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In its judgment of April 25, 2025, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that the relocation of a Dutch holding company to Curaçao did not constitute abuse of anti-abuse rules applicable under Dutch corporate income tax law. The case involved a managing director and majority shareholder who moved to Curaçao in 2007. As a result of this, the mind

On December 20, 2024, the Tax Administration Act Suriname was officially issued and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Suriname . This law establishes a new ‘Tax Administration Suriname’ as a legal entity based in Paramaribo, with the possibility of opening branches elsewhere. The transition to this semi-autonomous tax authority will take

On 6 February 2025, the official entry into force of Suriname’s new Civil Code and related legislation was set for 1 May 2025. This marks a historic modernisation of Suriname’s civil law, after more than 30 years of preparation and intensive parliamentary debate. In addition to the Civil Code, the General Terms Act, the Commercial

As of February 1, 2025, an amendment to the Ministerial Regulation expatriates will take effect. Employers hiring expatriates will be required to ensure that, within one year of employment, the expat trains a locally registered employee. This is intended to allow the local employee to take over the expat’s role after five years. Additionally, the

Suriname Tax Authority: Digitization of Tax Returns Starting January 1, 2025, income tax returns for both individuals and companies shall be filed through the online filing portal of the Suriname Tax Authority. This first applies to the provisional income tax return for the year 2025. This initiative is part of the broader digitization of the

Exciting developments in Suriname for businesses and multinationals! As of November 1, 2024, a streamlined process is now in place to simplify short-stay visa, work, and residency permit applications for foreign professionals. These changes were outlined at a presentation on October 18 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Business, and International Cooperation (BIBIS), hosted

Yesterday (17 December 2024), the Dutch Senate approved the Tax Plan 2025 package, including the BES Islands Tax Plan 2025. With this, it became clear that the proposed tax measures for the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius) will enter into force as of January 1, 2025. The parliamentary process earlier seemed to be

On October 1, 2024, the French oil major Total Energies has just signed the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the development of the Gran Morgu field in Block 58, with estimated reserves of around 700 million barrels of oil equivalent. This major milestone will drive significant growth in Suriname’s offshore energy sector and economy. This

On Budget Day (September 17, 2024), the Dutch government presented the 2025 Tax Package, including the BES Tax Plan 2025. This package includes important proposed legislative changes for the tax system in the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius), which are set to be effective as of January 1, 2025. Rootz Tax Lawyers has

Rootz Tax Lawyers is happy to announce that Rowan-John Martina has joined the firm as of August 1, 2024. Rowan-John has studied fiscal law at the Tilburg University and has gained experience with both international advisory firms and the government. Rowan-John will be working from the Curaçao office. August 2024

On June 8, 2024, the so-called National Decree on UBO Registration entered into force. This decree provides rules for registering ultimate beneficial owners of entities and other legal structures in a ‘UBO-register’. The UBO-register is managed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Curaçao (“CoC”). Private Register The Curaçao UBO-register is a closed register.

In Suriname, there is an obligation from periods starting January 2024 onwards to submit the wage tax and so-called AOV premium tax returns online from the online tax return portal of the Suriname tax authorities. The Suriname tax authorities requires companies who pay wages to one or more employees, and thus are considered withholding agents,

As of January 1, 2024, there is a reporting obligation for the real estate tax on the BES Islands (Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius), under which in certain situations a report has to be filed with the tax authorities in the Caribbean Netherlands (“BCN”). Essentially, this reporting obligation means that new owners of homes or

The Ministry of Finance and the Curaçao Tax Department have jointly announced policy changes regarding the imposition of Curacao profit tax, which have entered into effect as of January 1, 2024. The Tax Department notes that many entrepreneurs comply with their monthly obligations for turnover tax and wage tax but have delays in preparing financial

December 2023 | Legislative changes 2024 In our September 2023 Tax update, we informed you about the proposed legislative changes that followed from the BES Tax Plan. The bill has since been adopted – with some adjustments – and will (with a few exceptions) take effect on January 1, 2024. The most striking changes are

The real estate tax (in Dutch: vastgoedbelasting) is a state tax levied on the deemed income from immovable property located in the Caribbean Netherlands (also referred to as the BES islands, being Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba). Taxpayer for the real estate tax is the person who, at the beginning of the calendar year, has

Last Friday (December 1st), the Supreme Court concluded that a company established especially for the construction of a resort in Bonaire qualifies as an entrepreneur as well as a producer for general consumption tax (“GCT”; in Dutch: Algemene bestedingsbelasting). A significant aspect of this judgement gives practical guidance for cases where an incorrect GCT rate

Rootz Tax Lawyers is pleased to announce that Tycho Spaan has joined the firm as of 1 September 2023! Tycho studied fiscal economics at the University of Amsterdam and has already gained some experience at a Dutch international tax consultancy firm. Tycho will work from the Curaçao office. September 2023  

We are very excited to announce that we have opened a new office in Suriname as per July 1, 2023. We are delighted that our former colleague Farousha Rellum has joined our team. Farousha is an experienced tax advisor with deep knowledge of Suriname tax matters. July 2023

Rootz Tax Lawyers has attended the Suriname Energy Oil & Gas Summit (SEOGS) in Paramaribo, Suriname. This is the leading industry event for Suriname’s emerging energy sector. With exploratory success, where several discoveries have been made in the last few years, Suriname is positioned to become one of the world’s oil & gas hot spots.

Rootz Tax Lawyers is happy to announce that Joost Houtsma has joined the firm as per May 1, 2023. Joost is an international tax lawyer with specialist knowledge on the tax aspects of real estate (project development, investors, hotel operators, real estate purchase). Before joining Rootz Tax Lawyers, Joost worked for KPMG Meijburg & Co

In this Tax Update we would like to inform you about suggested amendments by the Dutch State Secretary of Finance related to various aspects of the Caribbean Netherlands’ tax system. Please find below an overview of the most important topics that are expected to be included in the Tax Plan Caribbean Netherlands 2024 and the