Cook Islands
Cook Islands: 1 company type, its taxes, banking and business environment.
Forming a company
Company types in Cook Islands
The form a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names Cook Islands. A listing means a company formed here may apply, not that it will be accepted.
Not in our records No provider's country list has been read for Cook Islands.
EU listings
Two lists a bank checks when it opens an account for a company or its owner.
- EU high-risk third countries (AML)
- Not listed
- EU non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
- Not listedOfficial EUR-Lex, 52026XG01465, Annex I as of 2026-02-17
Official sites
The authorities’ own sites for Cook Islands: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Cook Islands belongs to, as each arrangement’s own texts state them: since when, and what each covers. What a membership means for a business is for you to judge.
None of the 36 arrangements we hold lists Cook Islands as a member.
Regional and customs arrangements only, 36 of them; bilateral trade agreements are not yet in our records.
Tax
Company tax
Tax, and what the company owes the registry each year.
- Corporate income tax
- 20%
- Distributions
- Not in our records
- Audit
- Not in our records
- Small-company relief
- Not in our records
- Annual obligations
- Not in our records
- Annual registry fee
- NZD 50
VAT
The tax on what the company sells in Cook Islands, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- The tax
- VAT (value added tax)
Quote
It is charged and accounted for at a rate of 15%.
- Standard rate
- 15%
Quote
It is charged and accounted for at a rate of 15%.
- Other rates
- 0% zero-rated supplies listed in the Third Schedule of the Value Added Tax Act 1997
Quote
the rate of tax will be 0% of the value of the supply in the case of a supply in the Cook Islands by a registered person which is one of the zero-rated supplies listed in the Third Schedule
- Registration threshold
- NZD 40,000 · about €20,269
turnover from taxable activities (taxable supplies), including certain imported services received; last 12 months, or expected next 12 months
Quote
was over $40,000 for the last 12 months,
- A foreign company
- See the note
The Revenue Management Division's VAT guide sets one $40,000 threshold for anyone carrying on a taxable activity and states no separate rule for businesses with no establishment in the Cook Islands; nothing was published on the pages read.
- Returns filed
- Monthly
Quote
Your returns can be filed monthly online or manually.
- Tax authority
- Registration page read 2026-10-22
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Cook Islands, tax year 2026, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- 4 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period · each year
The return is due on the first day of the fifth month after the balance date: 1 May following a 31 December balance date (the rule's four months plus one day), 1 June after a January balance date, 1 July after February, and so on through the Department's table. The reminder notice for the 2025 returns repeats 1 May 2026 for companies with a 31 December balance date.
Quote
The standard company balance date is 31 December with the return due by 1 May of the following year.
- Corporate tax, final payment
- 1 October · each year
The 2026 calendar's list of important dates gives 1 October 2026 as 'Income Tax payment due' for taxpayers with a standard December balance date. For companies the same documents publish only the two provisional instalment dates (1 June and 1 December) and the return date, and no separate balancing-payment date, so the calendar's income tax payment date is recorded here and in the individual's row rather than a company-specific rule being invented.
Quote
1 October 2026
- Corporate tax, instalments
- 5 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period · twice a year
Provisional tax is paid in two instalments keyed to the balance date: the first on the first day of the sixth month after it (1 June for a 31 December balance date, 1 July for January, 1 August for February) and the second on the first day of the year after it (1 December for a 31 December balance date, 1 January for January, 1 February for February). The rule records the first instalment; both dates for every balance month are in the Department's table.
Quote
December 1st May 1st June 1st December
- Personal income-tax return
- 1 March · each year
The individual income tax return is due 1 March after the tax year, and the Department's 2026 calendar prints the date as 2 March 2026 because 1 March 2026 is a Sunday. The calendar lists it as 'Individual Income Tax return due'.
Quote
2 March 2026
- Personal income tax, final payment
- 1 October · each year
The 2026 calendar gives 1 October 2026 as the date an income tax payment falls due for taxpayers with a standard December balance date; the calendar does not say which year's assessment it settles. It is recorded as the balancing payment date because it is the only income tax payment date in the Department's calendar other than the two provisional instalments.
Quote
1 October 2026
- Personal income tax, instalments
- 1 June · twice a year
Provisional tax is paid in two instalments: '1st Instalment Provisional Tax due' on 1 June 2026 and '2nd Instalment Provisional Tax due' on 1 December 2026, both for a standard December balance date. The rule records the first.
Quote
1st Instalment Provisional Tax due
- VAT return
- Day 20 of the following month · each month
VAT is monthly: the reporting month runs from the 1st to the end of the month and the return and payment fall due on the 20th of the following month. The Department's published dates for 2026 are 20 January, 20 February, 20 March, 20 April, 20 May, 22 June, 20 July, 20 August, 21 September, 20 October, 20 November and 21 December — the 22 June, 21 September and 21 December being the next business day — and the 2026 calendar states that a date falling at a weekend or public holiday may be filed on the next business day without additional tax.
Quote
20 January 20 February 20 March 20 April 20 May 22 June 20 July 20 August 21 September 20 October 20 November 21 December
- Payroll withholding
- Day 20 of the following month · each month
PAYE is filed and paid on the same monthly cycle as VAT — the 20th of the month following the reporting month, with the Department's 2026 dates running 20 January to 21 December and moving to the next business day at a weekend. Employers also have an annual obligation in February: RM101 tax deduction certificates due to employees and the PAYE reconciliation, both printed on the 2026 calendar at 2 February 2026.
Quote
20 January 20 February 20 March 20 April 20 May 22 June 20 July 20 August 21 September 20 October 20 November 21 December
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Cook Islands yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Cook Islands exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Cook Islands’s own trade; it does not compare places.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yachts and other vessels for pleasure or sports; rowing boats and canoes HS 8903 | 29.5% | 32.6% | 37.5% | US$13 m |
| Fish, frozen, excluding fish fillets and other fish meat of heading 0304 HS 0303 | 38.0% | 33.0% | 32.4% | US$11 m |
| Fish fillets and other fish meat (whether or not minced), fresh, chilled or frozen HS 0304 | 20.7% | 22.4% | 20.9% | US$7 m |
| Telephone sets, including smartphones and other telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network), other than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528 HS 8517 | 0.24% | 0.07% | 1.5% | US$1 m |
| Women's or girls' suits, ensembles, jackets, blazers, dresses, skirts, divided skirts, trousers, bib and brace overalls, breeches and shorts (other than swimwear), knitted or crocheted HS 6104 | 0.66% | 1.9% | 1.3% | US$0 m |
| Antiques of an age exceeding 100 years HS 9706 | 0.11% | under 0.05% | 0.60% | US$0 m |
| Parts and accessories of the motor vehicles of headings 8701 to 8705 HS 8708 | under 0.05% | 0.06% | 0.41% | US$0 m |
| Coin HS 7118 | 0.10% | 0.15% | 0.31% | US$0 m |
| Collections and collectors’ pieces of archaeological, ethnographic, historical, zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, paleontological or numismatic interest HS 9705 | 0.41% | 0.08% | 0.24% | US$0 m |
| Stranded wire, ropes, cables, plaited bands, slings and the like, of iron or steel, not electrically insulated HS 7312 | under 0.05% | under 0.05% | 0.23% | US$0 m |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$34 m. The ten largest headings are shown.