Samoa capital gains tax calculator

Samoa charges capital gains tax at 10% when you sell an asset within 12 months of acquiring it and 27% when you sell over 12 months after. The tax applies to shares, land, crypto and every other capital asset, on a gain measured against your cost raised by 5% a year.

No. Capital gains tax is a separate tax on your net capital gain at the flat 10% and 27% rates. Your salary is taxed on its own scale, 0% to 15,000, 20% to 25,000 and 27% above, and never changes the rate on the gain.

Samoa taxes an individual's capital gains under Part 4 of the Income Tax Act 2012, as a separate capital gains tax at the rates of Schedule 1 clause (8): 10% when the asset is sold within 12 months of acquisition and 27% when it is sold over 12 months after acquisition. The tax is assessed for each calendar tax year on the net capital gain (section 63(2)), independently of income tax, so a gain never stacks on the income scale. Source: https://www.ag.gov.ws/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Income-Tax-Act-2012.pdf

Indexation: for the computation of a gain the cost of an asset at the time of disposal is increased by 5% per annum computed from 1 January after the date of acquisition until the date of disposal (section 65(2)). A capital gain is the excess of the consideration over that indexed cost and a capital loss is the excess of the indexed cost over the consideration (section 65(1) and (3)). The cost of an asset is the consideration given plus incidental expenditure in acquiring or disposing of it plus expenditure to improve it (section 71(2)). Source: https://www.ag.gov.ws/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Income-Tax-Act-2012.pdf

Exempt capital gains and losses (section 66(1)): assets acquired on or before 31 December 1989; an individual's principal place of residence, where it was the principal place of residence during the whole of the period owned; a non-Samoan asset acquired before the person became resident; an asset used solely to derive exempt income. Personal assets (household effects, a private motor vehicle, an item of private use or adornment costing no more than 1,000) are not capital assets. Profit on the sale of units in the Unit Trust of Samoa is exempt income (Schedule 2, Part A(1)(w)), and a dividend paid by a resident company is exempt income (Schedule 2, Part A(1)(b)). Source: https://www.ag.gov.ws/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Income-Tax-Act-2012.pdf

Losses: the net capital gain of a resident for the year is the total capital gains on disposals of capital assets in the year less the total capital losses (section 64(1)); where the losses exceed the gains the excess is a net capital loss for the year (section 64(2)). The Act provides no carry-forward of a net capital loss: the carry-forward of section 28 applies to deductions in excess of assessable income. Source: https://www.ag.gov.ws/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Income-Tax-Act-2012.pdf

Residents and non-residents: a resident is taxed on capital gains from capital assets worldwide, a non-resident only on gains from Samoan assets, which are land in Samoa, shares in or interests in companies, partnerships or trusts whose assets are principally Samoan land, and capital assets of a permanent establishment in Samoa (sections 62 and 64(3)). A resident who has paid foreign income or capital gains tax on a gain receives a credit for the lesser of the foreign tax paid and the Samoan capital gains tax on that disposal (section 67). Source: https://www.ag.gov.ws/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Income-Tax-Act-2012.pdf

Filing and payment: a capital gains tax return is due within 3 months after the end of the tax year (section 89(1)), which for the calendar tax year is 31 March of the following year, and the tax is due on the date the return is due (section 91). Jointly owned assets apportion the gain or loss between the owners by their interests (section 68). Source: https://www.ag.gov.ws/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Income-Tax-Act-2012.pdf

Business gains: a capital gain is reduced by any part of it that is included in assessable income, so a gain taxed as business income is not taxed again as a capital gain (section 65(4)). Gains on trading stock and on foreign currency are outside the capital gains tax. Source: https://www.ag.gov.ws/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Income-Tax-Act-2012.pdf