Personal income: none
St Kitts & Nevis levies no personal income tax — no tax on worldwide income, salary, dividends, interest or royalties for individuals. For someone who acquires St Kitts citizenship by investment and genuinely relocates, that is the heart of the tax appeal, and it is why the Caribbean programmes are grouped together on tax even though they differ on cost and speed.
Corporate tax
It is not a zero-tax jurisdiction for companies. A resident company pays corporate income tax at 33% on its worldwide net profit — high by regional standards. The practical consequence is that St Kitts suits individuals relocating their personal affairs far better than it suits basing an active trading company there; the tax advantage is personal, not corporate.
Indirect tax (VAT)
Consumption is taxed even though income is not. A value-added tax (VAT) applies at a standard rate around 17%, with a reduced rate for tourism-related services, alongside import duties. So while your income is untaxed, day-to-day spending and imports carry tax — a point often lost in “tax-free passport” marketing.
What is not taxed
There is no capital gains tax (with a narrow exception for assets disposed of within a short holding period), no wealth tax, and no inheritance or estate tax. Combined with the absence of income tax, this is what makes the jurisdiction attractive for holding and passing on personal assets.
Citizenship is not tax residency
Holding a St Kitts passport does not make you tax-resident there, and — this matters — it does not remove tax obligations in a country that taxes on citizenship, such as the United States. Tax residency follows real presence and personal ties, not the passport, exactly as our guide to second citizenship and taxes explains. Compare the five programmes on our citizenship comparator and see the wider picture on Caribbean citizenship by investment. See our methodology for how each figure here is verified.
