Cook Islands capital gains tax: none unless you deal or buy to sell

No. The Income Tax Act 1997 charges income tax on the heads of assessable income listed in section 46: business profits, salaries, dealing profits, land revenues, royalties, dividends and annuities. A capital gain is not one of them. Whether you sell shares after a week or land after twenty years, the gain itself is not taxed.

When you deal in the asset or bought it to sell. Section 46(1)(c) makes profits from selling property assessable where your business comprises dealing in that property or you acquired it for the purpose of selling it, and it also reaches profits from a scheme entered into to make a profit. Those profits go on the income tax scale.

Income up to NZ$14,600 is exempt, reduced pro rata by days spent outside the Cook Islands. Above that the rate is 17% to NZ$30,000, 27% to NZ$80,000 and 30% beyond. The tax year is the calendar year, returns for salary and wages are due on 1 March and any balance is payable by 1 November.

Not as a capital gain. Crypto held as a private investment is a capital asset like any other and its gain is outside the Act. Crypto bought to sell, or traded as a business, produces income under section 46(1)(c).

The Cook Islands has no capital gains tax. The Income Tax Act 1997 charges income tax on assessable income, and section 46 lists the heads: business profits, salaries and wages, dealing and scheme profits, land revenues, royalties, dividends and annuities. A capital gain on holding and selling shares, crypto, funds or land is not a listed head. Source: https://www.cookislands.gov.ck/images/RMD/Tax_Acts_and_Regulations/Income_Tax_Act_1997.pdf

Section 46(1)(c) taxes profits from selling property only where the taxpayer's business comprises dealing in that property, or the property was acquired for the purpose of selling it, and profits from an undertaking or scheme entered into for the purpose of making a profit. Those profits are assessable income taxed on the income tax scale. Source: https://www.cookislands.gov.ck/images/RMD/Tax_Acts_and_Regulations/Income_Tax_Act_1997.pdf

Section 4(3) of the Act excludes a company's capital profit or capital gain from the definition of dividends when it is distributed to shareholders, so a gain realised by a company on a capital asset does not become taxable dividend income for the shareholder. Source: https://www.cookislands.gov.ck/images/RMD/Tax_Acts_and_Regulations/Income_Tax_Act_1997.pdf

Residents are taxed on income in the calendar year (1 January to 31 December). Income up to $14,600 is exempt, pro-rated by days of residence in the Cook Islands, and the scale above it is 17% to $30,000, 27% to $80,000 and 30% beyond. Sources: https://www.mfem.gov.ck/_files/ugd/0c25ee_418239cd632149dd8b71dc643b02b8c0.pdf and https://www.cookislands.gov.ck/images/documents/RMD_Docs/Guides/Income_Tax_Quick_Reference_Guide.pdf