48 of 236 Countries Tax Only Income Earned Inside Them

Key stats on how countries tax residents

Here are the numbers at a glance:

• 154 countries tax their residents on income from anywhere, about 2 in 3
• 48 tax only income earned inside the country
• 20 have no personal income tax
• 11 tax foreign income only when you bring it in
• 3 tax their citizens wherever they live

Here's what each system means.

The five tax systems

Here's each system and how many countries use it:

Source: my territorial tax map, from each country's own tax authority or tax law.

The 20 countries with no personal income tax

Here's every country with no personal income tax, and the catch where there is one:

Country	The catch
Anguilla	None on record
Antigua & Barbuda	None on record
Bahamas	None on record
Bahrain	None on record
Bermuda	Payroll tax on pay for work in Bermuda
British Virgin Islands	Payroll tax instead, after the first USD 10,000
Brunei	None on record
Cayman Islands	None on record
French Polynesia	A solidarity contribution (CST) is withheld from salaries and pensions
Kuwait	None on record
Monaco	French nationals are taxed under the France-Monaco convention
Oman	From 2028, residents pay 5% above OMR 42,000 a year
Saudi Arabia	Business income is taxed; only pay from a job is untaxed
St. Barthélemy	You only get a local tax home after 5 years; until then French rules can apply
St. Kitts & Nevis	None on record
Turks & Caicos Islands	None on record
United Arab Emirates	A business with more than AED 1 million in turnover falls under corporate tax
Vanuatu	Rental income over VT200,000 in 6 months is taxed at 15%
Vatican City	None on record
Wallis & Futuna	None on record

Most are small islands and Gulf states. Oman is the one to watch: its new income tax starts in 2028.

The three countries that tax citizens abroad

A few countries tax their citizens even when they live somewhere else:

Country	How it works
United States	Citizens are taxed on worldwide income, wherever they live
Eritrea	A 2% tax on the net income of Eritreans who live abroad
Kyrgyzstan	Citizens are taxed on income from anywhere, wherever they live

If you hold one of these passports, moving alone doesn't change what you owe at home.

The IRS puts it plainly: US citizens living abroad are taxed "on worldwide income from all sources" (IRS).

What it means for you

If you earn online and can live anywhere, this is one of the biggest choices you make.

My home base is Panama, a territorial country, where I've been a permanent resident since 2020.

In a territorial or remittance country, income earned abroad can sit outside the tax net. In the 20 countries with no income tax, there may be none to pay at all.

The rules have catches, though. Some countries treat newcomers differently for their first years, and many count income as local when the work is done there.

How to use these numbers

Before you pick a country to live in:

• Look up how it taxes residents: worldwide, territorial, remittance or none
• Read the catch for foreigners and newcomers on the government's own page
• Check your own citizenship, since three countries tax their citizens wherever they live
• Talk to a tax adviser in both countries before you move

Tax rules change, and this isn't tax advice, so check each country's own rule before you move.