Cook Islands: Asset Protection Trusts, Offshore Tax & Business Guide

The Cook Islands has no citizenship-by-investment or residence-by-investment programme. What it offers foreign clients is the International Trusts Act 1984, under which a creditor who wants to undo a transfer into a trust must prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was made with the principal intent to defraud that creditor, and must usually act within two years of the claim arising.

Around that trust law sit a foundations statute, an international companies regime that lost its blanket tax exemption in 2019, a limited liability company with charging-order protection, and a business-immigration permit tied to an approved local investment of at least NZD 500,000. The Cook Islands is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand; its currency is the New Zealand dollar.

移民和居留

Cook Islander status rests on ancestry. Section 21 of the Immigration Act 2021 defines a Cook Islander as a person who is part of the Maori race indigenous to the Cook Islands, including a person descended from such a person. Recognition takes the form of a Cook Islands Status endorsement in the passport, issued under section 24 of the same Act. Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens and travel on New Zealand passports. No investment, residence period or purchase creates Cook Islander status.

Resident Investor Visa and Permit

The Immigration Regulations 2023 provide a Resident Investor Visa and Permit. The visa gives unlimited travel; the permit allows the holder to stay for three years from the date of grant. An applicant without existing rights may apply from inside or outside the Cook Islands, but not at the border. The criteria include:

• having, or obtaining, approval from the Business Trade Investment Board (BTIB) to register as a foreign entity;
• holding a revenue division management number and having paid any taxes and superannuation due;
• for a previous investor-permit holder, completing a values or language programme.

Once granted, the permit carries conditions: the holder must work in the BTIB-approved business and file an annual return with the BTIB.

The investment figure comes from Part E(5) of the Investment Code 2003. A foreign enterprise must bring in a cash capital investment of not less than NZD 1,000,000 for a business on Rarotonga, or NZD 500,000 on any other island. The Code allows smaller projects to be considered where the enterprise is skills- or technology-oriented. Part D of the Code lists activities reserved for Cook Islanders; a foreign enterprise can enter a reserved activity only if one of the Part E exceptions applies.

永久居留权

Under regulation 8(2)(d) of the 2023 Regulations, an applicant needs at least 10 years of residence, or at least 5 years for a New Zealand citizen. Regulation 3 counts a year only if the person spent at least 9 months of it in the Cook Islands, and regulation 12 requires at least 312 hours of community service. Applications are taken in rounds: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration says permanent residence is awarded every three years, and the most recent application window closed on 26 June 2026.

Readers who need a faster residence permit or a route to a second citizenship will find neither here. Our page on 投资居留 covers programmes built for that purpose.

Political and legal framework

The Cook Islands is a parliamentary democracy on the Westminster model. Its legal system follows English common law, which gives the trust and company statutes a familiar framework for foreign courts and advisers.

The general election for the 19th Parliament was held on 12 August 2026. The Cook Islands Party remained the dominant party, the Cook Islands United Party became the main opposition, and the Democratic Party lost all of its seats. Mark Brown, Prime Minister since September 2020, continued in office after the election.

Relations with New Zealand went through a public dispute in 2025. In February 2025 the Cook Islands signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Action Plan with China for 2025 to 2030, alongside agreements on the blue economy, seabed minerals and economic and technical cooperation. In June 2025 New Zealand paused its Core Sector Support and Public Sector Strengthening payments. On 1 April 2026 the two governments signed a non-legally binding declaration in which the Cook Islands affirms New Zealand as its partner of choice on defence and security and commits to early notification of matters touching New Zealand’s defence responsibilities; the same announcement confirmed the resumption of NZD 29.8 million in funding. No termination of the China action plan has been reported.

Asset protection trusts

An international trust under the International Trusts Act 1984 must have at least one trustee (or holder of a power) that is a registered foreign company, an international company or a licensed Cook Islands trustee company, and its beneficiaries must be non-residents. In practice the trust is set up and administered through a trustee company licensed under the Trustee Companies Act 2014; carrying on trustee company business without a licence is prohibited, and the licensing authority is the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

What a creditor has to prove

• Standard of proof. The creditor must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the trust was settled with principal intent to defraud that creditor, and that the transfer left the settlor insolvent or without property to meet the claim. The onus is on the creditor throughout.
• 定时。 A transfer is deemed not fraudulent if it was made more than two years after the creditor’s cause of action accrued. If it was made within those two years, the creditor must start proceedings within one year of the transfer. Transfers made before the cause of action accrued are also protected.
• Settlor involvement. The settlor keeping powers, or being a beneficiary, trustee or protector, is not by itself evidence of intent to defraud.
• Limit on recovery. A successful creditor recovers only the property that was transferred into the trust.
• Foreign judgments. Cook Islands courts do not entertain or enforce foreign judgments against an international trust, subject to the exceptions in section 13D. A creditor relying on a foreign judgment must first exhaust remedies against the settlor’s other property and any appeals, and punitive or multiple damages are disregarded.

The protection is strong but qualified. A transfer made after a claim has arisen, and challenged in time, can still be set aside on proof of fraudulent intent.

Trust records must be kept for six years after the trust ends or the trustee ceases to act. Section 27B of the Act disapplies Cook Islands taxes and fees to an international trust, subject to section 3 and the legislation scheduled to the Act; it does nothing about tax in the settlor’s or beneficiaries’ home countries. In the official consolidation, none of sections 13B, 13C, 13D, 13K, 14, 27B and 27C shows an amendment later than 2013; we have not checked the rest of the Act for later changes. The International Relationship Property Trusts Act 2021 is a separate statute.

Foundations

The Foundations Act 2012 adds a civil-law alternative. Only a licensed trustee company may apply to register a foundation, and the Registrar establishes it once the requirements are met. A registered foundation is a legal person in its own right (section 34(a)). It is run by a council, must keep a registered agent, and may have an enforcer. Section 87, the counterpart of the trust provision on other enactments, is subject to express exceptions, including the Financial Transactions Reporting Act 2017.

Companies and LLCs

International companies do not file their accounts with the Registrar, but the annual return must carry a registered auditor’s certificate that proper accounts were kept and audited. Registration times and minimum capital figures could not be confirmed from an official source, so we do not state them.

Foreign investment in an operating business needs BTIB approval and is closed in the reserved activities listed in Part D of the Investment Code. Readers comparing structures can see our guide to registering a Nevis LLC for asset protection，或者我们 商业登记 page for Armenia.

税务

The International Companies (Removal of Tax Exemption) Amendment Act 2019 replaced section 249 and repealed section 250 of the International Companies Act. International companies no longer enjoy a blanket exemption on foreign income; whether one pays Cook Islands tax now turns on residence. Under section 82 of the Income Tax Act 1997, as replaced in December 2021, a company can be resident in the Cook Islands through, among other tests, its directors exercising control there.

The Cook Islands introduced the Common Reporting Standard through the Income Tax (Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2016, in force from 26 September 2016, and publishes annual lists of participating and reportable jurisdictions. The OECD Global Forum rates it Largely Compliant overall on exchange of information on request. We could not read the EU Council’s October 2026 list of non-cooperative jurisdictions directly, so we do not state an EU status.

For the Armenian side of a cross-border structure, see our guide to 亚美尼亚的税收.

Anti-money-laundering standing

The Cook Islands appears on neither of the FATF lists published on 30 October 2026: jurisdictions under increased monitoring, and high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action. Its latest mutual evaluation listed by FATF is the Asia/Pacific Group report of November 2018, which rated it Compliant on 5 of the 40 recommendations, Largely Compliant on 33 and Partially Compliant on 2 (Recommendations 7 and 35), with none Non-Compliant. Those ratings date from 2018.

银行业

The FSC licenses four domestic banks (ANZ, Bank of the Cook Islands, BSP and Capital Security Bank Cook Islands Limited) and three international banks (ANZ, BSP and Capital Security Bank Limited).

• Capital Security Bank takes online applications with certified documents and online identity verification; a visit is welcome but not mandatory. The minimum deposit, and the minimum balance to keep the account open, is USD 250,000 or the equivalent in another currency. Approval lapses if the deposit is not made within 10 business days. Accounts are offered to corporates, partnerships, trusts and foundations as well as individuals.
• Bank of the Cook Islands asks applicants to bring the completed form, a passport and a driver’s licence to a branch.
• 澳新银行 states a minimum opening balance of $50 (its page does not name the currency).

Correspondent banking is the structural constraint. The OECD reports a 60% fall in correspondent banking relationships across the Pacific since 2011, double the global average. That figure covers the whole Pacific region.

Cryptocurrency

The Cook Islands has no crypto-asset regulatory regime in force. In March 2026 the Prime Minister’s Office announced a working group co-chaired by the Office of the Prime Minister and the Financial Intelligence Unit, with the FSC, Crown Law, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration and the Ministry of Justice as members. The Prime Minister said no draft legislation had been tabled and described the banks’ concerns as serious. As of 9 November 2026, the only crypto bill on Parliament’s bills page is the Tainted Cryptocurrency Recovery Bill 2023. For structuring crypto holdings more generally, see our crypto asset protection playbook.

土地和房产

Foreigners cannot own land in the Cook Islands; the great majority of land is held under native title. Foreigners can lease. Section 469 of the Cook Islands Act 1915 caps a lease of native freehold land, including all renewals, at 60 years. Under the Leases Restrictions Act 1976, any lease, assignment or sublease for more than five years (counting renewals) needs the approval of the Leases Approval Tribunal and then confirmation by the High Court; the court cannot confirm without the Tribunal’s approval. A lease does not by itself give a right to stay: under section 53 of the Immigration Act 2021, a person without continuing rights needs a permit to stay in the Cook Islands, unless exempt or covered by a waiver.

气候

The drier months run from April to November, with an average temperature of 26°C. From December to March rain is more frequent and temperatures range from about 22°C to 30°C. Tropical cyclone season runs from November to April, and the government announced the start of the 2026/27 season on 3 November 2026.

常见问题