What changed in Aruba

Signing contracts or running the company from Aruba creates real permanent establishment risk

Permanent establishment risk

An ordinary home-office employee carries low permanent establishment risk

Permanent establishment risk

A foreign employer with no Aruban footprint has no wage-tax obligation here

Employer payroll obligations

Crypto-exchange data does not reach Aruba automatically yet, but your bank account already reports

Crypto tax and legal status

Active trading, staking and mining can all get reclassified out of the favourable answer

Crypto tax and legal status

There is no Aruban crypto tax rule at all, and the doctrine that fills the gap is favourable

Crypto tax and legal status

Honest verdict, relocating a solo online business to Aruba still is not a tax saving without real substance

Moving your company

You need two separate licences before you can trade, and a permit before either

Moving your company

The Startersregeling is enacted law from 2026, with a five-year exemption from BBO, BAVP and AZV for a qualifying new company

Moving your company

The free zone regime was genuinely widened on 1 January 2026, and it is the one real low-rate opportunity

Moving your company

The standard onshore rate is 22 percent profit tax plus 10 percent on dividends, before the 7 percent turnover layer

Moving your company

The AVV and IPC offshore regimes are dead, and 2026 is the first year that is fully true

Moving your company

The exit tax that actually bites is Dutch, and it follows you for a decade

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

No inheritance tax and no gift tax since 1 July 2018, a genuine opportunity inside the Kingdom

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

Aruba itself charges no exit tax and no wealth tax

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

There is no separate Aruban citizenship to naturalise into

Permanent residency and citizenship

Ten years of legal residence gets you an indefinite permit, and for a Dutch national even that undersells it

Residency routes

Investor and shareholder routes exist, and they carry no labour market test of their own

Residency routes

Without a guaranteed pension, the rentenier route needs Afl. 100,000 a year and also forbids work

Residency routes

The gepensioneerde route needs a guaranteed pension of at least Afl. 50,000 and forbids work

Residency routes

Statutory severance, minimum wage and holiday entitlement are all thinner than Dutch defaults

Employment law

Dismissal needs prior permission, and firing without it is void

Employment law

AZV only attaches once you are registered, permit first, then Censo, then cover

Healthcare coverage

No EHIC works here, and no reciprocal healthcare agreement exists

Healthcare coverage

Double social premiums are a real, uncredited risk past 183 rolling days

Social security

AOV, AWW and AZV together run roughly 26 percent of pay, split employer and employee

Social security

No EU coordination reaches Aruba, and nothing bilateral replaces it

Social security

Your Dutch pension becomes taxable in Aruba, and that is a win below about EUR 40,000 and a loss above it

Pension

Past 183 rolling days, Aruba gets the taxing right over the days you worked there

Personal income tax

Under 183 rolling days with a genuinely foreign employer, Aruba does not tax your salary

Personal income tax

Correction, VAT was never introduced in Aruba and no date exists

Personal income tax

A 7 percent cascading turnover tax hits every invoice, with no input credit

Personal income tax

The 2026 scale runs 0, 21, 42 and 52 percent, and 52 percent starts surprisingly low

Personal income tax

Three clocks run at different speeds, and the tax one bites first

Tax residency

A real home or real ties here mean worldwide Aruban tax, no threshold to hide behind

Tax residency

No day-count safe harbour exists here, even without local ties

Tax residency

Outside the EU and outside the Kingdom, you are an ordinary vreemdeling with no shortcut at all

Immigration and visa

A short tourist stay under 30 days needs only the ED-card

Immigration and visa

A Digital Nomad permit exists, but it hides inside the ordinary permit system

Immigration and visa

Past 180 days in a calendar year, tourist status has nowhere left to go

Immigration and visa

Tourist stays run 30 days, extendable to 180 per calendar year, and work is not the purpose

Immigration and visa

Being an EU citizen buys you nothing extra in Aruba

Immigration and visa

Five years of annual permits, then automatic admission

Immigration and visa

A Dutch passport does not give you the right to live or work in Aruba

Immigration and visa