In May of 2009, the OECD removed the last three nations from their list of uncooperative tax havens. The last nations to be removed fro the list were Andorra, Liechtenstein, and Monaco. The last two to be removed before that were Liberia and The Marshall Islands in 2007. In 2003, Nauru and Vanuatu were removed from the list.
This doesn’t mean that there are no safe and legal ways to protect your money from voracious governments. Every nation has it’s own tax laws and many nations levy low or no taxes on various forms of wealth.
Andorra, Anguilla, and Monaco levy no personal income taxes. Many other nations do not tax foreign-earned income. Of these, Panama and Belize are great options for expats. Still other nations levy only reasonable tax rates. The Ukraine has a 15% flat income tax, Macedonia has a 13% rate, and Russia charges only 10%.
We have more detailed information regarding each individual nation on our Expat Destination pages, but the important things to remember are:
- It is possible to move overseas and enjoy a far greater amount of your wealth.
- It is possible, although more difficult, to stay right where you are and move only your money overseas.
- Every nation has different rules for taxing different forms of wealth and income. By moving your wealth and income to less rapacious jurisdictions, you can significantly decrease your tax burden — legally.