0% - no corporate income tax on companies of any kind, domestic or exempt, regardless of where income is sourced. Exempt companies can obtain a tax exemption certificate (a "Certificate of Direct Tax Undertaking") guaranteeing no direct taxation for up to 25-30 years depending on the source consulted.
0% - no personal income tax on employment income, self-employment income, investment income, pensions, or any other category of personal income, applying equally to residents and non-residents.
0% - no VAT, sales tax, or GST. Government revenue comes from import duties, work permit fees, stamp duty on property transactions, and tourism-related levies.
Individual residency has no direct income tax implications given the 0% rate. Permanent residency can be obtained through investment (minimum KYD 1 million in real estate or local businesses) or through 8+ years of long-term legal employment-based residence. For entities, the Economic Substance Act (as amended, most recently the 2021 Revision) governs whether a Cayman-incorporated entity conducting a "relevant activity" must demonstrate genuine economic substance locally or can instead claim tax residence outside the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Tax Information Authority will treat an entity as tax resident elsewhere only if it is subject to corporate income tax on all of its relevant-activity income by virtue of tax residence, domicile, or similar criteria in that other jurisdiction (with a specific carve-out for US "disregarded entities" with a US corporate parent, subject to satisfactory evidence). Claiming non-Cayman residence requires documented proof - a Tax Identification Number, tax residence certificate, and evidence of actual tax assessment or payment elsewhere - not a mere assertion.
No Controlled Foreign Company regime was identified in available sources for the Cayman Islands, consistent with the absence of any domestic corporate income tax base.
No statutory thin capitalization ratio or interest-limitation rule was identified in available sources, consistent with the 0% corporate tax rate. The Cayman Islands is implementing the OECD Pillar Two global minimum tax for large multinational enterprises (consolidated revenue above EUR 750 million), effective from 2025, requiring a minimum 15% effective tax rate for qualifying groups - a distinct mechanism from a traditional thin capitalization rule.
No domestic FBAR/Form 8938-equivalent requiring Cayman Islands residents to self-report their own foreign accounts was identified. The Cayman Islands maintains an extensive international information-exchange framework through its Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC), participates in CRS and FATCA, and has a specific FATCA-implementing agreement with the US built on the underlying US-Cayman TIEA (signed November 29, 2013 in London) that authorizes automatic exchange of information for tax purposes. Country-by-Country reporting obligations also apply for in-scope multinational enterprise groups. Separately and independently of Cayman law, US citizens and Green Card holders with Cayman accounts remain obligated to file FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) once aggregate foreign accounts exceed USD 10,000, and potentially Form 8938, regardless of the Cayman Islands' own domestic requirements - a point of particular significance given the jurisdiction's major role as a global fund-domicile and holding-structure center.
No comprehensive double tax agreements: confirmed via multiple independent sources that the Cayman Islands offers few to no treaty benefits in the conventional bilateral-DTA sense, and specifically has no income tax treaty with the United States. Instead, per PwC's current Worldwide Tax Summaries (last reviewed 29 May 2026), the Cayman Islands has 36 signed Bilateral Agreements for exchange of information, of which 29 are currently in force - these are TIEA-style information-exchange instruments, not comprehensive double-tax-relief treaties, and should not be confused with a conventional DTA network. Given the absence of Cayman direct taxation, double taxation relief is generally sought through structuring in treaty-friendly jurisdictions rather than through any Cayman-specific treaty.