Antigua and Barbuda Nomad Digital Residence

Local tax picture in Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda uses a territorial tax regime, and for NDR holders this matters a lot. Territorial in practice means income is taxed only if it is considered sourced in Antigua and Barbuda. Remote salary from a US or EU employer, consulting income from clients in Canada, dividends from ETFs in a US brokerage account, rental income from a condo in Toronto, or pension distributions paid from abroad are all foreign-source and fall outside Antiguan income tax. Local work is explicitly prohibited on the NDR and the local income limit is 0% of total income, so in a compliant scenario you should have no Antigua-source earnings at all.

For capital gains on foreign investments, such as selling US or Irish-domiciled index funds in a foreign brokerage, those gains are treated as foreign-source under the territorial system and are exempt from Antiguan income tax: no local capital gains tax applies on those overseas portfolio sales. If you somehow generated gains from trading assets located in Antigua and Barbuda (for example, local real estate flipped through a business), that would fall outside what this visa allows and would need separate tax and immigration analysis.

Tax residency is not tied directly to the NDR visa grant; it is driven by presence and local law. Antigua and Barbuda uses a 183-day style threshold as a general test: spending 183 days or more in the country in a calendar year can make you a tax resident even though your income is foreign-source and not taxed. There is no separate, named expat-only regime like Portugal’s NHR or Italy’s flat tax regime attached to this visa. Local filing obligations for someone with only foreign-source income are minimal, and many NDR holders will have zero filing in practice, but this is not explicitly codified for the program. There is no US–Antigua and Barbuda income tax treaty (VISA FACTS: Tax Treaty with US: no), so there is no treaty-based relief mechanism for double taxation on salary, pensions, or dividends; the structure relies instead on the territorial approach and your home-country rules.

For US Citizens and Green Card Holders

For US persons on the Antigua and Barbuda NDR, global taxation by the IRS continues regardless of the territorial regime locally. Form 2555, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), can shelter up to US$126,500 of earned income for 2024 (salary, contractor pay, self-employment net income) from US federal tax. FEIE does not cover dividends, capital gains on ETFs, rental income, pension distributions, or Social Security. Because this visa is designed for remote earners and allows you to live full-time in Antigua and Barbuda for 24 months, the Physical Presence Test (330 full days abroad in any rolling 12‑month period) is usually straightforward to meet; the Bona Fide Residence Test is harder to rely on because the NDR is time-limited and not a path to PR.

Form 1116, the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC), has limited value in a pure territorial regime when all your income is foreign-source and therefore subject to 0% tax in Antigua and Barbuda. With a 0% local effective rate on your foreign salary and business profits, there are no foreign income taxes to credit against your US liability. In practice, high-earning remote workers on this visa often lean on FEIE (and optionally the housing exclusion) rather than FTC, while accepting that US tax still applies in full on investment income that Antigua ignores.

FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and FATCA Form 8938 remain in play. FBAR is required if the aggregate value of your non-US financial accounts, including any Antiguan bank or brokerage account, exceeds US$10,000 at any point in the year; non‑willful penalties start around US$10,000 per violation. The NDR visa does not mandate opening a local bank account, but many residents do so for day‑to‑day living, which can trigger FBAR and FATCA thresholds. Form 8938 has higher reporting thresholds but captures more asset classes.

For a smooth setup, two specialists are worth paying for in year one: a US CPA who works regularly with expats on FEIE, FTC, FBAR, and Form 8938, and a local Antigua and Barbuda tax advisor who can confirm registration and filing obligations under the territorial rules. The US$1,500–3,000 spent upfront on coordinated advice often pays for itself via correct FEIE elections, avoiding duplicate filings, and preventing the five-figure penalties tied to missed foreign account reporting.