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Thoughts about tax residency in Laos?

scooterguy

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Mar 15, 2023
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No one ever talks about Laos, but maybe someone around here knows a thing or two about it?

I've been doing some research (and also I was there many years ago), and here are my findings:

Pros:
  • 100% foreign ownership of companies is allowed, including sole proprietorships.
  • Low cost of living, including low housing costs.
  • Low and simple personal income taxes. Tax brackets from 0 to 25%, and brackets are pretty large for a low GDP country (first $20K you only pay around $2k in taxes).
  • Low social security contributions (capped at around $30 per month).
  • Lots of non-existent taxes, such as wealth tax. Royalties tax 5%, dividends 10%. Capital gains taxes is 2% on the sale price (this one can be not so good, depending on the situation).
  • Non-CRS country.
  • Safe country, laid-back lifestyle and with some cool neighbors such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, etc.
  • Wise and PayPal are available. With Wise, you can only withdraw to a Laotian USD account though, and PayPal won't allow withdrawing, but you can receive and spend through PayPal.
  • A few crypto exchanges are available, such as Kraken.

Cons:
  • Extremely corrupt (this can be a pro in some cases).
  • Healthcare is pretty bad, so you'd need private insurance and be ready to go to Thailand or Vietnam for anything remotely serious.
  • It is illegal for foreigners to get intimate with Laotian girls outside of wedlock. So you can't play your "farang" card here as easily as in the neighboring countries :p.

Thoughts? On paper, it looks like a solid opportunity in SEA, but there might be some challenges as to why it's not more popular.

Main sources:
 
They have quite a few issues.




Thoughts? On paper, it looks like a solid opportunity in SEA, but there might be some challenges as to why it's not more popular.

Farangs want bom bom. Thailand and Vietnam are next door and cater to that I guess. So better work/pleasure balance might be issue :confused:.
 

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