Tax
No personal income tax, with VAT at 17 percent
Saint Kitts and Nevis levies no personal income tax, no capital gains tax on most disposals and no inheritance tax, which together with the citizenship programme defines its fiscal profile. Corporation tax is charged at 33 percent on company profits, and value added tax is 17 percent under the Value Added Tax Act. The Inland Revenue Department administers federal taxes, while Nevis retains competence over certain local levies.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Federal taxation, with some local levies reserved to Nevis
- Deadline — VAT return: filed and paid by the last day of the following month
- Deadline — Corporation tax return: filed within the statutory period after the accounting date
- Deadline — Property tax: payable annually on assessed value
Governing law
- Value Added Tax Act
- Corporate Income Tax Act
- Property Tax Act
- Nevis local taxation ordinances
In practice
The absence of personal income tax sits alongside a comparatively high corporation tax rate, so the entity through which income is earned matters a great deal. A capital gains charge does apply to gains on assets disposed of within one year in certain circumstances, so the common statement that there is no capital gains tax at all is an oversimplification that has caught out short-term property traders.