For Venezuelans

How tax residency works

SENIAT (Servicio Nacional Integrado de Administración Aduanera y Tributaria, the tax and customs authority) applies the domicile rules of the Organic Tax Code (Código Orgánico Tributario). You are domiciled in Venezuela for tax purposes, which means resident, if you spend more than 183 days there in a calendar year, continuous or not, or did so in the previous year, or if you have established your residence or home there.

The home test gives way only if you spend more than 183 days in another country during the year and prove that you have become tax resident there, with a certificate from that country’s authorities. On top of this, Venezuelan nationals are presumed resident unless they prove otherwise, so the burden of showing you have left falls on you.

Residents pay ISLR (Impuesto sobre la Renta, the income tax) on worldwide income at progressive rates from 6% to 34%, calculated in tax units, with a credit for tax paid abroad capped at the Venezuelan tax on that income. Non residents pay only on income whose source is in Venezuela; salaries and fees for work done in Venezuela are taxed at a flat 34%, usually withheld at source.

• More than 183 days in Venezuela in this calendar year or the previous one.
• A home in Venezuela, without proof that you have become tax resident elsewhere.
• No tax residence certificate from your new country.
• An official post abroad paid by the Venezuelan state, which keeps you domiciled in Venezuela.

Leaving properly

There is no departure form that ends Venezuelan tax residence by itself. What ends it is the facts plus the evidence, so plan the move so that the record clearly points abroad from the start of a calendar year.

Because the day test also looks at the previous year, a year in which you spent more than 183 days in Venezuela can, on the wording of the law, still make you resident for the following year. Your accountant confirms how this applies to the year you leave.

1. 01

   Fix your documents first

   Make sure your passport has plenty of validity left, and obtain apostilled birth, marriage and police records before you go, because each is harder to get from abroad.

2. 02

   Build your new residence

   Obtain residency in your new country and spend more than 183 days there in the calendar year, with a genuine home and your family with you.

3. 03

   Get a tax residence certificate

   Ask the tax authority of your new country for a certificate of tax residence. The Organic Tax Code names it as the proof that you are resident abroad.

4. 04

   Settle your position with SENIAT

   File your final resident ISLR return, due by 31 March for the previous calendar year, and keep your RIF (Registro Único de Información Fiscal, the taxpayer number) and contact details up to date.

5. 05

   Keep the evidence

   Keep proof of your travel dates, your home abroad and where your income comes from, in case SENIAT asks you to rebut the presumption that you are still resident.

Passports, documents and banking

Your passport is issued by SAIME (Servicio Administrativo de Identificación, Migración y Extranjería). Since 2021 adult passports are valid for ten years, and a passport in good condition can be extended once for five years with a prórroga, an extension sticker. Abroad you request both through the SAIME portal and a consulate, and waiting times have often run to many months.

Consular coverage has been uneven. Venezuela closed or suspended consular services in several countries in 2024; some, including in Uruguay, have since reopened, while others have not. Check what is available where you live before you plan around a renewal.

Venezuela is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, and the foreign ministry (MPPRE, Ministerio del Poder Popular para Relaciones Exteriores) apostilles documents through an online system that has been intermittent and short of appointments for years. Birth and marriage records are held by the civil registry in Venezuela, so a fresh certified copy usually needs someone acting for you there under a power of attorney.

Banking is the other friction. US sanctions, partly eased in 2026, are aimed at the Venezuelan state, state companies and listed individuals, not at ordinary citizens. But Venezuela has been on the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force, the global anti money laundering standard setter) since June 2024, so banks abroad apply enhanced checks to Venezuelans, ask for detailed proof of the source of funds and are often reluctant to accept transfers from Venezuelan banks. A clean paper trail for your savings matters more than usual.

Exit tax, property and investments

Venezuela has no exit tax: moving abroad does not trigger a deemed sale of your assets. What changes is that, once non resident, you are taxed only on Venezuelan source income, such as rent from Venezuelan property, profits from a Venezuelan business or fees for work done in Venezuela.

The large net wealth tax (impuesto a los grandes patrimonios) applies at 0.25% to individuals whose net worth reaches 150 million tax units. Residents are taxed on worldwide assets; non residents, including Venezuelans living abroad, only on assets located in Venezuela.

Inheritance and gift tax applies to property, rights and shares located in Venezuela, whatever the residence or nationality of the heir. Separately, the IGTF (Impuesto a las Grandes Transacciones Financieras) taxes many payments made in foreign currency or cryptocurrency, currently at 3%, which adds a cost to dollar payments inside Venezuela.

Venezuela has tax treaties with Spain, Portugal and the UAE, among others, which can settle where you are resident if both countries claim you. Paraguay, Panama, Uruguay and Georgia have no treaty with Venezuela, so there the domestic rules and your evidence decide.

Pensions and social security

The IVSS (Instituto Venezolano de los Seguros Sociales, the social security institute) pays old age pensions from age 60 for men and 55 for women with at least 750 weekly contributions. The pension is set in bolívars and is worth very little in dollar terms, and payment to pensioners living abroad has been irregular, and for many suspended, for years.

Pensioners abroad must certify each year that they are alive (fe de vida), usually through a consulate. Venezuela has social security agreements with Spain, Portugal and Ecuador, among others, which let you add Venezuelan contribution years when claiming a pension in the other country. It has not yet deposited its ratification of the Ibero American Multilateral Agreement on Social Security.

In practice, plan your retirement around savings and pension rights outside Venezuela, and arrange private health insurance for your new home before you go.

Dual citizenship

Venezuela allows dual nationality. Article 34 of the Constitution states that Venezuelan nationality is not lost by choosing or acquiring another nationality, so a second passport has no effect on it.

Two points to know. Under the Nationality and Citizenship Law (Ley de Nacionalidad y Ciudadanía), Venezuelans who hold another nationality must enter, stay in and leave Venezuela as Venezuelans, on Venezuelan documents, so keep your Venezuelan passport valid if you plan to return. And some senior public offices are reserved for Venezuelans by birth with no other nationality.

For many Venezuelans the main value of a second citizenship is practical: a reliable travel document that does not depend on SAIME, and easier banking. St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda and Turkey do not exclude Venezuelans. For Vanuatu, published accounts disagree on whether Venezuelans face extra restrictions, so our team confirms the position with the authority before you apply. Every program screens the source of funds closely.