Territory Residency Guide
American Samoa Residency
American Samoa has its own separate and independent tax system rather than a mirror of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. A.S.C.A. section 11.0403 incorporates much of the Internal Revenue Code by reference, so the tax law is modeled on federal law, but the American Samoa Government (ASG) administers its own rates and rules distinct from what the IRS applies on the mainland, and bona fide residents are generally exempt from U.S. federal tax on American Samoa-source income.
Top Income Tax Rate
Secondary sources cite individual rates ranging from roughly 4% to 15%; the American Samoa Government Tax Office administers the schedule directly and does not publish an English-language bracket table online, so a filer should confirm the current-year schedule directly with the Tax Office
Audit Aggressiveness
Moderate (2/5)
Residency Tests
Statutory Residency Test
American Samoa uses the same federal IRC section 937 bona fide residency test that applies to all five territories: the presence test, the tax home test, and the closer connection test, all of which must be met for the same tax year. This federal test determines whether someone's American Samoa-source income is exempt from U.S. tax; American Samoa's own independent tax code separately determines what is owed to the territory itself.
Domicile Test
Closer connection functions as the domicile test, weighing permanent home, family, personal belongings, social/cultural/religious affiliations (which in American Samoa often includes matai title and extended-family/aiga ties), banking, business activity, and the jurisdiction of a driver's license and voter registration, against the total of U.S. and foreign-country contacts under Treasury Regulation 1.937-1(c).
Day Count Threshold
183 days
Any Part of a Day Rule
Any part of a day physically present in American Samoa counts as a full presence day, and a day spent in both American Samoa and the mainland U.S. counts toward American Samoa. Publication 570 includes an American Samoa-specific example involving a fishing-vessel worker: days spent on a vessel predominantly used in local and international waters do not count as a tax home outside the territory, a rule of particular relevance to American Samoa's tuna-fleet economy.
Safe Harbors
183-day presence test
Physically present in American Samoa at least 183 days in the tax year.
IRC 937(a); Form 8898 instructions
549-day / 3-year test
Present at least 549 days across the current year and two preceding years, with a minimum of 60 days each year.
IRC 937(a); Form 8898 instructions
90-day U.S. cap
Present in the United States no more than 90 days during the tax year.
Form 8898 instructions
Low U.S.-earned-income test
$3,000 or less of U.S.-source earned income and more days present in American Samoa than in the United States.
Form 8898 instructions
No significant U.S. connection
No U.S. permanent home, no U.S. voter registration, and no spouse or minor child whose principal home is in the U.S.
Form 8898 instructions
Leaving American Samoa
No widely published American Samoa-specific bona fide residency court case surfaced in research. Exit exposure runs through the same federal IRC section 937 framework used across the territories, but American Samoa's independent tax system and its status as one of the smaller, less economically active territories mean it has not attracted the concentrated IRS compliance-campaign attention that Puerto Rico's Act 60 program has.
Trailing Income
Bona fide residents of American Samoa may not exclude gain from the disposition of certain U.S.-connected property (stock in a U.S. corporation, U.S. real estate, and similar assets) held in the 10 years before becoming a bona fide resident; that gain remains U.S.-source and subject to U.S. tax under the special rules in Publication 570. This 10-year lookback applies the same way to Puerto Rico. For the mirror-code territories (CNMI, Guam, and the USVI), Publication 570 frames the same 10-year-lookback property differently: that gain simply will not qualify for the local tax-reduction or rebate mechanisms those territories otherwise offer bona fide residents on territory-source income.
Part-Year Filing
Form 390 is American Samoa's individual tax return. A bona fide resident generally files an American Samoa return reporting gross income from worldwide sources and files a U.S. return only if required, excluding American Samoa-source income using Form 4563 attached to Form 1040 or 1040-SR. A U.S. citizen who was a bona fide American Samoa resident for at least two years before the move can qualify as a bona fide resident for the part of the tax year before the move, under the same year-of-move framework Publication 570 applies across the territories.
Enforcement Methods
Common Exit Mistakes
Establishing American Samoa Residency
| Action | Agency | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Register with the American Samoa Tax Office and obtain filing instructions | American Samoa Government Tax Office | before the applicable filing season begins (recent filing seasons have opened in late January) |
| Obtain a REAL ID-compliant driver's license or ID, or carry a U.S. passport | American Samoa Government | required for domestic air travel identification purposes as of May 7, 2025; territory-wide REAL ID adoption was reported at only about 16% as of the announcement |
| Register to vote in territorial elections | American Samoa Election Office | confirm current registration windows with the Election Office |
| Understand land-access limits before assuming any purchase of a primary residence | American Samoa Land Commission / Governor's Office (for any alienation of communal land) | N/A, non-natives generally cannot acquire communal land outright and must lease instead |
Declaration of Domicile
American Samoa has no sworn declaration-of-domicile filing. Bona fide residency for U.S. federal tax purposes is established through the standard section 937 factual record (presence, tax home, closer connection), while American Samoa's own tax obligations are separately determined by A.S.C.A. section 11.0403 and administered directly by the ASG Tax Office.
Homestead
American Samoa has no homestead exemption program in the mainland or Puerto Rico sense, because the underlying land-tenure system is fundamentally different: over 90% of land is communally owned by extended families (aiga) under matai leadership and cannot be individually alienated to non-Samoans without Land Commission recommendation and Governor approval, or 30 years of adverse possession. Most non-native residents establish a home through a lease rather than a fee-simple purchase, which changes what 'proof of residence' evidence looks like compared to any other U.S. jurisdiction in this guide.
Voter Registration
Register through the American Samoa Election Office (https://www.aselectionoffice.gov). Because people born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals rather than U.S. citizens (unless a parent was a U.S. citizen or they separately naturalize), American Samoa residents, whether U.S. national or citizen, do not vote in U.S. presidential elections and American Samoa's Congressional delegate is non-voting; local territorial elections are separately administered.
Vehicle Registration Deadline
null days
New Resident Tax Traps
The most distinctive trap is assuming American Samoa functions like Guam or the USVI's mirror-code systems; it does not; A.S.C.A. section 11.0403 modeling on the Internal Revenue Code does not mean identical rates or identical rules, and U.S. Government employee wages earned in American Samoa remain taxable on the U.S. return regardless of bona fide residency status, unlike ordinary private-sector American Samoa-source wages.
Tax Profile
Capital Gains
American Samoa taxes capital gains under its own code, modeled on but not identical to the federal framework; no separate 0%-style preferential regime comparable to Puerto Rico's Act 60 has surfaced in research, and bona fide residents should confirm current treatment directly with the ASG Tax Office.
Retirement Income
Federal retirees who are bona fide American Samoa residents must file an American Samoa return reporting income from all sources, including federal pension income, and may separately owe U.S. tax depending on where that pension income is sourced; Publication 570 flags this as a genuine multi-jurisdiction filing trap for federal retirees living in the territory.
Estate or Inheritance Tax
No separate American Samoa territorial estate or inheritance tax was identified in research; because most land is communally held rather than individually owned and cannot pass through ordinary inheritance to non-Samoans, estate planning in American Samoa is governed as much by customary land law (matai/family succession) as by tax law.
Property Tax
Effective property tax rates are described by secondary sources as very low, well under 1% of property value annually, but the more important fact for most people is that over 90% of American Samoa's land is communal land held by extended families under the matai (chief) system and generally cannot be purchased outright by non-natives, so 'property tax' is a minor issue for most newcomers compared to the land-access question itself.
Sales Tax
American Samoa has no general state-level sales tax comparable to a mainland state; secondary sources describe local excise-style and business taxes rather than a broad retail sales tax, and current details should be confirmed with the ASG Tax Office.
Community Property
American Samoa uses common law, equitable-distribution marital property rules.
Special Situations
Travel Nurses
American Samoa has essentially no travel-nurse assignment market comparable to the 50 states or even Guam; the territory's single hospital system (LBJ Tropical Medical Center) is not a typical travel-nursing agency placement, so this persona is largely not applicable here. The underlying federal tax-home principles would apply identically if it ever were.
Professional Athletes
No major U.S. professional sports franchise is based in American Samoa, and there is no jock-tax apportionment regime. American Samoa is, however, well known as an outsized per-capita source of NFL and college football talent; players who grew up there and later earn NFL income are taxed on that income under the ordinary duty-day rules of whatever states and teams they play for, not under any American Samoa-specific regime.
Remote Workers
American Samoa has no convenience-of-the-employer rule, and because it runs a separate tax code rather than a mirror code, a mainland employer's payroll system is even less likely to be set up to handle American Samoa withholding correctly than for Guam or the USVI. A remote worker relocating to American Samoa should expect to actively manage employer withholding and filing status rather than assume standard mainland payroll processes will translate correctly.
Military
American Samoa follows the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (MSRRA), and Publication 570 specifically addresses active-duty members whose state of legal residence is American Samoa: their military pay is American Samoa-source income and follows the U.S. Government employee wage rules described above regardless of duty station, meaning it is taxable on the U.S. return even though they are American Samoa residents.
Students
A student attending a school in American Samoa (such as American Samoa Community College) does not automatically become a bona fide resident. Days temporarily in the U.S. as a student are disregarded for the tax home test, but the presence and closer connection tests must still be independently satisfied.
Snowbirds and Long Visitors
Long-term visitors face the same closer-connection analysis as anywhere else, complicated by the land-tenure system: without the ability to buy communal land outright, a snowbird-style arrangement in American Samoa typically means a long-term lease rather than home ownership, which changes the kind of documentary evidence (lease agreements, utility bills in the resident's name) that would need to substitute for a deed or homestead filing in a residency dispute.
Airline Crew
Pago Pago International Airport has limited scheduled service compared to Guam or the mainland, and American Samoa is not a significant airline crew base; the federal carve-out at 49 U.S.C. section 40116 for air carrier employees would apply the same way it does elsewhere if it became relevant, but this is a marginal persona for American Samoa specifically.
Retirees
American Samoa is not a typical retiree relocation destination given its land-tenure restrictions, limited healthcare infrastructure relative to the mainland, and remote location; federal retirees who do reside there face the specific dual-filing complication Publication 570 flags: American Samoa taxes worldwide income including federal pension income, and the retiree may also have a separate U.S. filing obligation depending on how the pension income is sourced.
Audit Profile
Statute of Limitations
No American Samoa-specific statute of limitations figure was independently verified in research; the territory's independently legislated tax code is administered by the ASG Tax Office rather than the IRS, and any specific limitations period should be confirmed directly with the Tax Office rather than assumed to match the mainland's 3-year default.
Typical Lookback
No published lookback figures specific to American Samoa residency audits were found in research.
Defense Cost Range
No published figures exist for American Samoa residency-audit defense costs. Given the territory's small population, distinct legal system, and comparatively limited IRS enforcement attention relative to Puerto Rico or the USVI, published practitioner estimates specific to American Samoa were not found; a taxpayer facing a dispute here should expect costs broadly in line with any federal bona fide-residency examination under IRC section 937, but should get a direct quote from counsel familiar with the territory.
American Samoa Residency FAQ
Is American Samoa's tax system the same as Guam's or the US Virgin Islands'?+
No. Guam, the USVI, and the CNMI use a 'mirror code' that applies the U.S. Internal Revenue Code word for word with the territory's name substituted in. American Samoa has its own separate and independent tax system: A.S.C.A. section 11.0403 incorporates much of the Internal Revenue Code by reference, so the law is modeled on federal law, but rates and specific rules are set independently by the American Samoa Government, not automatically updated when Congress changes the federal code.
Can I buy a house in American Samoa the way I would in any other U.S. territory?+
Generally, no. Over 90% of American Samoa's land is communally owned by extended families under the matai (chief) system, and non-natives cannot acquire that land outright; transferring communal land to individual ownership requires Land Commission recommendation and Governor approval, or 30 years of adverse possession. Most non-native residents live under a long-term lease rather than owning a home, which changes what proof-of-residence documentation looks like compared to anywhere else in this guide.
Do I pay U.S. federal income tax on income I earn in American Samoa?+
If you're a bona fide American Samoa resident under the federal presence, tax home, and closer connection tests, your American Samoa-source income is generally exempt from U.S. federal tax. You do need to report worldwide income on your American Samoa return, and if you have non-American Samoa-source income above the filing threshold, you'll still need to file a U.S. return excluding the American Samoa income using Form 4563.
I work for the U.S. Government in American Samoa. Is my pay exempt like other residents' income?+
No, and this is a common and costly misunderstanding. Publication 570 specifically requires that wages and cost-of-living allowances paid by the U.S. Government for services performed in American Samoa be included in gross income on both your U.S. and American Samoa income tax returns, regardless of whether you are a bona fide American Samoa resident. A foreign tax credit is available for the American Samoa tax paid on the same income to avoid double taxation, but the U.S. filing obligation itself does not go away.
What if I'm not a U.S. citizen born in American Samoa? Can I still vote?+
People born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals, not automatically U.S. citizens, unless a parent was a U.S. citizen or they separately naturalize. This status allows a U.S. passport and mainland residency rights, but American Samoa residents, whether national or citizen, do not vote in U.S. presidential elections, and the territory's Congressional delegate is non-voting. Local territorial elections are separately administered by the American Samoa Election Office.
How many days do I need to be in American Samoa to count as a bona fide resident?+
183 days in the tax year is the cleanest path under the federal presence test, but there are four alternatives, including 549 days across the current and two prior years with at least 60 days each year. Meeting a presence prong alone is not enough; you also need to pass the tax home test and the closer connection test, which for American Samoa often weighs matai title, extended-family (aiga) ties, and lease-based home arrangements rather than conventional homeownership.
I work on a fishing vessel based in American Samoa but spend most of my time at sea. Does that hurt my residency claim?+
Not necessarily. Publication 570 includes a fishing-vessel-specific example: if the vessel is predominantly used in local and international waters rather than the territorial waters of the U.S., another territory, or a foreign country, time spent working at sea does not by itself create a tax home outside American Samoa. This matters directly for American Samoa's tuna-fleet workforce.
Are there tax incentives for starting a business in American Samoa?+
Yes. A.S.C.A. Title 11, Chapter 16 authorizes the American Samoa Government to grant temporary exemptions from some or all taxes, duties, and business license fees to qualifying industrial or business enterprises, generally for up to 10 years, with special provisions for fish processors that can extend to the vessel owners who supply them. This is separate from any individual bona fide residency question and is administered through the territory's own economic development process, including the Development Bank of American Samoa.
If I retire and move to American Samoa, is my federal pension taxed?+
You'll need to file an American Samoa return reporting your worldwide income, including federal pension income, because American Samoa taxes bona fide residents on income from all sources. Depending on how your pension is sourced, you may also have a separate U.S. filing obligation; this is a genuine dual-filing complication Publication 570 flags specifically for federal retirees in American Samoa, so it's worth confirming with a tax professional before assuming a clean, single-jurisdiction filing.
American Samoa Reading
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ResidencyIQ organizes public residency research into a reviewable reference. It does not provide legal or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional before making a residency decision.
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