The site Dossierkoninkrijksrelaties reports that, 13 years after Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba became an integral part of The Netherlands, the Dutch Caribbean Tax and Customs Administration still does not have full insight into who owns real estate.

For this reason, the central government is introducing a reporting obligation as of 1 January 2024. Anyone who owns buildings or land, but has never received a property tax assessment, must from now on declare their property(s) to the Tax and Customs Administration themselves. This is evident from the answer of State Secretary for Finance Van Rij to questions from the House of Representatives about the BES Islands Tax Plan 2024.

“Since the constitutional revision of the Kingdom in 2010, in which the public entities of Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba became an integral part of the country of the Netherlands, a start has been made on eliminating backlogs in the registration of immovable property there by the Tax and Customs Administration Caribbean Netherlands, the land registries, the chambers of commerce and the notaries.

Now, however, not all properties are correctly registered or measured in the cadastral register. As a result, it is possible that not all owners receive a property tax assessment to date. The obligation to report ensures that owners of immovable property not registered with the Caribbean Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration must actively request an assessment so that the Tax and Customs Administration becomes aware more quickly who the owners of unknown immovable property (buildings but also land) are,” says Van Rij.

Dossier Koninkrijksrelaties