Zero direct tax, the honest way.
Vanuatu is one of the few places on earth with no personal income tax, no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax, and no corporate income tax. One material tax remains: a 15% Value Added Tax on local consumption. That is the headline, and it is true. But there is a second sentence the brochures leave off, and it is the one that matters: a passport is not tax residency. You reach Vanuatu's zero-tax regime by relocating into it, not by holding the document, and Vanuatu participates in the OECD Common Reporting Standard, so a passport is not financial privacy either. This page is the overview. The deep version, residency tests and CRS mechanics, lives one click away.
Four zeros and one VAT.
Vanuatu's tax code is short by design. There is zero personal income tax, so salaries, dividends, and other income are not taxed by Vanuatu. There is zero capital gains tax, so gains on assets, including appreciated Bitcoin, are not taxed by Vanuatu. There is zero inheritance tax, so estates pass without a death duty. And there is zero corporate income tax, so companies are not taxed on profits at the Vanuatu level. This is not a temporary incentive or a special-economic-zone carve-out; it is the ordinary, long-standing structure of the jurisdiction.
The one material tax is a 15% Value Added Tax on local consumption, the goods and services you buy inside Vanuatu. VAT is a tax on spending in the country, not on your worldwide income or your capital, and it applies whether or not you are a citizen. That is the whole domestic picture: four zeros where most countries levy their heaviest taxes, and a single consumption tax that funds the state. Honest, simple, and exactly as published.
A tax-exempt IBC, since 1993.
Exempt by statute.
Vanuatu's International Business Company framework has been tax-exempt since 1993. An IBC formed under it carries no Vanuatu corporate income tax on its profits, which is consistent with the zero-corporate-tax rule that applies across the jurisdiction. It is a long-established, well-understood structure, not a novelty.
Watched by the VFSC.
The framework is supervised by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission. Zero tax does not mean zero oversight: the VFSC regulates the corporate registry, and Vanuatu's financial sector operates under CRS and OECD Global Forum commitments. Legitimate and low-tax are not opposites here; they sit together by design.
The passport is not the tax cut.
Here is the part most pages skip, and it is the single most important thing on this one. Citizenship is not tax residency. Vanuatu's zero-direct-tax regime is its domestic law, and domestic law reaches you only when you are a Vanuatu tax resident, which means actually relocating to Vanuatu and meeting its residence conditions. Holding a Vanuatu passport while you live and work somewhere else does not move your tax residence, does not switch off your home country's rules, and does not lower your tax bill. You are taxed where you are tax-resident, not where your passport is from.
So the four zeros are real, but they are a benefit you have to move to, not a benefit you can buy and stay home with. For the right person, that relocation is exactly the plan, and the passport is the legal right that makes it possible. For everyone else, the passport is mobility and optionality, both genuinely valuable, but not a tax outcome on their own. We set the full residency picture out, the day-count and ties tests, what changing your tax residence actually involves, on the tax residency and CRS page. If the zero-tax life is your goal, read it before you do anything else.
Vanuatu participates in CRS.
Vanuatu participates in the OECD Common Reporting Standard and is an OECD Global Forum member. In plain terms, financial-account information held in Vanuatu institutions is automatically exchanged with your country of tax residence. If you are tax-resident in a CRS-participating country, a Vanuatu account is reportable back through that multilateral pipeline. A Vanuatu passport does not create financial secrecy, and any firm marketing it as a way to dodge automatic exchange is misinforming you. We would rather tell you that up front than let you find out later.
This is not a flaw to apologize for; it is the modern reality of every credible jurisdiction, and stating it plainly is how you tell an honest advisor from a salesperson. CRS relates to financial-account reporting. It does not touch the validity, the mobility, or the sovereign standing of the passport. Plan on the assumption of transparency and structure lawfully; the goal is optionality and resilience, not concealment. The mechanics of what gets reported, and to whom, sit on the tax residency and CRS page.
Worldwide tax follows the citizen.
The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live or what other passports they hold. A Vanuatu passport does not change that by a dollar, and no second passport does. The only way a US person ends US worldwide taxation is formal renunciation, a serious, irreversible step with its own exit-tax regime, handled through our sister service exit.ly. A second citizenship is usually the prerequisite to renunciation, because you cannot renounce into statelessness, so the Vanuatu passport can be the first move on that path. But the passport alone changes nothing about US tax, and we will not tell you otherwise.
The tax questions, answered straight.
What taxes does Vanuatu have?
Vanuatu levies zero personal income tax, zero capital gains tax, zero inheritance tax, and zero corporate income tax. The one material tax is a 15% Value Added Tax on local consumption. The tax-exempt International Business Company framework has been in force since 1993, supervised by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission. These are Vanuatu's domestic taxes; whether they reach you depends on your tax residence, not your passport. General information, not tax advice.
Does a Vanuatu passport make me exempt from tax?
No. Citizenship is not tax residency. The zero-direct-tax regime is Vanuatu's domestic law, and you reach it only by becoming a Vanuatu tax resident, which means actually relocating and meeting Vanuatu's residence conditions. Holding the passport while living elsewhere changes nothing about what you owe; your existing country of tax residence still governs that. The deep tax-residency page sets out the distinction in full.
Does Vanuatu report my accounts under CRS?
Yes. Vanuatu participates in the OECD Common Reporting Standard and is an OECD Global Forum member. Financial-account information held in Vanuatu institutions is automatically exchanged with your country of tax residence. A passport is not financial privacy, and any firm marketing Vanuatu as a way around automatic exchange is misinforming you. Plan on the assumption of transparency and structure lawfully.
I am a US citizen. Does a Vanuatu passport cut my US tax?
No. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live or what other passports they hold. A second passport does not change that by a dollar. The only way a US person ends US worldwide taxation is formal renunciation, an irreversible step with its own exit-tax regime, handled through our sister service exit.ly. A second citizenship is usually the prerequisite to renunciation, but the passport alone changes nothing about US tax.
What is the VAT rate in Vanuatu?
Vanuatu applies a 15% Value Added Tax on local consumption. It is the one material tax in a regime that otherwise carries zero personal income, capital gains, inheritance, and corporate income tax. VAT is paid on goods and services consumed in Vanuatu; it is not a tax on your worldwide income or capital, and it applies whether or not you are a citizen.
Stated plainly, not sold.
This page is general information, not tax advice. Verify your own position with a qualified advisor before you act.
- Direct tax
- Zero personal income tax, zero capital gains, zero inheritance, and zero corporate income tax across the jurisdiction.
- VAT
- One material tax: a 15% Value Added Tax on local consumption of goods and services in Vanuatu.
- IBC framework
- Tax-exempt International Business Company framework since 1993, supervised by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission.
- CRS
- Vanuatu participates in the OECD Common Reporting Standard and is an OECD Global Forum member; account information is automatically exchanged with your country of tax residence.
- Residency
- Citizenship is not tax residency. The zero-tax regime requires becoming a Vanuatu tax resident through relocation, not citizenship alone.
- Disclaimer
- General information only, not tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.
Keep reading.
Tax residency & CRS
The residency tests, the CRS mechanics, and why the benefit comes from relocating, not the document. →
The Whole PictureEvery question, answered
Cost, timeline, biometrics, tax, and CRS, the full list of straight answers in one place. →
PaymentPay in Bitcoin
The entire cost in BTC, government contribution included, and the tax reality of spending appreciated coins. →
The zeros are real. So is the caveat.
If a zero-tax life is the goal, the passport is step one and relocation is the rest. Read the deep tax-residency page to see exactly how it works, or book a confidential file-read with Adam to map your specific situation.