BES Tax Changes for 2027

September 21, 2026

The 2027 tax proposals for the Caribbean Netherlands have been presented to Parliament on September 15^th. The main changes affect business groups, hotel property, payroll and transport costs. Unless stated otherwise, commencement is proposed for 1 January 2027. All these changes are subject to approval of Parliament.

• ABB fiscal unity. Qualifying BES-established parent and subsidiary companies could jointly request treatment as a single taxpayer for general expenditure tax (ABB). Supplies and services within the approved group of companies would be disregarded for ABB purposes scope which reduces tax accumulation. The parent company must hold all legal and economic ownership of the subsidiary’s shares. All group companies within the fiscal unity will be jointly and severally liable for the group’s ABB debts.
• Payroll and personal allowances. The customary-salary benchmark for director-shareholders will be indexed annually using an inflation correction factor, replacing the current link to the tax-free allowance.
• Company cars. For qualifying cars shared continuously by multiple employees, employers could elect a final payroll levy of 7,5% of the vehicle’s new value annually.
• Hotel property tax. For qualifying hotels held by non-individual owners, the property tax rate (in Dutch: “vastgoedbelasting”) would rise from 11% to 12% of the deemed return. Applied to the deemed 4% return, this means an effective annual rate of 0.48% of the taxable property value, compared with 0.44% currently, before island surcharges.
• Higher untaxed kilometre allowance. The tax-free allowance and corresponding deductions for qualifying use of a private car will increase from USD 0,20 to USD 0,22 per kilometre, retroactively from 1 January 2026. This relief is already available under the policy decision of 17 May 2026 however the Tax Plan 2027 would put it into legislation.
• Lower petrol excise. A temporary reduction is proposed for 2027 of USD 0.055 per litre on Bonaire and USD 0.0419 per litre on Sint Eustatius and Saba. The reduction would expire on 1 January 2028.
• Agricultural exemption. New exemptions will cover local supplies of specified agricultural products under ABB and acquisitions of commercially farmed agricultural land under transfer tax.
• Formal tax legislation. A writ of execution (in Dutch: “betekening van een dwangschrift”) can be served by means of postal services and this does no longer have to be presented in person. Furthermore, the legislation allows for allow the employees of the Tax Authorities to stop cars upon recognition of the car being owned by a person or entity that has outstanding unpaid debts and to impound the car on the spot under certain conditions.

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