Moving to Guernsey

The Open Market: your address is your right to live there

Guernsey has two housing markets. The Local Market is for people with island ties and holders of time-limited work permits. The Open Market covers around 1,600 homes on the Open Market Register. If you hold a British or Irish passport or settled status in the UK, you become resident on Guernsey by buying or renting one of these homes (Part A, a single dwelling). Locate Guernsey, the government's own agency, says it so plainly it almost sounds too good: no wealth test, no government assessment.

On the Open Market you may work as much or as little as you like and bring your family. Formally, once you have chosen the address, you apply to the Population Management Office for an Open Market Resident Certificate, with a criminal record check.

Without British immigration status there is a second track. Unless you come for a full-time job, you need immigration clearance for the Open Market, and the government names the entrepreneur route as one possible way in. The basic logic of UK visas is explained in our section on visas and residence.

The tax: 20 per cent, with three caps

Guernsey taxes income at 20 per cent flat and charges no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax and no wealth tax. Since 2023 each spouse is taxed separately. If your income is high enough, you can opt for a tax cap and give up your personal allowances in return.

The three caps after the 2026 Budget: £160,000 of tax on non-Guernsey income and bank interest; £320,000 on worldwide income, which the government says equals the tax on about £1.6 million of income; and the Open Market cap of £60,000. The 2026 Budget recommends leaving the caps unchanged for 2026.

The Open Market cap is the real offer to newcomers: £60,000 of tax a year, for the year of arrival and the three years after, provided you have not lived on Guernsey in the previous three years and buy a Part A home within twelve months before or after arriving, paying at least £50,000 in document duty. Income from Guernsey property is taxed on top.

For people who are tax resident on Guernsey but do not mainly live there, there is the standard charge: the higher of a flat amount and the tax on Guernsey income. Under the Budget the flat amount rises from £40,000 to £50,000 from 2026.

What changes by 2029

In October 2026 the States of Deliberation approved a tax reform package. From 1 January 2027 the 10 per cent company rate reaches more businesses, such as law and consulting firms, and applies to the whole profit rather than to individual activities. From 1 January 2029 the starting rate of income tax falls to 15 per cent up to £28,000, with 20 per cent above that. A GST of 3 per cent follows from the first quarter of 2029, and social security is being rebuilt.

For newcomers on a cap little changes. You will notice the GST at the till, and if you run a company on the island, the wider 10 per cent rate. The baseline for companies stays the same: most pay 0 per cent.

Alderney: the open part of the Bailiwick

Alderney belongs to the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and Guernsey runs its income tax and social security. The difference is housing: according to the States of Alderney there are few restrictions on buying property, and the strict residence rules of Guernsey and Jersey do not apply. Entry and residence for non-British nationals go through the Bailiwick's border agency.

Since 2025 Alderney has its own Alderney property cap of £60,000, modelled on the Open Market cap; the old Alderney cap ended on 31 December 2025. Alderney is small, quiet and not easy to reach. For some that is the whole point; for others it is the reason to leave after one winter.

Sark: no income tax, no cars

Sark is the smallest self-governing island in the Bailiwick, with around 500 residents and no cars. There is no income tax, no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax and no sales tax; the island lives on a property tax and a personal capital tax. Everything about it, including the reform under way, is on our page about Sark.

The EU list and your home country

Guernsey is not on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, neither in Annex I nor in Annex II of the version of 9 October 2026. Bank data flows under the Common Reporting Standard to the country where you are tax resident.

The rules that can follow you come from your home country, not from Guernsey. It may tax you on unrealised gains when you leave, keep you liable for certain income, gifts or estates for years afterwards, or treat a tax cap as preferential low taxation. Check this before you buy the house, because the cap only helps if your old home has let you go. More on the list itself on our page about the EU list of tax havens.

Who Guernsey suits

Guernsey suits families and entrepreneurs who want a predictable tax cap and can buy an Open Market home, and British or Irish citizens with capital, for whom moving in is close to a formality. If all you need is a sterling account, you do not have to move at all: island banking is covered in our article on banking in Guernsey.

From twenty years of working with the islands: the adviser market on Guernsey is smaller than on Jersey, but no cheaper. An advocate for the purchase, a tax specialist for the cap, an immigration specialist, a bank: each bills separately, and nobody feels responsible for the order things happen in.

Sources: gov.gg: Tax Cap; States of Guernsey: Budget 2026; gov.gg: Tax reform; Locate Guernsey: Residency and immigration; Locate Guernsey: Tax regime; States of Alderney: Relocate; Council of the EU: conclusions of 9 October 2026 on the EU list