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Transcript

The 8 Places With No Property Tax · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Buy a home in Monaco and no property tax bill ever arrives.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: In New Jersey, the average bill is 1.88% of a home's value every year.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I MI checked more than 100 countries and territories.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Only eight send an owner no annual bill, and each of them collects its money another way.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: The rest climb a five-step ladder, and two questions decide where your home lands.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Miss them, and a second home abroad can cost you more each year than the home you live in.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Step one of the ladder is zero.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Monaco's government puts it plainly.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: There is no wealth tax, annual property tax, or council tax.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Malta is the other European case.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Its tax authority says Maltese law does not tax the ownership of property, and the country charges stamp duty when a home changes hands.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: In the Caribbean, the Cayman Islands says it has no property taxes or rates.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: The Turks and Caicos Islands has no annual property tax either, and both territories take stamp duty on each sale.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Trinidad and Tobago joined the list at the start of 2026, when it abolished its property tax act.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: A surcharge on landlords' rental income took its place.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Three Gulf monarchies complete the eight.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia have no property taxes, according to PWC's tax summaries.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, owning land in the Gulf costs nothing each year?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Saudi Arabia charges a white land fee on undeveloped urban land.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: It takes 2.5 to 10% of the land's value yearly.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Once one owner has over 5,000 square meters in zones the ministry names.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Kuwait began a similar fee in March.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Owners of large undeveloped housing plots now pay 10 Kuwaiti dinars a year for every square meter.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: None of the eight belongs to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the OECD.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Every OECD member collects some recurring tax on property.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: A few places come close without making the list.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Liechtenstein has no property tax by name, but its annual wealth tax covers land and buildings, so owners there pay every year.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Cyprus scrapped its national property tax in 2017.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Its municipalities charge an annual fee capped at half of one per mil of a property's official value.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: In December 2025, the Cypriot Parliament voted down a proposal to tax homes worth more than 3 million euros.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Dominica has no national property tax either, though its towns of Roseau and Canefield may charge up to 1.25% a year.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Before step two, one warning about the rates you'll hear.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Countries charge property tax on four different bases, and a rate means something different on each.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Canada and Ireland charge on market value.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: In Ireland, the owner makes the valuation, and the local property tax is built on a rate of 0.0906%.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: A second group charges on a value that officials set, and that value can be decades old.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Austria taxes homes on values from 1973.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: England puts each home in a council tax band by the price it would have sold for in 1991.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Germany used values from 1935 and 1964 until a reform replaced them in 2025.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: The third group charges on the rent a home could earn in a year.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Bermuda all work this way.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So when Singapore taxes some homes at up to 36%, is that the harshest property tax on earth?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Its base is an estimate of one year's rent, so the figure cannot be compared with a rate on value.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: A fourth group ignores value and charges by floor area.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Poland caps the tax on a home at 1.25 zlotti per square meter, and Croatia charges between 0.60 and 8 euros.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: That leaves the two questions from the start.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Which value is the tax charged on?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And is the home you live in exempt?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Step 2 belongs to three Gulf states with no tax on a home's value.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman each charge on rent.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Buy in Dubai, and you have likely heard there is no property tax.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: IMI's review of the cities behind the big golden visas said the same.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And for a tax on value, that is accurate.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Dubai charges a housing fee of 5% of a home's annual rental value.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Tenants pay it, and an owner who lives in the home or leaves it empty pays it on an estimated rent.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: In Abu Dhabi, the fee is also 5% on the rent or the official rental index, whichever is higher.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: The tenant pays it when the lease is registered.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Bahrain charges 10% of the lease value on an unfurnished rented home.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: A furnished one pays 7%, and Oman takes 3% of the rent when a lease is registered.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Seychelles picked a different target.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Its property tax falls on foreign owners alone.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: It began in 2020 at 0.25% of market value, and since 2024, the rate has been 0.5%.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Step 3 is a bill so small it barely registers.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Tax Foundation measures property tax revenue against a country's stock of private capital, a rough guide to how heavy the tax is.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: On its 2024 table, Luxembourg is at 0.05%.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Next comes Switzerland at 0.08, Estonia at 0.09%, and Austria at 0.10.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Austria's top rate of 1% sounds ordinary.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: PWC puts that ceiling on the values from 1973 that we met earlier, which is why the bill barely moves.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Switzerland has no federal property tax.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: More than half its cantons charge one, at around 0.01 to 0.3% of a property's estimated value, the federal portal says.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Turkey taxes a home at 0.1% of its tax value, and at double that inside metropolitan areas.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: The most expensive homes face a separate valuable housing tax.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Several markets that draw foreign buyers fall in the same range, such as Costa Rica at 0.25% of a property's appraised value.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Vietnam taxes residential land at 0.03 to 0.15% and leaves the building untaxed.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: A low rate is one line in the cost of a home abroad.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: IMI Sovereigns is our members' club for people going sovereign.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Its global property scoreboard compares 160 cities on 42 fundamentals, from yields and taxes to foreign ownership rules.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Members also get AskTheExperts, direct access to vetted tax advisors, immigration attorneys, and program specialists.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: There are no commissions and no sales pitch.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: We don't sell programs, broker applications, or take referral fees.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Join at imidaly.com slash IMISovereigns and use code SOV10 for 10% off your first month.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Step 4 is where your status sets the bill.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Each country here spares an ordinary main home, in full or in large part, and charges more on a second one.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Italy's municipal property tax, known as IMU, is not due on a main home unless it falls in one of three luxury categories.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: On other homes, the basic rate is 0.86% of a cadastral value.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Croatia brought in a property tax in 2025 to replace its tax on holiday homes.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: PWC notes that homes used as a permanent residence are exempt, so the bill lands on second homes.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So a residence permit in the Bahamas earns you a residence break?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Since the middle of 2026, that exemption is limited to Bahamians and to permanent residents with the right to work.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: A foreign owner on a residence permit now pays 5 eighths of 1% on value up to$1 million.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Above that, the rate is 1%, with no exempt band at all.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Lithuania taxes a main home only above a threshold of at least€450,000, under rules in force since 2026, and owners' other homes are taxed from€50,000.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Latvia taxes a home at 0.2 to 0.6% of its cadastral value, against a standard rate of 1.5%.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Riga gives the low rates only where a qualifying resident is declared at the address.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: The Australian state of Victoria puts a 4% surcharge on the land of foreign owners who live abroad, on top of land tax.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: In England, a council can charge up to double the normal council tax on a second home.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Step 5 is the top of the ladder.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: On the Tax Foundation's measure, the United Kingdom is at 2.04% of private capital stock, the United States at 1.882, and Canada at 1.581.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: OECD figures for 2023 rank countries by property tax revenue as a share of the economy and put the same three on top.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Both measures count the tax on business premises as well as homes.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: In the United Kingdom, the tax on homes is mostly council tax, which pays for local services.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: It raised£40.3 billion across England in the 2024 to 2025 tax year.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: From April 2028, owners of homes in England worth£2 million or more would pay a further£2,500 to£7,500 a year.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: The plan is not yet law.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: If the United States is near the top, you might expect every state to be expensive.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Owners in Hawaii pay 0.29% of home value against 1.88 in New Jersey and Illinois.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Florida votes in November on raising the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to$150,000 in 2027 and$250,000 in 2028.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: In Canada, Toronto's total residential rate for 2026 is about 0.77% on values from January 1st, 2016.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: 5 steps, and everyone comes back to the two questions.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: First, ask which value the tax is charged on and when that value was last set.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: A low rate on today's market value can cost more than a higher rate on a value from decades ago.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Second, confirm whether the low rate depends on living in the home and on your immigration status.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: In the Gulf, count the charge on rent if you plan to let a property.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ladislas Maurice, founder of The Wandering Investor, says that when a country hits fiscal trouble, the International Monetary Fund typically recommends two sources of revenue.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: He names them as the taxation of property and the taxation of death.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: A country with no annual tax on a home collects somewhere else.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Cayman Islands take stamp duty at purchase, and Dubai takes a fee on rent.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Expect the rules to move.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Croatia's tax began in 2025.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Trinidad and Tobago's ended at the start of 2026, and England's surcharge on expensive homes is due in 2028.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: IMI's weekly newsletter tracks those changes.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can join for free at imidaly.com slash newsletter.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Property tax is one cost of owning abroad.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And the first question is whether you can buy at all.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: In the video on your screen, we map which countries let foreigners buy homes and which are closing their doors.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe and turn on notifications so you hear when the next tax arrives.