Tax Residence in Belize
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Trinidad and Tobago on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Trinidad and Tobago to Belize · When you become a tax resident
Belize does not tax individuals on residence. The Income and Business Tax Act charges tax on chargeable income accruing in or derived from Belize, whether received here or not - a source test, not a residence test. That is why the question most readers arrive with, "how many days make me tax resident", has no clean answer here: the Act contains three different day counts and not one of them decides whether you are taxable. One hundred and eighty-two days earns you the personal deduction. One hundred and eighty-three days makes you a "resident person" for a Part about companies' foreign income. And six months in a basis year is what you must not reach if you want foreign income to stay outside the charge under the temporary residents section. Foreign income of someone who lives here is not taxed because it is foreign, not because of where they live.
At a glance
- Basis of the charge
- Source - income accruing in or derived from Belize
- Worldwide taxation of individuals
- None found in the charging section
- Day count for the personal deduction
- more than one hundred and eighty-two days within the country in that basis year
Section 16(6), and it governs the deduction only - the heading of section 16 is "Deduction in case of resident in Belize"
- Day count in the definition of "resident person"
- more than 183 days of the year of assessment in Belize
Section 108A(3), which applies only for the purposes of that section, about a company's credit for foreign tax
- Threshold in the temporary residents exemption
- six months in the basis year
- Income tax rate, employed person
- twenty-five per centum of the chargeable income
- Income tax rate, person other than an employed person
- twenty-five per centum of the amount of the chargeable income
- Employed individual exempt from tax
- Total income under BZ$20,000 in the basis year
Section 16(2), which exempts an employed individual resident in Belize whose total income from all sources is less than twenty thousand dollars
- Corporate income tax
- None from the 2020 basis year, except for petroleum operations
Companies pay business tax on receipts instead
Requirements
- Income accruing in or derived from Belize is chargeable, wherever it is received
- Employment exercised in Belize is deemed to produce income derived from Belize, received here or not
- A person in Belize for a temporary purpose only, with no intention of establishing residence, who has not resided here for six months in total in the basis year, is not taxed on income arising outside Belize
- An employed individual resident in Belize gets the basic deduction, and residence for that purpose means more than 182 days in the basis year or domicile in Belize
- A Qualified Retired Person is exempt from all taxes and levies on income from a source outside Belize, whatever the day count
In detail
Three day counts, none of which answers the question
Belize's Income and Business Tax Act contains a 182-day test, a 183-day test and a six-month test, and a reader looking for "when do I become tax resident" will find all three quoted by somebody as the answer. None of them is. The 182 days in section 16(6) sits under the heading "Deduction in case of resident in Belize" and decides who gets the basic personal deduction. The 183 days in section 108A(3) opens with "For purposes of this Part" and belongs to a section about a company's credit for foreign tax. The six months in section 23 is a condition of an exemption for people here temporarily, and it works the other way round from how it is usually quoted: staying under six months with no intention of settling keeps foreign income outside the charge, but exceeding it does not bring foreign income in, because section 5 never reached it in the first place.
What actually makes you taxable
Section 5(1) charges tax on the chargeable income of any person accruing in or derived from Belize, whether received in Belize or not. Employment exercised here is deemed to produce Belize-source income even if the salary is paid abroad. Foreign-source income of an individual is not within the charge at all. That makes Belize territorial in a way Panama and Costa Rica are familiar with but Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are not: the question is where the income comes from, not where the earner sleeps.
What the retirement Act adds, and why
If foreign income is already outside the charge, why does the Retired Persons (Incentives) Act bother to exempt a Qualified Retired Person from all taxes and levies on income from a source outside Belize? Because the exemption is broader than the income tax: it covers all taxes and levies, it covers receipts as well as income, it is expressed notwithstanding the Income and Business Tax Act and any other law, and it reaches earned and passive income alike whether or not it is remitted here. It is belt and braces, and it is also a statement a retiree can take to a bank or a foreign tax authority.
Rates, and the company that pays none
Income tax is a flat twenty-five per cent on an employed person's chargeable income and twenty-five per cent on everyone else's, with petroleum at forty and international business companies on their own reduced rates. An employed individual resident in Belize with total income under BZ$20,000 is not chargeable at all, and the basic deduction tapers above that. Since the 2020 basis year a company pays no income tax unless it is in petroleum - it pays business tax on receipts instead, which is a different base and a trap for anyone comparing headline rates across the region.
Country-level policy
Every Chapter of the Substantive Laws of Belize that you can download today is the Revised Edition 2020, and each one says on its face that it shows the law as at 31 December 2020. Amendments made since are published separately, as numbered Acts and statutory instruments, and they are not worked into the Chapter. The consequence is practical and it bites hardest on the two subjects people read about most: the Chapter on the retirement programme still prints an age of forty-five that an Act of 2023 reduced to forty, and the Chapter on CARICOM skilled persons still lists thirteen qualifying states when an Act of 2026 removed three of them. Reading the Chapter and stopping there produces a confidently wrong answer. The Chapter plus every amending Act since 2021 is the law.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«income of any person accruing in or derived from Belize, whether received in Belize or not in respect of–»This is the charging section, and it is a source rule. Nothing in it turns on where the taxpayer lives.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
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«out of Belize which accrues to any person who is in Belize for some temporary purpose only and not with any intent to establish his residence therein and who has not actually resided in Belize at one or more times for a period equal in the whole to six months in the basis year.»The sentence begins "Tax shall not be payable in respect of any income arising", with the marginal heading "Temporary residents" interleaved in the published text. Two conditions have to hold together: a temporary purpose with no intention to establish residence, and under six months in the basis year.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«to be resident during a basis year if he spent in the aggregate more than one hundred and eighty-two days within the country in that basis year or was domiciled in Belize.»Read under its own heading. Section 16 is "Deduction in case of resident in Belize", so this test decides who gets the basic deduction, not who is taxable. Lifting it out of the section turns it into a general residence rule the Act does not contain.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«an individual domiciled in Belize, or who spends more than 183 days of the year of assessment in Belize;»The definition opens "For purposes of this Part" and sits inside section 108A, which gives a company a credit for foreign tax on listed foreign receipts. It is not a general definition of tax residence.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«the tax on the chargeable income of every employed person shall be charged at the rate of twenty-five per centum of the chargeable income.»About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«the tax upon the chargeable income of any person other than an employed person shall be charged at the rate of twenty-five per centum of the amount of the chargeable income.»The provisos set forty per centum for petroleum operations and reduced rates for international business companies. Business tax paid under Part III during the basis year counts as a credit against this income tax.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Any employed individual who is resident in Belize and whose total income in a basis year from all sources is less than»The sentence continues on the next page of the published text, past the running header, with "twenty thousand dollars shall not be chargeable to tax in that year."
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«and for each subsequent year, no income tax shall be payable upon the chargeable income of a company, other than a company engaged in petroleum operations.»The sub-section opens "Commencing from the first day of the basis year 2020". Companies are taxed through the business tax in Part III instead, which is levied on receipts rather than profits.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Notwithstanding anything contained in the Income and Business Tax Act, or any other law, a Qualified Retired Person shall be exempt from the payment of all taxes and levies on all income or receipts which accrue to him from a source outside of Belize»About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
We did not find a general statutory definition of tax residence for individuals in the Income and Business Tax Act. Both day-count definitions in the Act are scoped by their own words - one to section 16, one to the Part containing section 108A - and the charging section is a source rule. That is an absence in Chapter 55 as consolidated to 31 December 2020, read in full, not a claim about Belize's treaty practice or about how the Belize Tax Service administers it.
The published text of Chapter 55 interleaves marginal notes and running headers into the body, and several sections run across page breaks mid-sentence. Where a quotation here begins or ends mid-sentence, the note says so and gives the missing words.
Belize has a double taxation agreement regime: section 50 lets the Minister declare arrangements by Order, and section 49 provides relief where Commonwealth income tax has been paid. We have not read any individual agreement, so nothing here states what any treaty does.
The Income Tax (Avoidance of Double Taxation) (Caricom) Act is a separate Chapter 56 and was not read for this record.
Section numbering in the stored reading of Chapter 55 runs continuously through the Act's five Parts and the Schedules, with the repeals marked as repeals. We found no gap of the kind that would undermine the negative claim above.
- consolidatesIncome and Business Tax Act, Chapter 55 of the Substantive Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2020
Attorney General's Ministry of Belize · consolidated to 2020-12-31
About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesIncome and Business Tax Act, Chapter 55 - deduction in case of resident in Belize
Attorney General's Ministry of Belize · consolidated to 2020-12-31
About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- consolidatesRetired Persons (Incentives) Act, Chapter 62 of the Substantive Laws of Belize, Revised Edition 2020
Attorney General's Ministry of Belize · consolidated to 2020-12-31
About this source
Belize's law portal, carrying the Substantive Laws in their revised edition, the Subsidiary Laws volume for each Chapter, and Acts and Statutory Instruments by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A Chapter alone must never be cited for what the law is now. Every Chapter is a revised edition frozen at 31 December 2020 and nothing on the page says so: the retirement Chapter still prints an age that an Act of 2023 lowered, and the free-movement Chapter still lists states an Act of 2026 removed. The law is the Chapter plus every amending Act since. It also publishes nothing about commencement, and many Acts carry no commencement section, so a gazette date is not an entry-into-force date. A batch posting date is not a gazette date either. Its listing is served by a POST endpoint and the filenames carry hash prefixes, so a URL cannot be guessed from a chapter number.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source