Relocation intelligence
🇹🇲 Moving to Turkmenistan: tax, residency and cost of living
Turkmenistan levies a flat 10% personal income tax. Including a 2% mandatory pension contribution, the effective burden is around 12% at an income equivalent to roughly EUR 54,000. The country applies worldwide taxation, a 15% VAT and an 8% corporate tax. The low rates sit alongside a highly closed, authoritarian system with strict currency controls and a large gap between the official and black market rate of the manat.
Thinking of moving to Turkmenistan? Here is the tax, residency, property and quality-of-life picture in plain numbers, with sources.
Key facts
- Top income tax
- 10%
- Corporate tax
- 8%
- Capital gains
- 10%
- Wealth tax
- No
- Inheritance tax
- No
- Cost of living index
- 34
- Safety
- 5/10
- Internet quality
- 3/10
- Visa-free destinations
- 44
- Foreigners can own property
- No
- Residency in
- 6 months
- Citizenship in
- 5 years
Taxes
Flat 10% income tax, effectively about 12% including a 2% pension contribution at roughly EUR 54,000. VAT 15%, corporate tax 8%. Worldwide taxation.
Residency and visas
Residency for foreigners is hard to obtain and tightly regulated. Residence status depends heavily on approval by the authorities.
Property ownership
Land is state owned. Foreigners cannot own residential property. Ownership remains very limited in practice.
Cost of living and quality of life
Large Central Asian desert country with the Karakum and a Caspian Sea coast. Among the world's largest natural gas reserves. Daily life is shaped by an authoritarian one party state and pervasive restrictions.
Passport and mobility
Very limited freedom of movement. It is one of the most closed countries in the world, with strict controls on travel, information and access for foreigners. The passport is weak, ranked around 44.
Why people move to Turkmenistan
Very low flat tax
A flat 10% personal income tax, effectively around 12% including the pension contribution, is among the lowest rates in the world. Corporate tax is only 8%.
Energy rich gas country
Turkmenistan holds some of the world's largest natural gas reserves, with a Caspian Sea coast and the vast Karakum desert.
Honest trade-offs
- Turkmenistan is een autoritaire eenpartijstaat en behoort tot de meest gesloten landen ter wereld, met pervasieve beperkingen op beweging en informatie.
- Er gelden strenge deviezencontroles met een groot verschil tussen de officiele koers en de zwarte marktkoers van de manat.
- Grond is staatseigendom en buitenlanders kunnen geen residentieel vastgoed in eigendom hebben.
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