Tax
No personal or corporate income tax; VAT at 15%
Vanuatu levies no personal income tax, no corporate income tax, no capital gains tax and no inheritance tax. Government revenue comes from VAT at 15%, customs duties, and licence and registration fees.
Key rules
- Deadline — VAT returns are filed monthly or quarterly depending on turnover
- Deadline — Business licences are renewed annually
Governing law
- Value Added Tax Act 1998 (s. 9)
- Business Licence Act 1998
- Import Duties (Consolidation) Act 1999
- International Tax Cooperation Act 2016
In practice
The absence of income tax is constitutionally and politically entrenched — proposals to introduce one have been floated and withdrawn more than once — and it is the reason Vanuatu developed an offshore financial sector. Two qualifications matter. First, no income tax does not mean no obligations: business licence fees, VAT registration, rent tax on certain leases and customs duties all apply, and VAT at 15% is not trivial. Second, the international position has tightened considerably: Vanuatu has committed to automatic exchange of information under the Common Reporting Standard and has been the subject of EU and OECD listing processes, so the confidentiality once associated with the jurisdiction should not be assumed.