Latest / IMI Podcasts / The 10 Countries That Still Tax Wealth: Rates, Rules, and Who Pays

Transcript

The 10 Countries That Still Tax Wealth: Rates, Rules, and Who Pays · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The wealth tax is one of the most debated instruments in global taxation, and one of the least common.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Of the thirty eight member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, referred to as OECD, only four levy a comprehensive net wealth tax on individuals Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and Colombia.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: A handful of others, including France, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands, tax specific categories of assets rather than total net worth.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: For anyone considering international relocation, a second residence, or a citizenship by investment program, wealth taxes deserve close attention.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Unlike income taxes which apply to what you earn, wealth taxes apply to what you own.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: That distinction matters enormously for high net worth individuals whose wealth is concentrated in assets rather than current income.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Here is what each country does, how the mechanics work, and what the rates actually mean in practice.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Norway has taxed individual wealth continuously since 1892, making it one of the oldest wealth tax regimes in the world.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: It is also one of the simplest.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Individuals with net wealth above 1.9 million Norwegian kroner, approximately$197,000, pay a combined rate of 1%, split between a 0.35% municipal levy and a 0.65% state levy.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: For net wealth exceeding 21.5 million Norwegian kroner, approximately$2.2 million, the state rate rises to 0.75%, bringing the combined rate to 1.1%.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: The tax applies to worldwide assets for residents, including foreign real estate.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: While tax treaties may affect how foreign property is ultimately taxed and may provide credits for wealth taxes paid abroad, Norwegian residents must declare all overseas property as part of their wealth tax base.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Certain assets receive valuation discounts.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Primary residences are assessed at 25% of market value up to 10 million Norwegian kroner, and 70% above that threshold.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Shares in listed companies at 80%, and foreign residential and holiday properties at 30% of documented market value.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: These discounts are significant.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: A Norwegian homeowner with a primary residence valued at 8 million Norwegian kroner would have only 2 million Norwegian kroner of that counted toward their wealth tax base.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The effective rate on actual wealth is therefore considerably lower than the headline 1% figure.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Even so, Norway's wealth tax has been a flashpoint for political debate, particularly after the center-left government raised rates in 2022.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Several high-profile Norwegians relocated to Switzerland, a move that attracted domestic media coverage and became a point of contention in the 2025 election cycle.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Norway raised approximately 32 billion Norwegian kroner, approximately$3.3 billion, from its wealth tax in 2023, with a broad base of roughly 655,000 taxpayers.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Spain's wealth tax system is by some distance the most complicated in Europe.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: It operates on two overlapping levels, a regional net wealth tax, impuesto sobre el patrimonio, and since 2022, a national solidarity wealth tax, impuesto temporal de solidaridad de las grandes fortunas.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: The regional wealth tax is progressive, with rates ranging from 0.16% to 3.5% on net assets exceeding 700,000 euros, lower in some regions.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Residents are taxed on worldwide assets.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Nonresidents pay only on assets located in Spain.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: The complication is that Spain's autonomous communities can modify or effectively eliminate the regional wealth tax.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Madrid, Andalusia, Cantabria, and Extremadura had previously offered 100% relief, meaning their residents paid nothing.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: The Solidarity Ta was explicitly designed to close that gap.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Introduced in late 2022 as a temporary measure addressing the cost of living crisis, the solidarity tax applies to individuals with net assets exceeding 3 million euros.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Rates range from 1.7% to 3.5%.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: In December 2023, Spain's Constitutional Court upheld the tax, and the government extended it indefinitely.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: The practical effect is that even residents of low tax regions like Madrid now face a wealth tax on large fortunes.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Spain collected approximately 3.1 billion euros from wealth taxes in 2023, about 0.6% of total tax revenue.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: For investors considering Spain's golden visa, now limited to non-real estate investments, the wealth tax regime is a serious planning consideration.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: The interaction between regional and national rules, combined with Spain's worldwide taxation of residents, makes professional tax advice essential.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: However, participants in Spain's Beckham Law, the special impatriot tax regime, benefit from a critical carve-out.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Their foreign assets are excluded from the wealth tax base, and they are exempt from the solidarity tax on non-Spanish wealth.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: For high net worth individuals with substantial overseas holdings, the Beckham Law effectively neutralizes Spain's wealth tax for up to six years.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Switzerland's wealth tax is unusual in two respects.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: First, it is levied at the cantonal and communal level.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: There is no federal wealth tax.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Second, it has unusually low exemption thresholds, meaning it reaches well into the upper middle class rather than targeting only the very wealthy.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: In Zurich, the tax begins at 80,000 Swiss francs, approximately$104,000 for single taxpayers, with a starting rate of 0.05%.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Rates rise progressively and reach approximately 0.3% on wealth above 3.3 million Swiss francs.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: In Geneva, the threshold is around 83,000 Swiss francs, with a top rate that can approach 1%.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: The tax applies to worldwide assets of Swiss residents, excluding foreign real estate and foreign permanent establishments.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Nonresidents are taxed only on Swiss situated assets.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because rates and thresholds vary by canton and even by municipality, Switzerland's wealth tax produces significant internal tax competition.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Cantons like Zug, Schwitz, and Nidwalden attract wealthy residents with notably lower rates.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Lump sum taxation, or forfaitaire, available to certain foreign nationals not employed in Switzerland, can further reduce the effective burden.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Wealth tax still applies under the forfait, but the taxable base is typically 20 times the negotiated income base, not actual worldwide wealth.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Only Swiss situated assets count for the control calculation.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Despite its low headline rates, Switzerland's broad base generates substantial revenue.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: The country raised approximately 9.5 billion euros from individual wealth taxes in 2023, representing 4.3% of total tax revenue, the highest share of any OECD country.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Colombia's wealth tax underwent a dramatic escalation at the end of 2025.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: After Congress struck down a proposed tax reform bill, President Gustavo Petro's government declared an economic emergency and issued Legislative Decree 1,474, which took effect on January 1, 2026.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: The decree slashed the wealth tax threshold from 72,000 unidades de valor tributario, also known as UVT, to 40,000 UVT, equivalent to roughly$530,000 at current exchange rates.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: That lower threshold significantly expands the taxpayer base.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: The government estimates approximately 102,000 individuals will now be subject to the tax, up from a much smaller pool under the previous rules.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: The rate structure is progressive, starting at 0.5% and rising to a top marginal rate of 5% for net assets exceeding 2 million UVT, approximately$28 million.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: That 5% top rate is, by a wide margin, the highest statutory wealth tax rate in any major economy.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Residents are taxed on worldwide assets.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Nonresidents pay only on Colombian assets, which matters for the sizable population of Colombian nationals living abroad who retain property or investments in the country.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: The decree's legal future is uncertain.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because it was issued under emergency powers rather than passed through Congress, the Colombian Constitutional Court must review its constitutionality.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: If the court strikes it down, the previous rules, 72,000 UVT threshold, 0.5% to 1.5% rates, could be reinstated.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: For now, the emergency rates are in force.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Colombia's stop-start approach to wealth taxation creates real planning challenges.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: The country imposed temporary wealth taxes during the COVID-19 pandemic, let them expire, reintroduced a permanent version in 2022, and has now escalated sharply via executive decree.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: The signal to wealthy Colombians and foreign investors is deeply mixed.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: The government wants revenue, but the unpredictable path creates the kind of policy uncertainty that drives capital and people elsewhere.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina's wealth tax, the impuesto sobre los bienes personales, personal assets tax, applies to resident individuals on their worldwide net assets, and to non-residents on their Argentine-situated assets.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The current regime is being significantly reduced under President Javier Millet's 2024 reform package, or laybases.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: The highest bracket of the rate table is removed each fiscal year.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Rates for 2025 range from 0.5% to 1.1%, down from a top rate of 1.5% in 2023.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: By 2027, the only rate will be 0.25%.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Millet's administration also introduced a voluntary prepayment scheme, referred to as REIBP, allowing taxpayers to pay a reduced rate of 0.75% on their 2023 asset base to cover wealth tax obligations for the entire 2023 to 2027 period.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: The broader objective is a phased elimination of the tax, consistent with the administration's libertarian economic agenda.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: For foreign assets held by residents, a higher rate schedule has historically applied, up to 2.25%, though the 2024 reforms equalized the treatment of domestic and foreign assets.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Argentina's approach represents the clearest current example of a country actively dismantling its wealth tax.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Whether the trajectory holds through future administrations remains an open question.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: France abolished its broad-based wealth tax, the Impôt de Solidarite sur la fortune, in twenty eighteen under President Emmanuel Macron.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: It replaced it with a narrower levy, the Impôt sur la fortune immobiliere, or the IFI, which applies exclusively to real estate assets.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: The IFI kicks in when the net taxable value of a taxpayer's real estate holdings, worldwide for residents, French property only for nonresidents, exceeds 1.3 million euros.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Rates are progressive, from 0.5% to 1.5% on the portion above 10 million euros.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Eligible debts, such as mortgages and renovation loans tied to the property, can reduce the taxable base.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Professional use properties are generally exempt.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: The shift from ISF to IFI was politically contentious.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Critics called it a gift to the wealthy that exempted financial assets, yachts, and other movable wealth.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Supporters argued it would stop the capital flight that had eroded France's tax base for years.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: The data show a modest result.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: France collected approximately 2.3 billion euros from the ERIFI in 2023, just 0.2% of total tax revenue.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Proposals to reintroduce a broader wealth tax surface periodically.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Billionaire Bernard Arnault publicly opposed a proposed 2% levy on citizens with assets over 100 million euros in 2025.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: For investors, the IFI means that financial assets, including CBI qualifying investments, are not subject to French wealth tax.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Real estate purchases in France, however, carry a meaningful annual cost beyond the purchase price.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Italy does not levy a general net wealth tax, but it imposes two specific taxes on foreign held assets owned by Italian tax residents.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: The IVIE, or the Imposta sul valore degli immobili, situati all'estero, applies to foreign real estate at a rate of 1.06%, increased from 0.76% in 2024.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: The IVAFE, or the Imposta sul valore delle attività finanziarie detenute all'estero, applies to foreign financial assets at 0.2%, rising to 0.4% for assets held in jurisdictions that Italy classifies as having preferential tax regimes.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Foreign bank and savings accounts attract a flat annual charge of€34.20 per account, waived if the average balance falls below 5,000 euros.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: The practical effect is an asymmetry.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Italian residents who hold their assets domestically face no wealth tax.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Those who hold assets abroad face IVIE and IVAFE on top of any income taxes.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: The design is explicitly intended to discourage Italian residents from holding assets offshore, though it applies equally to foreign nationals who become Italian tax residents.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Italy's flat tax regime for new residents,€300,000 per year for those relocating from 2026,€200,000 for those grandfathered under the 2024 rules,€100,000 for the earliest cohort, explicitly exempts participants from IVIE and IVAFE.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Flat tax residents also face no foreign asset reporting obligations, no Italian gift or inheritance tax on overseas assets, and no restrictions on remitting funds to Italy.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: For wealthy individuals relocating from higher tax jurisdictions, the exemption from Italy's foreign asset wealth taxes is one of the regime's most significant benefits.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Italy's 7% retiree flat tax for those moving to small towns in southern Italy carries the same IVIE and IVAFE exemption.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Belgium has no general wealth tax, but since 2021 it has levied an annual tax of 0.15% on securities accounts exceeding 1 million euros.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: The tax applies to the total account value once the threshold is crossed, not merely to the excess above 1 million euros.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: However, a cap mechanism ensures the tax does not exceed 10% of the difference between the account value and the 1 million euro threshold, except when the account exceeds approximately 1.015 million euros, after which the cap no longer applies.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Both resident and certain nonresident account holders with Belgian securities accounts are subject to the tax.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: The narrow scope means it affects a relatively small number of taxpayers, but for those it does reach, it adds a meaningful annual cost to holding a large investment portfolio through Belgian institutions.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: The Netherlands does not technically have a wealth tax, but its box three income tax regime functions as one.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Under the current system, the Dutch tax authorities assume fictional rates of return on three categories of assets and tax the blended results at a flat 36%.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: The categories are treated very differently.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: For 2025, the deemed return on bank deposits is 1.44%.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: On investments and other assets, including stocks, crypto, and secondary properties, 5.88%, and on debts, 2.62%.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: The tax authority calculates a weighted average based on each taxpayer's actual asset mix, then taxes that blended fictional return at 36%.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: The effective wealth tax rate, therefore, varies significantly depending on whether your assets sit mostly in cash or mostly in investments.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: The tax-free allowance is€57,684 per taxpayer in 2025, approximately 115,368 euros for fiscal partners, though this drops to€51,396 per person in 2026.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: For 2026, the deemed return on investments rises further to 7.78%, which will push the effective tax rate on investment heavy portfolios even higher.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: The system has been in legal turmoil since a 2021 Dutch Supreme Court ruling, Kurster, found it violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: The court held that taxing people on assumed returns they never earned was unjustifiable.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: A 2024 follow-up ruling found the current transitional system equally problematic.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: In response, the Dutch Parliament approved the Box III Actual Return Act in early 2026, set to take effect in 2028.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Under the new system, the 36% rate will apply to actual returns, including unrealized gains on an asset accumulation basis, bringing it closer to a true capital gains tax.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, the current deemed return system remains in force, though taxpayers can submit evidence of lower actual returns to claim a reduction.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: The Netherlands approach matters for investors because the effective wealth tax rate can be high relative to countries with explicit wealth taxes.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: An investor holding€500,000 in equities above the threshold would face a deemed return of roughly 29,400 euros under the 2025 rates, producing a tax bill of approximately 10,600 euros, regardless of whether the portfolio actually gained or lost value.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uruguay levies a net wealth tax, or the impuesto al patrimonio, on assets located within its territory.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: For resident individuals, the rate is a flat 0.1%.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Nonresident individuals face a progressive scale with higher rates.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Crucially, Uruguay's territorial tax system means foreign-held assets are excluded.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: A resident whose wealth consists primarily of overseas investments pays no wealth tax on those holdings.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: The non-taxable minimum is approximately$120,000 for individuals and$240,000 for family groups.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Rates for residents are low enough that the tax is a minor consideration for most investors, though it does apply to Uruguayan real estate and securities.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uruguay has attracted growing interest from investors and relocating HNWIs, particularly Argentines and Brazilians, partly because its territorial tax model and generous foreign income exemptions, an 11-year tax holiday for new residents, make it one of the most tax-efficient residences in Latin America.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: The shrinking list of countries with wealth taxes is itself part of the story.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: In 1990, 12 OECD countries levied a net wealth tax.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Today the number is four.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, general, the Netherlands, explicit, and Sweden all repealed their wealth taxes between the mid-1990s and 2007.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: The reasons were remarkably consistent: administrative complexity, capital flight, revenue that fell short of expectations, and difficulty valuing illiquid assets like private businesses and art.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sweden's experience is frequently cited.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: The country repealed its wealth tax in 2007, after concluding that the revenue it generated did not justify the capital outflow it provoked.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: IKEA founder Ingvar Kompraod, who spent decades living in Switzerland, became the most cited example of wealth tax emigration.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: The pattern holds a lesson.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Wealth taxes that apply to a broad base at low rates, Switzerland, tend to persist.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Those that impose high rates on a narrow base, pre-2007 Sweden, pre-2018 France, tend to be repealed.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: This episode first appeared as an article by Amada Bas on IMIDaily.com.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe for free to the IMI newsletter for breaking news and updates from the investment migration industry.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: And upgrade your membership to IMI Pro to get access to our exclusive professional community, citizenship catalog, investment migration company Rolodex, private briefings, and more members only content.