Belize: Benefits Running Out?
Belize is a tiny Caribbean nation where English is the official language since it once British Honduras. Living costs are low and there are many good reasons expats choose to live there. One reason is the QRP (Qualified Retired Persons) program, which you can take advantage of if you are at least 45 years of age and if you spend a minimum of two weeks a year in Belize.
That two week vacation could have a significant payoff. The advantages of the Belize QRP program include exemption from any Belize taxes, including income tax, capital gains tax, estate tax as well as import tax on household goods, automobiles, boats and even airplanes.
To be eligible, you must consider yourself retired. What this means is that you are not permitted to apply for a work permit or accept employment in Belize. However, you could operate an international business, an internet business or even start a business in Belize and still consider yourself retired.
There is an income requirement. You must show that you have a minimum of US$2,000 a month in income to support yourself in Belize. Or, you could just deposit US$24,000 into a Belizean bank account.
The bad news is that the program has exceeded its quota of 20,000 QRP retirees, and in a tiny country of about 275,000, this adds up to a lot of expats and a lot of lost taxes. The newly elected UPD government is threatening to end the program. No one know what’s going to happen but the issue will most likely be addressed at the first of the year by the National Assembly. Very likely, anyone admitted to Belize under the present program can keep their benefits. A new program, however, would be far less generous.
Many people will remember that when Costa Rica altered its pensionado program, retirees there weren’t “grandfathered in.” Costa Rica is still a terrific place to live, but it doesn’t offer the tax benefits for retirees that it once did.
For more information and resources for Belize, see our Belize page.