Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands: 5 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment, and what it is known for.
Forming a company
Company types in the Cayman Islands
The 5 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
What it is known for
Where Cayman Islands is in the world’s top 10 on a measure anyone can check, the best rank first. Only the top is shown; a low rank is never stated.
- World’s3rdWorld-leading exports Yachts and pleasure boatsYachts and other vessels for pleasure or sports; rowing boats and canoesUS$2 bn · 8.9% of world exports of 164 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
A rank is among everything the source reports for that year, so it moves when the source adds or drops economies. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names Cayman 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 Cayman 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 Cayman Islands: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Cayman 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.
Cayman Islands’s own position
- Customs territory
- Its own
Quote
There shall be charged, collected and paid through Customs to the Treasury upon goods imported into the Islands and enumerated in Schedule 1 the several duties therein specified.
- VAT territory
- Not in our records
- EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement
- Outside
The Cayman Islands are named among the overseas territories to which the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement does not apply (art. 774(4)).
Quote
This Agreement does not apply to the overseas territories having special relations with the United Kingdom: Anguilla; Bermuda; British Antarctic Territory; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands;
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
- 0%
- 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
- KYD 300Official The registry or ministry page as of 2026-10-10
Quote
a registered capital not exceeding $42,000, an annual fee of $300
VAT
The tax on what the company sells in Cayman Islands, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- VAT or sales tax
- None levied
The Cayman Islands Government's own account of its revenue lists import duties, stamp duties and service-related fees and states that there are no direct taxes; no VAT, GST or sales tax is levied. The territory charges import duty rather than a consumption tax on supplies, so the remaining fields do not apply.
Quote
Government revenue is primarily derived from import duties, stamp duties, and various service-related fees.
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Cayman Islands, tax year 2026, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- Not levied here
The Cayman Islands levy no company or corporation tax, so there is no corporate income tax return. Quoted from the Government's finance and economy page; see also the same page's statement that there are no direct taxes.
Quote
There is no income tax, company or corporation tax, inheritance tax, capital gains or gift tax.
- Corporate tax, final payment
- Not levied here
The Cayman Islands levy no company or corporation tax, so there is no balancing payment of corporate tax. Quoted from the Government's finance and economy page; see also the same page's statement that there are no direct taxes.
Quote
There is no income tax, company or corporation tax, inheritance tax, capital gains or gift tax.
- Corporate tax, instalments
- Not levied here
The Cayman Islands levy no company or corporation tax, so there is no corporate instalment payments. Quoted from the Government's finance and economy page; see also the same page's statement that there are no direct taxes.
Quote
There is no income tax, company or corporation tax, inheritance tax, capital gains or gift tax.
- Personal income-tax return
- Not levied here
The Cayman Islands levy no income tax, so there is no personal income tax return. Quoted from the Government's finance and economy page.
Quote
There is no income tax, company or corporation tax, inheritance tax, capital gains or gift tax.
- Personal income tax, final payment
- Not levied here
The Cayman Islands levy no income tax, so there is no personal balancing payment. Quoted from the Government's finance and economy page.
Quote
There is no income tax, company or corporation tax, inheritance tax, capital gains or gift tax.
- Personal income tax, instalments
- Not levied here
The Cayman Islands levy no income tax, so there is no personal payments on account. Quoted from the Government's finance and economy page.
Quote
There is no income tax, company or corporation tax, inheritance tax, capital gains or gift tax.
- VAT return
- Not levied here
The Cayman Islands levy no VAT or GST. The Government's finance and economy page (https://gov.ky/finance-economy) lists government revenue as import duties, stamp duties and service fees, with no consumption tax; no VAT return obligation is published.
- Payroll withholding
- Not levied here
The Cayman Islands levy no income tax and no other direct tax, so an employer withholds no income tax from wages and has no payroll-tax return or remittance to make. The earlier note that a payroll tax is levied is not supported by the Government's finance and economy page, which states that there are no direct taxes.
Quote
there are no direct taxes in the Cayman Islands. There is no income tax, company or corporation tax, inheritance tax, capital gains or gift tax.
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Cayman Islands yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Cayman Islands exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Cayman 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 | 21.4% | 79.8% | 89.0% | US$2 bn |
| Other aircraft (for example, helicopters, aeroplanes), except unmanned aircraft of heading 8806; spacecraft (including satellites) and suborbital and spacecraft launch vehicles HS 8802 | 37.9% | 18.3% | 4.9% | US$109 m |
| Cruise ships, excursion boats, ferry-boats, cargo ships, barges and similar vessels for the transport of persons or goods HS 8901 | 1.6% | under 0.05% | 2.0% | US$45 m |
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, other than crude; preparations not elsewhere specified or included, containing by weight 70 % or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations; waste oils HS 2710 | 0.54% | under 0.05% | 1.1% | US$25 m |
| Electric accumulators, including separators therefor, whether or not rectangular (including square) HS 8507 | under 0.05% | under 0.05% | 0.81% | US$18 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 | 2.4% | 0.32% | 0.50% | US$11 m |
| Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons HS 2711 | under 0.05% | 0.46% | 0.42% | US$9 m |
| Parts and accessories (other than covers, carrying cases and the like) suitable for use solely or principally with machines of headings 8470 to 8472 HS 8473 | under 0.05% | under 0.05% | 0.19% | US$4 m |
| Surveying (including photogrammetrical surveying), hydrographic, oceanographic, hydrological, meteorological or geophysical instruments and appliances, excluding compasses; rangefinders HS 9015 | under 0.05% | under 0.05% | 0.12% | US$3 m |
| Turbojets, turbopropellers and other gas turbines HS 8411 | 0.12% | under 0.05% | 0.11% | US$3 m |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$2.2 bn. The ten largest headings are shown.