The Gibraltar government encourages overseas investment in its property market. It runs a low tax scheme for wealthy foreigners which requires them to buy a home there.
Under the Category Two scheme, individuals with at least 2 million Gibraltar pounds (HK$25.4 million) in assets can declare themselves Gibraltar residents for tax purposes. This means they pay a maximum of 22,000 Gibraltar pounds on their worldwide income each year. They do not need to be physically resident in the territory, but must buy a home there.
Most applications for the Category Two scheme are approved because the government is primarily concerned with weeding out money launderers, according to Beauchamp Estates director Gary Hersham.
There is no value-added tax, inheritance tax, wealth tax or capital gains tax in Gibraltar. The standard rate of income tax is 30 per cent, but this is not levied on income from investments.
Stamp duty on property transactions ranges from zero per cent to 2.5 per cent. There are no exchange controls.
'Gibraltar competes exceedingly well with all the Caribbean tax havens and the Isle of Man,' Mr Hersham said.
