# Guernsey: taxes, residence and cost of living Source: https://domicile.wiki/places/guernsey/ (domicile.wiki, researched 2026-10-16). Data licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Research, not tax or legal advice. ## At a glance For an EU-citizen family of five living off a EUR 30M portfolio (the guide's default reader). - Can EU citizens live here?: from €888,784 · Investor visa (GBP 1 million funds, GBP 750,000 invested) - Can US citizens live here?: from €888,784 · Investor visa (GBP 1 million funds, GBP 750,000 invested) - Other passports: from €888,784 · Investor visa (GBP 1 million funds, GBP 750,000 invested) - Tax on a €30M portfolio: €93,433 a year · Income tax cap - Wealth tax: none - Children inherit: tax-free - After 60 years: €200,344,000 of €30,000,000 (with no tax at all: €286,928,000) - Living costs, family of five: €281,453 a year - EU member: no - Currency: GBP - Capital: St Peter Port ## Tax on investments, inheritance and wealth Crown Dependency outside the UK and EU. No capital gains tax, no inheritance or gift tax, no wealth tax. Income including dividends is taxed at a flat 20%, with optional caps of £160,000 (foreign income) or £320,000 (worldwide), and a £60,000 cap for four years for newcomers buying Open Market property. A GST was approved in October 2026 (from about 2028). - **Ordinary Guernsey residence**: Residents pay a flat 20% income tax on worldwide income. No capital gains, inheritance, gift or wealth tax; probate fee about 0.5% of personal estate, capped at £250,000. - **Income tax cap**: A Guernsey resident can elect to cap income tax on non-Guernsey-source income (including Guernsey bank interest) at £160,000 a year, or on worldwide income at £320,000 a year (2026, unchanged since 2024). Guernsey property income is taxed at 20% on top. Since 2023 each spouse elects individually. - **Open Market new-resident tax cap**: A newcomer who buys an Open Market (Part A) property with at least £50,000 of document duty can cap income tax on worldwide income (except Guernsey property income) at £60,000 a year for the arrival year and the following three years. After that the ordinary caps apply. - **Guernsey investment holding company (0% company)**: The family funds a Guernsey company that holds the listed portfolio. Guernsey companies pay 0% income tax on investment income and there is no capital gains tax, so the company pays nothing on dividends or gains. When it pays a distribution to a Guernsey-resident member, the company must deduct 20% tax because its income was taxed at less than 20%. Profits it keeps are not taxed on the member. Foreign withholding tax on the company's dividends is a final cost. ## How to get residence Guernsey (Bailiwick) is outside the EU and EEA with its own Immigration Rules, so EU citizens have no free movement and must use the same routes as everyone else; the EU Settlement Scheme closed in 2021. British and Irish citizens can live there under the Common Travel Area, but everyone, British included, also needs a Population Management certificate: in practice a home on the Open Market register or a Local Market right. US and other citizens, and EU citizens, have two private-wealth routes: the entrepreneur visa (GBP 200,000 invested in a Guernsey business) and the investor visa (GBP 1 million of funds, GBP 750,000 invested), or an employment permit for an approved job. - **Common Travel Area (British and Irish citizens)** (Other; other passports; open): British and Irish citizens need no immigration permission to live in Guernsey, which is part of the Common Travel Area. They still need housing and a certificate or permit under the Population Management Law. - **Investor visa (GBP 1 million funds, GBP 750,000 invested)** (Investor residence; EU citizens, US citizens, other passports; open): An investor with GBP 1 million of their own funds who invests at least GBP 750,000 for the benefit of the Bailiwick and makes Guernsey or Alderney their main home gets 2 years' leave, extendable by 3-year periods, with indefinite leave after 5 years. - **Business / entrepreneur visa (GBP 200,000 invested)** (Entrepreneur; EU citizens, US citizens, other passports; open): A person who invests at least GBP 200,000 of their own money in a Guernsey business and runs it full time can get 2 years' leave, extendable, and indefinite leave after 5 years. - **Employment permits (Long Term Employment Permit and others)** (Work; EU citizens, US citizens, other passports; open): Working in Guernsey needs an employment permit tied to a named job and employer, plus immigration permission for those who need it. A Long Term Employment Permit lasts up to 8 years and can lead to Established Resident status after 8 years. - **EU/EEA/Swiss Settlement Scheme (already resident before 31 December 2020)** (Other; EU citizens; closed to new applicants): Only for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens already living in the Bailiwick before Brexit; settled status after 5 years' residence, pre-settled status before that. New arrivals have no free movement and use the ordinary routes. Citizenship: Indefinite leave to remain after 5 continuous years on the investor or business routes (English and life-in-the-Bailiwick test); British (Guernsey) citizenship is then applied for through the Royal Court or Lieutenant Governor. The residence period and the interval after ILR for Guernsey citizenship were not confirmed from an official source; an adviser page says 12 months after ILR. ## Inheritance law and trusts Guernsey customary law restricts what you can leave of Guernsey real property, but movables are free. Trusts are well established and foundations are available. The Hague Trusts Convention was extended to Guernsey. ## Daily life (0-100, higher is better) - Safety and personal security: 100 - Healthcare quality and access: 93 - Cost of living and housing: 61 - Cultural fit and lifestyle: 100 ## Research notes ### Guernsey — family-office tax dossier Last reviewed: 2026-10-16 Tax year: 2026 Reviewer: research agent (Claude), unreviewed by a tax adviser #### Summary Crown Dependency outside the UK and EU. No capital gains tax, no inheritance or gift tax, no wealth tax. Income including dividends is taxed at a flat 20%, with optional caps of £160,000 (foreign income) or £320,000 (worldwide), and a £60,000 cap for four years for newcomers buying Open Market property. A GST was approved in October 2026 (from about 2028). #### Residence and eligibility Day-count categories: principally resident (182+ days in the year); solely resident (91+ days and not 91+ days elsewhere); resident only (91-182 days, or 35+ days with 365+ days over the previous four years). Resident-only individuals may pay a standard charge (£50,000 for 2026) instead of tax on non-Guernsey income. - **Open Market housing** (EU, US, OTHER): Anyone may live in Part A Open Market property without a housing licence. Non-British/Irish nationals also need immigration permission under Bailiwick rules (UK-style; not researched in detail). Standard regime eligibility: Tax residence in Guernsey. Newcomers without local housing status can generally only live in Open Market (Part A) housing. #### Capital gains Guernsey has no capital gains tax. Gains by a resident private investor on securities, a private business or real estate are not taxed unless the activity is a trade (taxed as income at 20%). - **rate basis**: No capital gains tax (Carey Olsen: 'no ... capital gains taxes'); income tax at 20% applies to income only. - **important exceptions**: From 2026, repayments of non-commercial shareholder loans from personal investment companies are treated as dividends (anti-avoidance). - **professional trader**: Dealing in shares or land as a trade is taxed as income at 20%; Guernsey property development profits are taxed at 20%. - **holding period rules**: None. - **foreign assets**: Foreign gains are equally untaxed. - **JSON values**: `{"headline_rate": 0.0, "rates": {"listed_securities_domestic": 0.0, "listed_securities_foreign": 0.0, "private_business_sale": 0.0, "real_estate_local": 0.0, "real_estate_foreign": 0.0}}` - **Confidence / verification**: high / partially_verified (tax year 2026) #### Dividends Dividends are taxed as income at a flat 20%. Guernsey companies paying dividends to resident individuals deduct tax at source up to 20% (20% if the company paid 0%). Residents can elect tax caps (see special regimes). - **rate basis**: Flat 20% income tax rate on net income after allowances (PwC). Personal allowance £15,200 for 2026, withdrawn above £85,000 of income. Foreign tax relief where there is no treaty (unilateral relief) is the lower of the foreign tax and three-quarters of the effective Guernsey rate on the income (Revenue Service guide): at the 20% top rate that is 15% of the gross dividend, so a 15% withholding is credited in full. - **exemptions thresholds**: Personal allowance £15,200 (2026), withdrawn from £85,000 of income. - **withholding outbound**: 0% withholding on dividends to non-residents under domestic law; dividends to Guernsey-resident individuals carry a deduction making up tax to 20%. - **treaty network**: 14 comprehensive double tax agreements (incl. UK, Jersey, Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus, Singapore, Hong Kong); no US income tax treaty, so US dividends suffer 30% US withholding. Foreign tax relieved by credit. - **JSON values**: `{"headline_rate": 0.2, "domestic_rate": 0.2, "foreign_gross_rate": 0.2, "foreign_tax_credit": "credit"}` - **Confidence / verification**: high / verified (tax year 2026) - **Open question**: The Revenue Service guide read for unilateral relief is a 2017 document; the related Statement of Practice M8 was withdrawn on 19 August 2024 and its replacement was not found. #### Inheritance and gifts to children No inheritance, estate or gift tax. A probate registry fee applies to personal (movable) estate: £225 up to £80,000 plus £50 per further £10,000 (0.5%), capped at £250,000 for estates above about £50m. Worldwide personal estate counts if no grant has been taken elsewhere. - **exemptions thresholds**: Probate Registry fee on the gross value of the personal estate (no deduction for debts): GBP 225 plus GBP 50 for each additional GBP 10,000 above GBP 80,000, plus small amounts for extra documents; capped at GBP 250,000 above GBP 50,030,000 (Mourant, 27 February 2026). Not indexed. Guernsey real property is outside the grant. Older guides (Carey Olsen 2020) show £35 per £10,000 (0.35%), so the scale has risen. - **important exceptions**: Lifetime gifts attract no fee, and assets already covered by a foreign grant are valued on the Guernsey estate only. - **foreign assets**: Worldwide movable estate counts for the probate fee unless probate has been obtained in another jurisdiction. - **gift tax**: No gift tax. - **domicile rules**: No tax, so no domicile test for tax. Families arriving from the UK remain within UK IHT under the residence-based test from 6 April 2025 for up to 10 years after leaving, depending on years of UK residence. - **JSON values**: `{"basis": "none", "children_treatment": "fully_exempt", "exemption": 0, "other_transfer_cost_rate": 0.005, "gifts_same_as_inheritance": false}` - **Confidence / verification**: medium / partially_verified (tax year 2026) - **Open question**: Official Probate Registry fee schedule not located; figures from Mourant guide dated 27 Feb 2026. #### Wealth tax No wealth tax or net worth tax. - **property tax note**: Tax on Real Property (TRP) is an annual property tax based on property size and use (not a wealth tax). Document duty applies to property purchases; the extra 2% on second/buy-to-let properties was removed in the 2026 Budget. - **JSON values**: `{"type": "none"}` - **Confidence / verification**: high / verified (tax year 2026) #### Special regimes ##### Income tax cap (`tax_cap`) A Guernsey resident can elect to cap income tax on non-Guernsey-source income (including Guernsey bank interest) at £160,000 a year, or on worldwide income at £320,000 a year (2026, unchanged since 2024). Guernsey property income is taxed at 20% on top. Since 2023 each spouse elects individually. - **Eligibility**: Any Guernsey-resident individual, by annual election. Worthwhile when 20% of foreign income exceeds £160,000 (about £800,000 of income). - **Duration (years)**: indefinite - **Why it does not expire**: No time limit: any Guernsey resident can claim the cap each year under sections 39B-39E and the Sixth Schedule of the Income Tax (Guernsey) Law, 1975 (gov.gg tax cap page). The cap amounts are set in each annual Budget; it is apportioned in the year of arrival or departure. - **Lump sum / cap in JSON**: 160,000 GBP a year, covers foreign_dividends, foreign_capital_gains, foreign_income_all. £160,000 is a maximum, not a fixed charge: tax is the lower of 20% of non-Guernsey income and the cap. The £320,000 cap covers worldwide income. Per individual since independent taxation in 2023 (couple: up to £320,000 on foreign income). **Dividends under this regime:** Once the £160,000 cap binds, further foreign dividends carry no Guernsey tax. Guernsey-source dividends stay at 20% unless the £320,000 worldwide cap is chosen. - **rate basis**: Marginal rate 0% on foreign income above the cap threshold; cap modelled as the lump sum. - **withholding outbound**: 0% on dividends to non-residents. - **treaty network**: As standard regime. - **JSON values**: `{"headline_rate": 0.0, "domestic_rate": 0.2, "foreign_gross_rate": 0.0, "foreign_tax_credit": "not_applicable"}` - **Confidence / verification**: high / verified (tax year 2026) ##### Open Market new-resident tax cap (`open_market_cap`) A newcomer who buys an Open Market (Part A) property with at least £50,000 of document duty can cap income tax on worldwide income (except Guernsey property income) at £60,000 a year for the arrival year and the following three years. After that the ordinary caps apply. - **Eligibility**: Not Guernsey resident in the previous three years; purchase of a Part A Open Market property within 12 months of becoming resident, paying at least £50,000 document duty (roughly a £1.3m+ property). - **Duration (years)**: 4 - **Lump sum / cap in JSON**: 60,000 GBP a year, covers foreign_dividends, foreign_capital_gains, foreign_income_all, domestic_income. Maximum, not a fixed charge. Guernsey land and property income excluded (taxed at 20%). Amount £60,000 since 2024, unchanged for 2026. A June 2026 proposal by Innovate Guernsey to raise it has not been adopted as far as found. **Dividends under this regime:** During the four capped years, dividends above about £300,000 of income carry no further Guernsey tax because total tax is capped at £60,000. - **rate basis**: Marginal rate 0% once 20% of income exceeds £60,000. - **withholding outbound**: 0% on dividends to non-residents. - **treaty network**: As standard regime. - **JSON values**: `{"headline_rate": 0.0, "domestic_rate": 0.0, "foreign_gross_rate": 0.0, "foreign_tax_credit": "not_applicable"}` - **Confidence / verification**: high / verified (tax year 2026) #### Holding structures **Structure modelled: Guernsey investment holding company, regime id `holding_company`.** - **Company tax:** the standard company rate is 0% (Revenue Service; PwC); there is no capital gains tax. Dividends and gains in the company are untaxed (JSON dividends 0, `exemption`; gains 0); foreign withholding tax is a final cost. 10% (banking, fiduciary and other regulated activities) and 20% (Guernsey property, large retail and similar) apply to listed activities only. - **Payout:** if a company's income is taxed at less than 20%, a tax charge arises when a distribution is paid to a Guernsey-resident beneficial member; the company deducts it and pays it to the Revenue Service. A 0%-taxed company therefore deducts the full 20% (`payout_tax_rate` 0.20). Distributions to non-residents carry no charge (Revenue Service, tax information for companies). - **Retained profits:** not taxed on the member in the sources read. Anti-avoidance: preferentially priced loans to participators are treated as income, and repayments of non-commercial shareholder loans from personal investment companies are treated as dividends from 2026. - **Inheritance:** the shares are personal estate, so the probate fee applies as for personal holding; the metric is the standard regime's. - **Running costs:** not sourced (omitted). US citizens are excluded (CFC/PFIC rules). - **Considered, not added:** Guernsey foundations and trusts (no income tax saving for a resident family; not sourced). The `tax_cap` regime has a path: the caps are maximums, and the engine charges the lower of the cap and the ordinary tax. `open_market_cap` has no path (it needs an Open Market property purchase and lasts four years). #### Company taxation (kept separate from personal tax) Headline CIT rate in JSON: 0.0. General corporate rate 0%; 10% for banking, fiduciary, fund administration and similar regulated business; 20% for Guernsey property income, utilities and large retail. Pillar Two (domestic top-up tax and multinational top-up tax) from 1 January 2025 for groups with €750m+ revenue. No withholding tax on dividends to non-residents. #### Cost of living notes City: St Peter Port. - **International school fee (annual, per child):** 16,995 GBP (2026). Elizabeth College (independent, Years 7-13 incl. sixth form), Upper School day fee 2026-27: £5,665 per term, £16,995 a year, from the school's fee page. Source: [Elizabeth College - School fees](https://elizabethcollege.gg/school-fees/). - **Prime rent (monthly):** £4,875 (2026). Median of a small sample: the only 4 long-let homes with 4-5 bedrooms and a stated rent on Guernsey agency sites on 2026-10-15: Swoffers - Connaught House, St Peter Port, 4 bed, Open Market, £72,000 a year (£6,000 pcm); Confidential Instruction, St Martin's, 5 bed, Local Market, £5,000 pcm; Central Park, St Peter Port, 4 bed, Local Market, £3,850 pcm; Livingroom - Valley Lodge, Forest, 4 bed, Open Market, £4,750 pcm (let). Price-on-application listings and 3 Belle Vue (3 bed per Swoffers and Savills) excluded; Savills Guernsey had no 4+ bedroom lettings. A newly arriving family without a housing licence can rent only Open Market property (the two Open Market rents: £4,750 and £6,000). Indicative only. Sources: [Swoffers rentals](https://swoffers.co.uk/property-search?market=rentals), [Livingroom rentals](https://www.livingroomproperty.com/rent), [Savills Guernsey rentals](https://search.savills.com/gg/en/list/property-to-rent/channel-islands/guernsey). - For scale, the official Local Market mix-adjusted average advertised rent was £2,075 a month in Q2 2025 (Guernsey Facts and Figures 2025), across all sizes. Health insurance, housekeeper and price per m² not sourced. **Indicator overrides (non-tax scoring).** Used because the automatic World Bank/UNDP feeds have no value for this jurisdiction: - `life_expectancy` = 83.6 (2024): Life expectancy at birth, three-year average 2022-2024, provisional (Table 1.1 and Figure 3.15). Source: [Guernsey Facts and Figures 2025](https://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=194705&p=0). - `homicide_rate` = 0.0 (2025): The full list of recorded 'Violence Against the Person' offences for 2025 contains no murder or manslaughter; the 2024 Bailiwick Law Enforcement Annual Report's list also has none. Zero homicides on a population of about 64,000. Source: [Guernsey Police Annual Report 2025](https://www.guernsey.police.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=200660&p=0). US citizens: No US-Guernsey income tax treaty; US tax applies on worldwide income with credit for Guernsey tax. Guernsey's caps reduce the local credit available. #### Open questions - GST: on 2 October 2026 the States carried P.2026/49 (22-17) directing a GST package with income tax and social security mitigations (reported starting rate 3%, possibly rising to 5%; supporters target 2028). No law made, no start date; income tax effects for high earners unknown (source: lookuptax.com tracking summary, not an official record). - Non-employed residents pay social security contributions on income up to an upper limit; not modelled here. - Cost-of-living items not sourced (no official 2026 senior fee found for Elizabeth College). - Needs an engine change: the Guernsey tax caps (GBP 160,000 on non-Guernsey income, GBP 320,000 worldwide, GBP 60,000 for four years for Open Market buyers) are maximums on the income tax otherwise due, elected each year by each spouse; the tax is the lower of the cap and the normal tax. The engine charges the lump sum as a fixed amount. For the reference family (about GBP 520,000 of dividends, 15% withholding credited in full) the normal tax is about 5% of the dividends, below every cap, so the recipe has no cap paths: a fixed charge would overstate the tax by GBP 34,000 to GBP 134,000 a year. #### Sources - Probate and estate administration for Guernsey domiciliaries: - Guernsey - Individual - Taxes on personal income: - Guernsey - Corporate - Withholding taxes: - Guernsey Budget 2026: - Guernsey - Individual - Other taxes: - Guernsey probate (guide dated 27 February 2026): - Tax cap (Revenue Service guidance): - Monetary values table (income tax allowances, caps, standard charge, 2018-2024): - Guernsey - Individual - Residence: - States approve GST package (P.2026/49): - Guernsey - Corporate - Taxes on corporate income: - Elizabeth College - School fees: - Guernsey Facts and Figures 2025: - Guernsey Police Annual Report 2025: - Swoffers - Property search: rentals: - Livingroom - Rent: - Savills - Properties to rent in Guernsey: - Guernsey Income Tax (Revenue Service guide, section C): - Tax information for companies (Revenue Service): - Guernsey - Corporate - Taxes on corporate income: - Guernsey probate (Mourant guide, 27 February 2026): #### Change log - 2026-10-15: initial research. - 2026-10-15: data-quality pass: added Elizabeth College fee (£16,995, 2026-27); rent still not sourced; added duration_note to the tax cap; added indicator overrides: life expectancy 83.6 (Facts and Figures 2025) and homicide rate 0.0 (Guernsey Police Annual Report 2025). - 2026-10-15 (household cost pass): added prime rent £4,875 a month, the median of the only 4 priced 4-5 bedroom long-lets on Swoffers and Livingroom (Savills had none); small sample, described as such. - 2026-10-15: family rent re-checked against the upper-middle-class standard: kept. - 2026-10-16: recipe pass (`data/recipes/GGY.json`). Added the `holding_company` structure regime (0% company, 20% deducted from distributions to resident members; Revenue Service). Dividend text: unilateral relief rule from the Revenue Service guide (the existing 'credit' flag stays correct at a 15% withholding). Probate text: fee scale restated with the base amount. Tax caps given no recipe path; open question on the lower-of rule recorded. ## Residence and succession sources - [Immigration (visas, Common Travel Area, EU Settlement Scheme, long-term permissions)](https://gov.gg/immigration) — States of Guernsey - [Population Management and Immigration downloads (policies, legislation links)](https://gov.gg/pmdownloads) — States of Guernsey - [Quick Guide to Permits and Certificates (version 12 August 2025)](https://gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=102679&p=0) — States of Guernsey Population Management Office - [Administration Fees for Permits and Certificates from 3 April 2017](https://gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=106416&p=0) — States of Guernsey Population Management Office - [The Immigration (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Rules, 2008 (in-house consolidated text, paras 200-210 and 224-231; not authoritative, amendments only to 2017)](https://www.gov.gg/chttphandler.ashx?id=96926&p=0) — States of Guernsey (Guernsey Border Agency) - [Discretionary Resident Permit Policies - Open Market Residents](https://gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=105195&p=0) — States of Guernsey Population Management Office - [Immigration Comparative Guide - Guernsey (20 April 2022)](https://www.mondaq.com/guernsey/immigration/1180526/immigration-comparative-guide) — Mondaq (Guernsey law firm guide) - [The 1m Guernsey investor visa (published 26 May 2021)](https://tom-bradford.com/the-1m-guernsey-investor-visa/) — Tom Bradford (adviser) - [Buying an Open Market house and living in Guernsey (6 May 2024)](https://www.ogier.com/news-and-insights/insights/buying-an-open-market-house-and-living-in-guernsey/) — Ogier - [HCCH status table: Convention of 1 July 1985 on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition](https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=59) — Hague Conference on Private International Law - [UK Treaty Series 14 (1992): Hague Trusts Convention, extensions](https://treaties.fcdo.gov.uk/data/Library2/pdf/1992-TS0014.pdf) — UK FCDO - [Guernsey law: Trusts (Guernsey) Law 2007 and Foundations (Guernsey) Law 2012](https://www.guernseylegalresources.gg/) — Guernsey Legal Resources