Marshall Islands: Double Tax Treaties

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- MARSHALL ISLANDS DOUBLE TAX TREATIES
- MARSHALL ISLANDS OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS   

Marshall Islands Double Tax Treaties

The Government has not signed double taxation treaties with any countries. However, under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, United States citizens may be relieved of their liability to pay tax in the United States on income earned in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. To be eligible they must have resided in the Marshall Islands for at least 183 days of the taxation year.

Marshall Islands Other International Agreements

The Compact of Free Association between the United States of America, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands was signed in 1982, and ratified in 1986. It accorded the former entities of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands a political status of "free association." The Republic of the Marshall Islands is now an independent, sovereign nation.

What is commonly referred to as the "Compact" embodies a series of documents. The final text of the Compact itself is contained in US Public Law 99-239 ("Compact Act"), which contains important modifications, clarifications and additions to the Compact text as signed in 1982. Additionally, there are numerous related agreements, many of a bilateral nature, concluded between the US and the FSM. Finally, there are several amendments to the Compact which have come into effect since entry into force.

The Marshall Islands are party to a number of other international agreements, including: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, and Ship Pollution.

The European Commission in May 2006 adopted a proposal to deepen the EU’s relations with the Pacific Islands, in particular the 15 Pacific ACP countries, namely the Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

This aimed to strengthen political dialogue, provide greater focus to development cooperation and improve the effectiveness of aid delivery.

The three main proposals contained in the strategy were:

• Building stronger political relations on interests of common concern such as global political security, trade, economic and social development and the environment;
• Focusing development cooperation on areas where the Pacific has important needs and where the EU has a comparative advantage and a good track record, such as the sustainable management of natural resources, regional cooperation and good governance (for example, addressing the root causes of instability in the region, reducing corruption); and
• Increasing the efficiency of aid delivery including using more direct budgetary aid and working more closely with other partners, in particular Australia and New Zealand.

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