What you receive

Every edition is organised in fixed sections. Case law covers the decisions of the Courts of First Instance of Sint Maarten, Curaçao, Aruba and the BES islands, the Joint Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in Caribbean tax matters, including customs, social security premiums and tax collection. The sections Sint Maarten, Curaçao, Aruba and Caribbean Netherlands report on new and pending legislation, publications in the official gazettes, announcements of the tax administrations and ministries of finance, and parliamentary developments. A closing section covers Kingdom and international developments that affect the islands, such as tax treaties, OECD initiatives and Dutch legislation with Caribbean effect.

Frequency

The Caribbean Tax Update appears every Monday morning. When nothing of substance has been published in a given week, no edition is sent.

Sources

All items are based on publicly available sources: the case law database of the Dutch judiciary (rechtspraak.nl), the official gazettes and government websites of Sint Maarten, Curaçao, Aruba and the Caribbean Netherlands, the tax administrations, the parliaments, the Board of financial supervision and international organisations. Summaries are written in English; most source documents are in Dutch.

Editor

The Caribbean Tax Update is published by Aalbers Private Tax Advisory, a boutique tax firm in Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten, and is edited by Marco Aalbers, tax adviser and former tax inspector of Sint Maarten, co-author of Selected Topics in Caribbean Tax Law and author of the Sint Maarten section of the Vakstudie Caribisch Koninkrijksdeel (Wolters Kluwer).

Disclaimer

The summaries are provided for general information only and do not constitute tax advice. No rights can be derived from this publication and no liability is accepted for any reliance on it. For advice on your own situation, please contact us at info@aalbersprivatetaxadvisory.com.

Previous editions

All editions of the Caribbean Tax Update, most recent first. Each edition can be read in full online.

No. 2026/02 | 7 September 2026

• Tourist tax postponed to 1 January 2027; compliance work yields XCG 30 million in additional collections
• Tax revenue passes XCG 1 billion at mid-year, XCG 83 million above budget
• CAft advises on the 2027 draft budget: surplus of 2.3 percent of GDP and tax revenue up 3 percent
• Boards of financial supervision publish half-year report covering all six Caribbean jurisdictions

Read the full edition 2026/02

No. 2026/01 | 4 September 2026

• Bookkeeping problems and changing accountants do not excuse a late objection; penalties reduced by 15% for undue delay
• Dutch resident renting out three villas on Curaçao is a taxable person for turnover tax; assessments upheld under reversed burden of proof, penalties reduced
• Crypto mining device classified as an electrical apparatus with its own function (10.5%), not as a data processing machine (0%)
• Receiver entitled to close a restaurant after payment arrangements were not honoured
• Severance payment is income from former employment: full AOV/AWW and AZV premiums for the employee's account
• Severance payment counts as personal employment income; personal deductions must be taken by the spouse with the highest employment income
• Student returning from Florida met the six-month requirement for the removal goods exemption on his car; exemption wrongly refused
• Customs value of an imported motorcycle set at the declared USD 3,200; online reference prices insufficient to prove a higher price
• Vessel imported by a commercial fisherman is, on its objective characteristics, a pleasure craft: no exemption from import duties
• Inspector of Import Duties and Excise, not the Inspector of Taxes, is competent to decide objections against BBO/BAVP and BAZV paid on import
• Late-payment penalties of Afl. 125 per period for BBO/BAZV upheld; tax must be paid on time without invitation or reminder
• Objection against penalties for November and December 2020 filed too late; Court does not accept that the penalty notices were never received
• Gain on the sale of shares is fixed at the moment of sale: the agreed price counts as the transfer price even if the buyer later fails to pay
• Objection by a Netherlands resident against a Bonaire motor vehicle tax assessment inadmissible; tenants throwing away mail is at the owner's risk
• Minimum tax bill amended: new OECD safe harbour can reduce the Curaçao top-up tax to zero
• Tax Administration publishes management reports Q1 and Q2 2026 and a digital handbook for start-ups
• Tax Administration grants Saba residents leniency after months of limited mail delivery

Read the full edition 2026/01