The Bahamas has finished drafting legislation for a Tax Residency Certificate and intends to take it to Parliament “swiftly,” Economic Affairs Minister Jerome Fitzgerald told the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Latin America conference in São Paulo on September 17.

 No debate date has been set as yet.

Under the design Fitzgerald described, anyone who spends 90 days in the country in a calendar year could apply, and the days need not run consecutively. He said that suits globally mobile families and retirees who divide the year among several countries but want certainty over their tax status. 

The Tribune, which reported the remarks, said the certificate would document a holder’s genuine physical presence and tax status in the country. Successive governments have discussed the measure for more than a decade without enacting it.

Fitzgerald also proposed a new route for family offices. The Government wants to treat a substantial family office as a major foreign direct investment rather than routine business, he said, and would offer a single government-facing agreement setting out what each side expects and making approvals transparent and quicker.

In return, he asked families to move the decision-making centre of their wealth to The Bahamas, hire locally and use Bahamian professional and financial services. The Government would in turn commit to a clear immigration stance, predictable tax and licensing treatment, a bounded regulatory scope, exchange control assurance, joined-up approvals and one contact point. The Tribune’s report did not say how “substantial” would be defined [confirm substance thresholds].

He also said the Government is preparing to launch a Bahamas Invest Concierge Unit, which would guide investors from the initial approach through sign-off via a single contact. It would serve buyers of government bonds, which carry economic permanent residency, as well as real estate investors. Fitzgerald signalled that investment in Family Island resorts and other developments may also qualify for permanent residency, and said family office services would be built into the unit. No launch date was given.

The announcements formed part of a wider package aimed at Brazilian and other Latin American families. Fitzgerald pointed to 2023 amendments to the International Business Companies Act that let an IBC split into two or more companies, and to the Segregated Accounts Company Act, introduced last year, which extends segregated structures beyond regulated funds to family wealth and succession planning. He also cited the Usufruct Interest Act, passed this year, which separates ownership of an asset from rights to use and control it. Regulations are complete, he said, and he expects the regime to be fully in force within a month.

Fitzgerald named proximity to major markets, political and economic stability, common law and a deep base of financial services professionals as the jurisdiction’s strengths, but argued that staying competitive requires continued change. “Our stability comes from our willingness to innovate,” he said. The certificate cannot be issued until Parliament passes the bill, and neither passage nor timing has been set.