Lebanon proposes $1mn ‘golden visa’ for low-tax residency

{"text":[[{"start":9.1,"text":"Lebanese lawmakers are proposing a “golden visa” that would give special tax residency status to foreigners in Lebanon in exchange for investing $1mn in the crisis-ridden country."}],[{"start":20.85,"text":"Foreign citizens would be required to deposit funds in a bank in Lebanon, or make an equivalent purchase in real estate or another investment, and spend at least 90 days a year in the country. "}],[{"start":32,"text":"In return, they would be granted residency and a special tax status that would exempt them from Lebanese taxes on income from shares and moveable assets abroad, according to the draft law."}],[{"start":42.7,"text":"Under the scheme — which has drawn scepticism from experts — they would also be exempt from Lebanese inheritance tax on assets held in other countries, though income and assets held in Lebanon would still be liable for tax."}],[{"start":56.150000000000006,"text":"Advocates have suggested the move could help to exempt wealthy people from being taxed on their international assets and income by a separate higher-tax jurisdiction — though Karim Daher, a Lebanese tax lawyer, said this would depend on that other jurisdiction’s own tax residency regime."}],[{"start":71.75,"text":"The scheme would also enable Lebanese passport holders living overseas to pay $500,000 for tax residency in the country."}],[{"start":80.2,"text":"The law’s advocates say it would help bring much-needed investment to Lebanon. Finance minister Yassine Jaber, who proposed the law, said it was modelled on tax residency programmes in Dubai and Italy, as well as the UK’s now-defunct non-domicile rule."}],[{"start":96.35,"text":"But the scheme sparked criticism from some lawmakers and tax experts. "}],[{"start":101.1,"text":"“Who would want to come and deposit at least $500,000 in the banks in Lebanon? Who would be crazy enough?” said Ibrahim Mneimneh, an independent parliamentarian. “No one’s going to be depositing money in a bank system that’s not stable and regulated.” "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":118.64999999999999,"text":"Daher warned there was a risk that the international system would not recognise the new Lebanese tax residency."}],[{"start":125.99999999999999,"text":"That would leave those who paid for the residency status to pay foreign taxes anyway, said Daher, who chaired a committee that sought to secure Lebanon’s removal from the international Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) so-called grey list of countries with money-laundering deficiencies."}],[{"start":143.39999999999998,"text":"“If Lebanon did not co-ordinate with and obtain the agreement of the countries we have double taxation treaties with, and did not get the agreement of the OECD, the Global Forum [an OECD body] and FATF MENA, Lebanon will truly have conned the people who come to be tax residents,” he said. "}],[{"start":161.2,"text":"He suggested the law could also be challenged in Lebanon on constitutional grounds."}],[{"start":167,"text":"Many Lebanese seized on the proposal as a source of comedy. Some ridiculed the idea of asking foreigners to pay such steep sums — higher than similar programmes in European countries before they were banned by the EU’s top court last year — for residence in a country that is in the middle of an economic collapse, facing ongoing conflict and Israeli occupation of large areas of its south, and lacking basic infrastructure."}],[{"start":193.15,"text":"“Come as you are, just bring your own electricity, your own water, and your money!” a video on one viral account joked. Some commentators saw an irony in the idea that people might pay $1mn for Lebanese residency while many Lebanese were seeking to emigrate. "}],[{"start":208.25,"text":"Others noted the scheme would require foreigners to deposit large sums into banks that have not been reformed since they cut depositors off from billions of dollars’ worth of their own money during the 2019 crisis. "}],[{"start":221,"text":"Jaber said in response to the mockery that the law “could be something for the future . . . when we solve our problems” and that Lebanon had nothing to lose by passing it."}],[{"start":230.15,"text":"In a parliamentary debate on Thursday in which the law was returned to committee for further discussion, the proposal was also supported by Hizbollah lawmakers and parliamentary finance and budget committee chief Ibrahim Kanaan."}],[{"start":243.20000000000002,"text":"Critics have argued that it would be illogical and risky to create such a programme before passing reforms to overhaul the country’s banking system and determine how deposits lost in the economic crisis would be repaid."}],[{"start":256.65000000000003,"text":"That legislation is a prerequisite for any deal with the IMF, but Lebanon’s politicians have failed to agree on final versions of the laws, as they are divided over how much of the burden should fall on the state or on the banks."}],[{"start":269.8,"text":"Mneimneh said people would be wary of depositing money in banks that could later be dissolved during the reform process. "}],[{"start":276.6,"text":"“What kind of people are we really trying to attract?” Mneimneh asked. “If you want to attract legitimate capitalists, you would have to first have some kind of a system . . . [to] regain trust in the judiciary [and] some accountability.”"}],[{"start":297.45000000000005,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1784710916_6686.mp3"}