Bahamas expat tax: zero income tax, BEATS and residence in 2026

The Bahamas has no income tax at all. Salary, freelance profits, pensions, dividends, interest, capital gains and crypto are all outside the tax net, and there's no inheritance tax either. What you do pay is 10% VAT, real property tax if you own a home, and National Insurance if you work in the islands.

This guide covers the Bahamas in 2026: what is and isn't taxed, National Insurance, the BEATS remote work permit, residence routes and the missing tax treaties.

The key question is simple. Which permit lets you stay, and has your old country really stopped taxing you?

What's changed: National Insurance rates rose on 1 July 2024. Employees now pay 4.65% and employers 6.65% (up from 3.9% and 5.9%), and self-employed people pay 10.3% (up from 8.8%). The National Insurance Board raised the insurable wage ceiling from $810 to $830 a week on 1 July 2026. A new Business Licence Act took effect in 2023, with a tax on businesses with turnover above $100,000. The Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges (DARE) Act 2024 updated the rules for crypto businesses. The 2026/27 Budget bills, set to start on 1 July 2026, change real property tax for foreign home owners: the day count is dropped, the owner-occupied rates are limited to Bahamians and permanent residents with the right to work, and other foreign owners who live in their homes would pay 0.625% of the assessed value, capped at $200,000 a year. Until the passed Act is published, treat this as Proposed, not law.

📋 The Bahamas tax at a glance for 2026

The BEATS remote work permit

Why do remote workers look at the Bahamas? The BEATS permit is cheap, quick and asks for no minimum income, and there's no income tax on what you earn.

Image 1 — no income tax either way, so the question is how you stay

BEATS stands for Bahamas Extended Access Travel Stay. It's run by the Ministry of Tourism with the Department of Immigration, which reviews each application. It's a one-year residence permit for people who work or study remotely for an employer, clients or a college outside the Bahamas.

• Cost: a $25 application fee per person, then a permit fee of $1,000 for the main applicant and $500 for each dependant. Students pay $500.

• Length: the permit expires 12 months after it's issued. Renewals are considered for up to three years in total.

• What you need: a valid passport, medical insurance for you and every dependant, and a job letter from your employer or proof that you're self-employed.

• Speed: Immigration aims to decide within five business days. Once you've paid, you get an electronic permit with a QR code to show on arrival.

There's no minimum length of stay. The BEATS pages don't set an income threshold for remote workers, so you don't need to prove a set salary. The permit is for remote work. Working for a Bahamian employer normally needs a work permit.

👉 BEATS (Bahamas Ministry of Tourism): permit fees, length and renewals

👉 BEATS (Bahamas Ministry of Tourism): how to apply and documents needed

Tax residence in the Bahamas, and how you stop

With no income tax, there's no tax residence test and no Bahamian return to file, whether you stay 30 days or 300. What decides whether you can live there is your immigration permit.

That makes your old country the real question. Most countries keep taxing you until you break residence under their own rules, often by counting days or looking at where your home and family are. With no treaty tie-breaker, if you're still resident at home, your worldwide income can be taxed there in full.

Bahamian banks also report accounts held by people who are tax resident elsewhere, under the Common Reporting Standard and the US FATCA agreement, so your home tax authority may see them.

Leaving the Bahamas is a clean break, with no exit tax. If you own property, the real property tax carries on.

What about home owners? In May 2025 the government proposed that foreign home owners declare their days in the Bahamas each year to keep the owner-occupied exemption. The Real Property Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2026 takes a different route from 1 July 2026: it deletes the day test, keeps the owner-occupied rates for Bahamians and permanent residents with the right to work, and creates a new foreign owner-occupied category for other foreign owners who live in their homes, taxed at 0.625% of the assessed value and capped at $200,000 a year. This is Proposed, not law, until the passed Act is published.

👉 Real Property Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2026: foreign owner-occupied property category

👉 Bahamas Competent Authority: FATCA and CRS reporting portal

Income tax rates for 2026

There's no income tax schedule, because there's no income tax. The government lists personal income, dividends, interest, capital gains, inheritance and withholding taxes among the taxes investors are free from. Here's how each kind of income is treated in 2026.

The Bahamas tax on income in 2026

Source: Government of The Bahamas investor FAQs; National Insurance (Contributions) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 and the National Insurance Board ceiling from 1 July 2026; Business Licence Act, 2023.

👉 Government of The Bahamas: FAQs, including the taxes investors are free from

Worked example

• You move to Nassau on a work permit and earn US$100,000 (B$100,000) a year from a Bahamian employer.

• National Insurance is charged on wages up to $830 a week (the ceiling from 1 July 2026), or $43,160 a year. Your 4.65% share is $2,006.94. Your employer pays 6.65%, or $2,870.14, on top.

• There's no income tax to deduct.

Your all-in bill is about $2,007, or 2% of your salary. What you'll notice instead is VAT at 10% on most of what you buy.

Other taxes to know

• VAT: the standard rate is 10%, with a zero rate for some supplies such as exports.

• Real property tax: charged each year on land and buildings. For owner-occupied homes the first $300,000 of value is exempt, 0.625% is charged on the next $200,000 and 1% above that. Under the 2026 Budget bill (Proposed, not law until the Act is published), only Bahamians and permanent residents with the right to work would get these rates; other foreign owners living in their homes would pay 0.625% of the whole value, capped at $200,000 a year. The Department of Inland Revenue assesses the value and sends the bill.

• Buying property: expect transaction taxes and fees on the purchase, so check the current rates with the Department of Inland Revenue first. Foreign buyers must register the purchase under the International Persons Landholding Act.

👉 Department of Inland Revenue: about VAT (standard rate 10%)

👉 Government of The Bahamas: real property tax and the owner-occupied exemption

Freelancing in the Bahamas

Freelancers pay no income tax either. The rest depends on where your clients are.

• Working for clients abroad on a BEATS permit: BEATS accepts proof of self-employment, so you can keep serving clients outside the Bahamas. Your fees are untaxed in the Bahamas. The rules don't say whether a remote freelancer with only foreign clients needs a business licence, so ask the Department of Inland Revenue.

• Running a business in the Bahamas: you need permission to work (a work permit, or permanent residence with the right to work), a business licence, and you register with the National Insurance Board as a self-employed person.

Self-employed people pay 10.3% National Insurance on the income they declare at the start of each year. That income has to be reasonable, and the National Insurance Board can review it. Insurable income is capped at the same weekly ceiling as wages ($830 a week from 1 July 2026), so on US$100k of profit you'd pay about $4,445, or 4.4%.

Business licence tax is charged on turnover, not profit. Under the general rule in the Business Licence Act, 2023, a business with turnover over $100,000 pays 0.5% of its whole turnover, rising to 0.75% over $500,000 and 1.25% over $5 million. Turnover of $100,000 or less pays none under the general rule. Some sectors, such as financial services, have their own rates, and the 2026/27 Budget proposed higher rates for the very largest businesses, so check the current rates if your turnover runs into millions.

👉 Department of Inland Revenue: business licences

👉 Business Licence Act, 2023: business licence tax rates (Second Schedule)

Crypto, investments and pensions

Is crypto taxed in the Bahamas? No. There's no capital gains tax and no income tax, so selling, swapping or spending crypto doesn't create a Bahamian tax bill for an individual.

The Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges Act, 2024, known as the DARE Act, regulates crypto businesses. Anyone running an exchange, custody or other digital asset business in or from the Bahamas must register with the Securities Commission of The Bahamas. It doesn't tax personal investors.

Dividends, interest and gains on shares and funds are untaxed, from anywhere in the world, and so are foreign pensions. The paying country may still withhold tax, and with no treaties, nothing reduces it.

There's no inheritance tax.

👉 Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges Act, 2024 (Bahamas statute law)

Social security

National Insurance is the one recurring cost for people who work in the Bahamas. The National Insurance Board (NIB) runs it, funding retirement, sickness, maternity and other benefits.

• Employees: 4.65% of wages, with the employer paying 6.65%, a total of 11.3%.

• Ceiling: contributions stop at insurable wages of $830 a week, or $3,597 a month, from 1 July 2026 (up from $810). Overtime and severance pay aren't counted.

• Self-employed: 10.3% of the income you declare for the year, up to the same weekly ceiling.

The National Insurance Act covers every employed and self-employed person, and the regulations don't exclude foreign nationals, apart from diplomats and similar cases. If you're on a work permit with a Bahamian employer, you pay in.

What about BEATS holders? The NIB doesn't publish guidance on remote workers paid by an employer abroad. Contributions are normally collected through a Bahamian employer's payroll, so a foreign employer usually has nothing to deduct here. Check with the NIB before you start if you'll have any Bahamian income.

👉 National Insurance Board: contribution rates and the insurable wage ceiling

Double tax treaties

Does the Bahamas have double tax treaties? No. The government's list of international agreements shows tax information exchange agreements, with countries including the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan and Australia, but no double tax treaties.

These agreements let tax authorities ask each other for information. They don't share out taxing rights, settle residence disputes or cut withholding tax. So tax withheld abroad on your dividends or pension stays withheld, and your home country can ask the Bahamas about you.

👉 Government of The Bahamas: international agreements, including tax information exchange agreements

Longer stays: annual and permanent residence

To stay longer than BEATS allows, there are three main routes. None changes your tax position.

• Home owner's resident permit: for people who own a habitable home in the Bahamas and a primary home in their own country. You need the registered conveyance, proof that your real property tax is paid and an International Landholding Certificate. The processing fee is $200, and the same form is used to renew. A 2026 Budget bill would move this permit under the International Persons Landholding Act with a yearly permit fee, so check the current fee first.

• Annual residence permit: the fee scale sets $3,000 a year for a residence permit, plus $300 for each dependant. Ask Immigration which category fits you.

• Permanent residence: open to financially independent people and investors who own a home in the Bahamas. The Department of Immigration gives speedy consideration to buyers of a home worth BS$750,000 or more (some older government pages still say BS$1.5 million). The certificate fee is $15,000, or $20,000 for economic permanent residence without the right to work and $25,000 with the right to work in your own business.

Permanent residence lasts for life unless it's revoked. It can give you the right to work, but not to vote.

👉 Bahamas Department of Immigration: permanent residence

👉 Bahamas Department of Immigration: home owner resident permit

👉 Bahamas Department of Immigration: immigration fee scale

Who is the Bahamas good for?

How does the Bahamas compare for different kinds of mover? Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on 2026 rules and the all-in cost including National Insurance.

☑️ Who is the Bahamas good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026

Filing and deadlines

Individuals don't file an income tax return in the Bahamas. The deadlines you may meet are these:

• National Insurance: monthly, by the 15th of the following month. Self-employed people set their declared income at the start of each year.

• Business licence: licences expire on 31 December. Apply to renew by 31 January, and file your turnover return and pay any tax due by 31 March. Estimated tax for the year can be paid by 31 March or in four instalments (31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December).

• Real property tax: the bill is payable once it's issued. Interest runs if you pay late.

Frequently asked questions

Is there income tax in the Bahamas?

No. The Bahamas doesn't tax individuals on salary, self-employed profits, pensions, dividends, interest or capital gains, including crypto. There's no inheritance tax either. The main taxes are 10% VAT, real property tax and National Insurance for people who work.

Do expats pay National Insurance in the Bahamas?

Yes, if they work there. Employees on a work permit pay 4.65% of wages up to $830 a week (from 1 July 2026), and employers pay 6.65%. Self-employed people pay 10.3% of their declared income up to the same ceiling. Retirees who don't work pay nothing.

How much does the BEATS permit cost?

A $25 application fee per person, then $1,000 for the main applicant and $500 for each dependant. The permit lasts 12 months and renewals are considered for up to three years. No minimum income is set.

How do I get permanent residence in the Bahamas?

Financially independent people and investors who own a home in the Bahamas can apply to the Department of Immigration. Buyers of a home worth BS$750,000 or more get speedy consideration. The certificate fee is $15,000, or $20,000 to $25,000 for economic permanent residence.

Is crypto taxed in the Bahamas?

No. There's no capital gains tax or income tax, so individuals pay no Bahamian tax on crypto gains. The DARE Act 2024 regulates crypto businesses through the Securities Commission, but it doesn't tax personal investors.

Does the Bahamas have double tax treaties?

No. It has tax information exchange agreements with countries such as the United States, Canada and France, but no double tax treaties. Tax withheld abroad on your dividends or pension can't be reduced through a Bahamian treaty.