One of the smallest and least populous sovereign states in the world.
Tuvalu is fully territorial: both residents and non-residents are taxed only on Tuvalu-source income under Section 7(1) of the Income Tax Act 1992, regardless of residency status, unlike the more common worldwide-for-residents structure. The standard corporate rate is 30% per the Income Tax Act, administered by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
A specific statutory tax year-end and corporate filing deadline is not confirmed in available primary sources, including after checking the Tuvalu Revenue and Customs Department's own site directly; confirm current filing deadlines directly with the Department before relying on this page.
30% per Tuvalu's own Income Tax Act 1992, per the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Under the primary Income Tax Act 1992 (Act 5 of 1992), Tuvalu does impose personal income tax, contrary to a separate secondary source's claim of no personal income tax for expatriates, which is not relied on here. Rates are progressive from 0% to a 30% top rate, with a TLD 3,000 annual tax-free threshold.
Under the primary Consumption Tax Act 2008, rates are tiered from 3% to 10% depending on the category of taxable supply or import, rather than a single flat standard rate. This directly contradicts a lower-quality aggregator source's claim of a flat 20% rate, which is not used here.
Under the Income Tax Act 1992, an individual is resident if their permanent place of abode is in Tuvalu, or if present in Tuvalu for more than 183 days in any 12-month period. A company is resident if incorporated in Tuvalu, or otherwise controlled from or managed in Tuvalu.
Tuvalu does not tax residents on worldwide income. Section 7(1) applies the same source-based rule to residents and non-residents alike - only Tuvalu-source income is taxable, regardless of residency status. Tuvalu is fully territorial, unlike the more common worldwide-for-residents structure. Residency instead matters mainly for the CFC-style rule below.
A non-resident company operating through a permanent establishment in Tuvalu is subject to Tuvalu corporate tax on Tuvalu-source income attributable to that establishment, consistent with the jurisdiction's fully territorial, source-based taxing structure; residency status does not change this outcome since Tuvalu taxes residents and non-residents alike only on Tuvalu-source income.
Under Section 24(2) of the Income Tax Act 1992, where a Tuvalu resident controls a non-resident company, that company's income is attributed back to the resident as if the company were Tuvalu-resident, with a credit for foreign tax paid on the attributed income. Unlike a bright-line ownership-percentage test, application is at the discretion of the Taxation Officer, and does not apply where gaining a tax advantage was not a significant objective.
No statutory thin capitalization ratio exists under the Income Tax Act 1992. Interest to finance acquiring shares in a non-resident company is deductible only where the Secretary approves it as being in Tuvalu's economic interest, or where it relates to income already attributed under the CFC rule above (Section 15(2)) - a discretionary gate, not a numeric ratio test.
Tuvalu classifies entities under its own domestic Income Tax Act 1992 rather than offering an elective check-the-box system, and no ATAD2-style anti-hybrid mismatch regime addressing double-deduction or deduction-without-inclusion outcomes has been identified. As described elsewhere on this page, Tuvalu instead uses a discretionary CFC-style attribution rule under Section 24(2), where the Taxation Officer may attribute a controlled non-resident company's income back to a Tuvalu resident, but only where gaining a tax advantage was a significant objective, functioning as Tuvalu's anti-hybrid and anti-avoidance backstop combined into a single discretionary mechanism rather than separate bright-line regimes.
No domestic FBAR-equivalent regime requires Tuvalu residents to separately disclose foreign financial accounts, and Tuvalu is not currently a CRS participating jurisdiction, so it does not automatically exchange financial account information with foreign tax authorities under the OECD's Common Reporting Standard. US persons remain independently subject to FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) and potentially Form 8938 regardless of Tuvalu's own rules.
No participation exemption regime for dividends or capital gains from a qualifying subsidiary was identified in the Income Tax Act 1992; Tuvalu's fully territorial, source-based system means foreign-source income (including foreign dividends) generally falls outside the Tuvalu tax base entirely for both residents and non-residents, achieving a broadly similar practical effect to an exemption without a distinct minimum-ownership mechanism.
Where income has been attributed to a Tuvalu resident under the Section 24(2) CFC-style rule described elsewhere on this page, a credit is given for foreign tax paid on that attributed income; outside that specific mechanism, a broader general unilateral foreign tax credit provision is not confirmed in available primary sources, and Tuvalu has no comprehensive double taxation agreement network to provide treaty-based relief instead.
No comprehensive double taxation agreement network was identified, including after checking the Tuvalu Revenue and Customs Department's own site directly. Given Tuvalu's revenue base (foreign aid, fishing license sales, and .tv domain licensing, per available sources, rather than broad cross-border income taxation), a minimal or nonexistent DTA network is the most consistent reading of the jurisdiction's overall tax profile, though this is an inference rather than a primary-source-confirmed zero.