Turkmenistan

Last update: 2026-04-27
TM TMTm 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.
Personal income
NONE
Corporate
NONE
Capital gains
NONE
VAT (standard)
NONE
i 10 PRIVACY GRADE
i 3.1 VERY LOW TAX
i 2.4 HOLDING
i 2 CRYPTO HAVEN
i 1.7 DIVIDEND PIPELINE
i 0.9 EASY CITIZENSHIP
VERYLOW TAX 3.1/10 HOLDING 2.4/10 DIVIDENDPIPELINE 1.7/10 CRYPTOHAVEN 2/10 PRIVACYGRADE 10/10 EASYCITIZENSHIP 0.9/10
01/08

Will Turkmenistan tax what you earn?

income tax tax residency territorial system

NO. Turkmenistan doesn't tax personal income, and doesn't reach for you when you settle. No withholding, no return, no centre-of-vital-interests test waiting to trip. Salary is a non-event here, both in the rate and in the paperwork.

Personal income taxi
NONE
no personal income tax framework
Income simulatori
N/A
no income tax framework — nothing to simulate
Tax residence testi
N/A
no formal tax residency test · matters mainly for citizenship / immigration tracks
02/08

Will Turkmenistan tax what you own?

capital gains wealth tax inheritance dividends interest

NO. Turkmenistan doesn't tax what you hold. No capital gains, no annual wealth assessment, no inheritance regime. The value sitting in your portfolio compounds untouched, and leaves it the same way it arrived.

Capital gainsi
NONE
no capital gains regime
Dividend taxi
NONE
no dividend tax
Interest incomei
NONE
no interest income tax
Wealth taxi
NONE
no annual wealth tax · no real-estate wealth tax · no net-worth assessment
Crypto · tax regimei
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-cryptoi
TAXABLE
each swap counts as a disposal — gains realised at every trade
FATF travel rulei
NOT SIGNED
no information-sharing obligation on VASP transfers
Inheritance systemi
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.
03/08

Is it easy to run a company in Turkmenistan?

corporate tax criminal liability public registry VAT IP box

YES. Turkmenistan delivers the maximum operational chill: no corporate income tax on standard profits, no criminal liability for misuse of corporate assets, and non-public corporate registries. The state doesn't take a cut, doesn't put your intra-company flows on a prosecutor's desk, and doesn't drop your name into a public search box. VAT sits at n/a.

Corporate taxi
NONE
no corporate income tax framework
IP Box · Patent Boxi
NONE
no IP regime · IP income taxed under standard corporate rules
Misuse of corporate assetsi
NO CRIMINAL LIABILITY
Civil Matter / Tax Law (Criminal Code Articles 229 and 290)
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 privacyi
PRIVATE
Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Ýuridik şahslaryň bitewi döwlet sanawy)
Directors privacyi
PRIVATE
Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Ýuridik şahslaryň bitewi döwlet sanawy)
Incorporation costi
Economic Society
Hojalyk Jemgyýeti
State Registration Fee USD 2,286
Professional Incorporation and Legal Services USD 5,001
Name Reservation and Administrative Fees USD 100
Total USD 7,387
VAT standard ratei
NONE
no general VAT · no consumption tax framework
04/08

Is Turkmenistan good for your holding company?

treaty network participation exemption withholding

NO. Turkmenistan doesn't carry a treaty network, which makes it unsuitable as a holding jurisdiction. Any dividend flowing in or out faces full statutory withholding, and no domestic participation exemption can compensate for missing relief on the source side.

Territorial systemi
Individuals
WORLDWIDE
Corporates
WORLDWIDE
Individuals: worldwide income taxation regardless of source. Corporates: worldwide.
Participation exemptioni
NONE
no dividend participation exemption regime
CFC rulesi
NONE
no controlled foreign corporation regime · foreign-source corporate income out of scope
WHT · dividendsi
no withholding on outbound dividends
WHT · interest
no withholding on outbound interest
WHT · royalties
no withholding on outbound royalties
Tax-haven WHT
no punitive rate on record
Treaties signedi
0
active
Treaties pending
in negotiation
Tax treaty networki
origin · TM 0% > 0% no treaty
Inspect a country
Hover any country on the map to read its withholding-tax treaty with TM.
Country Status Dividends Interest Royalties
// no treaties match
05/08

What does it cost to come and go from Turkmenistan?

exit tax territorial system dual citizenship

SOME. Turkmenistan taxes worldwide income while you're resident, but there's no exit tax on the way out. The cost of leaving is mostly paperwork: unrealised gains follow you to the next jurisdiction untouched.

Exit taxi
NONE
no triggers active · residence change tax-free · no deemed-disposal mechanism
Dual citizenship
FORBIDDEN
naturalisation requires renouncing existing citizenship
Citizenship paths
Residence
Marriage
Birth
Descent
Investment
06/08

Will Turkmenistan protect your privacy?

info exchange corporate registries

YES. Turkmenistan has joined almost none of the major automatic-exchange frameworks (CRS, FATCA, CARF, MLI, MAAC), and its corporate registries are non-public. Account flows stay out of foreign hands; ownership stays out of public ones. Discretion is built into the system.

Multilateral reporting frameworks 1/10 active
CRS
CARF
FATCA
2014
MLI
BEPS
MAAC
GLOBAL FORUM
EOIR
CRYPTO-CARF
CRYPTO TRAVEL RULE
07/08

Is Turkmenistan itself a liability?

blacklists FATF standing

NO. Turkmenistan carries no entries on any major blacklist, though it sits outside FATF membership. Counterparties may apply light extra due diligence, but no formal stigma attaches to dealing with it.

Blacklist exposure Clear everywhere
FATF
grey / black list
EU
non-cooperative list
FRANCE
ETNC list
SPAIN
tax-haven list
PORTUGAL
favourable regimes
BRAZIL
low-tax list
08/08

Will you feel free in Turkmenistan?

press freedom crypto CBDC EU

NO. Press freedom in Turkmenistan is restricted (RSF rank #174). Civic space and independent media operate under pressure or not at all, a constraint that typically extends to financial expression as well, even where crypto isn't formally banned.

Press freedom · RSF indexi
174/180
score 19 · ↑ 1 rank year-on-year
Central bank digital currencyi
NONE
no announced CBDC program · no pilot · no retail or wholesale prototype on record
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.
NOTABLY MORE FAVORABLE Same family of strategies, higher total score.
NOTABLY LESS FAVORABLE Same family of strategies, lower total score.