Art. 297) and 'Apropiación Indebida' (Misappropriation, Art. 424) apply to private entities (MIPYMES). However, for private sector crimes, Cuban law generally requires a complaint from the victim ('denuncia del perjudicado') to initiate prosecution. In a solvent company where the sole director is also the sole shareholder, their consent to the use of funds precludes a criminal charge for 'misuse' against the company itself. Such actions are instead treated as tax evasion (Art. 263) or a civil breach of the 'separation of patrimony' principle established in Decree-Law 46/2021.
Shareholders privacy
PRIVATE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?How visible a company's shareholders and directors are: free public registry, paywalled, restricted or fully private. More privacy, but sometimes warier banks.
Source et informations complémentairesRegistro Mercantil de la República de Cuba
Directors privacy
PRIVATE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?How visible a company's shareholders and directors are: free public registry, paywalled, restricted or fully private. More privacy, but sometimes warier banks.
Source et informations complémentairesRegistro Mercantil de la República de Cuba
03.3Incorporation cost
In this country, the most standard company form is called Empresa de Capital Totalmente Extranjero (Sociedad Anónima) (Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (Joint-Stock Company)). The costs below are for incorporating a company in its simplest form, for reference only.
National Registry of Foreign Commercial Representations Fee
USD 3,200
Commercial Registry and Notary Fees (Resolución 515/2020)
USD 192
Professional Legal and Consultancy Services (CONABI/Bufete Internacional)
USD 37,500
Total
USD 40,892
A good fit for a holding?NO.
Cuba 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.
04.1Substance & exemptions
Territorial · individuals
WORLDWIDE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Does this country tax only local income (territorial) or everything you earn worldwide? Territorial means your foreign income stays untaxed here. Huge.
Source et informations complémentairesworldwide income taxation regardless of source
Territorial · corporates
WORLDWIDE
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Source et informations complémentairesworldwide corporate taxation
Participation exemption
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Can a holding company receive dividends from its subsidiaries tax-free? The cornerstone of any serious holding structure.
Source et informations complémentairesno dividend participation exemption regime
CFC rules
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Anti-offshore rules: they tax you at home on your foreign company's profits, even if nothing was distributed. Where they exist, offshore setups get tricky.
Source et informations complémentairesno controlled foreign corporation regime · foreign-source corporate income out of scope
04.2Withholding tax · non-resident
WHT · dividends
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The cut this country takes when it sends dividends, interest or royalties abroad. Tax treaties can shrink it; blacklists can inflate it.
Source et informations complémentairesno withholding on outbound dividends
WHT · interest
NONE
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Source et informations complémentairesno withholding on outbound interest
WHT · royalties
NONE
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Source et informations complémentairesno withholding on outbound royalties
Tax-haven WHT
NONE
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Source et informations complémentairesno punitive rate on record
04.3Treaty network
Treaties signed
0
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De quoi s’agit-il ?Deals with other countries to avoid double taxation and cut withholding taxes. The bigger the network, the easier your money moves across borders.
Source et informations complémentairesactive
Treaties pending
—
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Source et informations complémentairesin negotiation
Tax treaty network
origin · CU0%> 0%no treaty
⌖
Inspect a country
Hover any country on the map to read its withholding-tax treaty with CU.
Country
Status
Dividends
Interest
Royalties
∅
// no treaties match
Easy to come and go?SOME.
Cuba 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.
05.1Exit & dual nationality
Exit tax
NONE
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De quoi s’agit-il ?What the country charges you for leaving: tax on your unrealized gains, as if you'd sold everything at the border. Here you'll see if it exists and when it triggers.
Source et informations complémentairesno triggers active · residence change tax-free · no deemed-disposal mechanism
Dual citizenship
FORBIDDEN
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Source et informations complémentairesnaturalisation requires renouncing existing citizenship
05.2Citizenship paths
Residence
5 years
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Source et informations complémentairesavailable path to naturalisation
Marriage
2 years
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Source et informations complémentairesavailable path to naturalisation
Birth
jus soli
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Source et informations complémentairesavailable path to naturalisation
Descent
—
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Source et informations complémentairesnot available
Investment
—
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Source et informations complémentairesnot available
Is your money watched?NO.
Nobody's reading over your shoulder in Cuba. 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
0/9 active
CRS
—
CARF
—
FATCA
—
MLI
—
BEPS
—
MAAC
—
GLOBAL FORUM
—
EOIR
—
CRYPTO TRAVEL RULE
—
Is it blacklisted?YES.
Cuba sits on an international embargo list (UN, US or EU sanctions). This is not blacklist friction, it's the financial death penalty: correspondent banking is gone, payment rails refuse the corridor, and simply transacting with the country can put you on a sanctions desk's radar.
Whatever the tax math says, the jurisdiction is radioactive. Walk away.
Blacklist exposureListed by 1 authority
EMBARGO
un / us / eu sanctions
FATF
grey / black list
EU
non-cooperative list
FRANCE
ETNC list
SPAIN
tax-haven list
PORTUGAL
favourable regimes
BRAZIL
low-tax list
Do you feel free there?NO.
Press freedom in Cuba is locked down (RSF rank #165). 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.
08.1Press freedom
Press freedom · RSF index
165/180
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De quoi s’agit-il ?The RSF world ranking of press freedom. A good proxy for censorship and civil liberties. The lower the rank, the freer the press.
Source et informations complémentairesscore 26 · ↑ 3 ranks year-on-year
Central bank digital currencyi
NONE
no announced CBDC program · no pilot · no retail or wholesale prototype on record
Connected to the world?COMPLETELY CUT OFF.
Cuba is unplugged from the global money grid: 0/11 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.
Accept payments0/6 available
Stripe
card payments
PayPal
wallet payments
Adyen
enterprise psp
Mollie
eu payments
GoCardless
direct debit
Paddle
merchant of record
Bank and move money0/3 available
Wise
multi-currency
Revolut
personal banking
Revolut Business
business banking
Buy and sell on Amazon0/2 available
Amazon
consumer delivery
Amazon Seller
marketplace selling
SEE ALSO
Other jurisdictions worth comparing
Picked by similarity of strategic profile to Cuba. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.
