What changed in Bonaire

Nationals from outside the Kingdom and the EU need a WTU-BES permit this corridor does not model in detail

Immigration and visa

Your Dutch employer carries three distinct exposures once you are working from Bonaire past 183 days, and no A1 solves any of them

Permanent establishment risk

The BES is not an opaque jurisdiction, CRS reaches it and oversight is actively being updated

Crypto tax and legal status

Three situations pull your crypto back into BES tax, know which one might apply to you

Crypto tax and legal status

Private crypto gains fall outside BES tax entirely, there is no box 3 and no capital gains tax to catch them

Crypto tax and legal status

You cannot just relocate your existing Dutch BV to the BES, incorporation itself keeps it Dutch

Moving your company

The real total gap against a Dutch BV is roughly ten to fifteen points, not the fifty people expect

Moving your company

The rule that guts the letterbox pitch, a one-person company is deemed to pay itself 90 percent of net turnover

Moving your company

Three tests can win you genuine BES establishment, and which one fits depends on what your business actually is

Moving your company

By default, your BES company is deemed established in the Netherlands, not on the BES

Moving your company

Property tax runs an effective 0.70 percent of value, and distributions are taxed at 7.5 percent, not the old 5 percent

Moving your company

There is genuinely no profit tax on a BES company, and no wealth, inheritance or gift tax either

Moving your company

Leaving the BES later triggers its own exit charge on a substantial interest, with a ten-year deferral

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

Arriving on the BES gives your shares a genuine stepped-up cost base, with three statutory limits

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

This corridor has a tax tail at both ends, ten years each way

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

Moving to Bonaire is a real Dutch emigration, and a substantial interest triggers an exit assessment

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

Health cover keys off your permit date, tax residence and AOV do not, keep both dates straight

Residency routes

As a company director, you are outside the dismissal permission system entirely

Dismissal protection

You cannot be dismissed here without a valid reason and prior government permission

Dismissal protection

Minimum wage differs by island, and underpaying it is a criminal offence

Employment law

No double health cover between 184 days and a year, Dutch cover stays sole cover

Healthcare coverage

Your European Health Insurance Card will not work here

Healthcare coverage

Complex or acute care generally means a flight, not a local hospital visit

Healthcare coverage

Health insurance is automatic once you are lawfully resident, with no policy to buy

Healthcare coverage

Employee premiums are already inside your wage tax rate, employer premiums are a real 10.3 percent on top

Social security

A genuine move ends your Dutch AOW pension accrual and switches you into AOV instead

Social security

Arriving from outside the Kingdom, BES social insurance has no one-year shield for you at all

Social security

Under a year on Bonaire, your home country's social insurance usually keeps running, if you arrived from inside the Kingdom

Social security

There is no EU coordination and no A1 certificate for a move to Bonaire

Social security

The under-3-month relief was never activated, rely on the BRN's 183-day test instead

Personal income tax

Board fees from a BES company are taxed here from day one, with no threshold at all

Personal income tax

Two different clocks run at two different speeds, and nothing smooths the gap between them

Personal income tax

Past 183 days, Bonaire can tax your workdays even though you are still a Dutch resident

Personal income tax

Under 183 days working from Bonaire for your Dutch employer, the Netherlands keeps the tax

Personal income tax

Forgetting the loonbelastingverklaring costs you the top rate on every dollar, with no allowance

Personal income tax

A 5 percent or greater shareholding is taxed at 7.5 percent here, against 24.5 to 31 percent in the Netherlands

Personal income tax

The tax-free allowance is pegged to the Bonaire minimum wage, and it genuinely protects low earners

Personal income tax

The flat 30.4 percent story is out of date, 2026 is two brackets, and the top one got more expensive

Personal income tax

As a non-resident, a closed list of BES income is taxed here, but a first-time arrival is shielded from most of it

Personal income tax

Once you are a BES resident, worldwide income is taxable here

Personal income tax

Coming from the European Netherlands, Curacao, Aruba or Sint Maarten gives you a real tie-breaker

Tax residency

A year or more on Bonaire risks becoming a BES tax resident, on the facts

Tax residency

Arriving from outside the Kingdom, BES tax residence is fact-based from day one, no one-year shield

Tax residency

Under a year on Bonaire from inside the Kingdom, you are not yet a BES tax resident

Tax residency

Past the tourist window, you need a residence permit and your employer needs a work permit

Immigration and visa

Non-Dutch nationals get 3 months as a tourist, not for work

Immigration and visa

Your EU passport gives you no right to live or work on Bonaire

Immigration and visa

The admission rule for Dutch nationals carries an enacted but dormant repeal, and repeal would loosen it

Immigration and visa

Dutch nationality gets you automatic admission here, not a free pass with no conditions

Immigration and visa

You cannot be dismissed without a valid reason and prior permission, and that follows you abroad

Dismissal protection

A long enough stay can shift your habitual workplace, and BES protections with it

Employment law

Your BES employment contract keeps its own law during a temporary stint abroad

Employment law

Bonaire unemployment benefit arrives 1 January 2027

Unemployment rights

BES unemployment benefit is not built for someone working abroad

Unemployment rights

Every uninsured year abroad costs 2 percent of your eventual AOV pension

Pension

Your AOV pension keeps building while you stay insured

Pension

Accident cover likely continues, but the details and any long-term disability benefit are unclear

Disability and accident coverage

How many weeks of sick pay you actually get was not confirmed

Sick leave

Sick pay at 80 percent of your daily wage follows your BES contract abroad

Sick leave

Your BES employer is exposed to the host country's own permanent establishment rules

Permanent establishment risk

Your employer cannot issue an A1, so the host country may just apply its own rules

Employer compliance

Your employer's duty of care travels with you, but reimbursement for events abroad might not

Employer compliance

The exact point where withholding should stop once you relocate is not confirmed

Employer payroll obligations

Your BES employer keeps withholding wage tax and premiums as long as you stay insured

Employer payroll obligations

Whether BES charges anything like an exit tax on departure is not confirmed

Personal income tax

Once residence is genuinely gone, BES only taxes BES-source income

Personal income tax

Worldwide income, including wages earned abroad, stays taxable in BES

Personal income tax

A year or more abroad does not automatically end your BES tax residency

Tax residency

Going to the European Netherlands, Curacao, Aruba or Sint Maarten gives you an actual coordination mechanism

Tax residency

No tie-breaker treaty means real double taxation risk outside the Kingdom

Tax residency

A temporary stay abroad keeps you a BES tax resident

Tax residency

Once your BES residence genuinely ends, so does your ZJCN cover

Healthcare coverage

An EHIC will not cover you either, even inside the EU

Healthcare coverage

Your BES health cover does not follow you abroad, except for a real emergency

Healthcare coverage

Whether you can voluntarily keep paying into AOV once cover lapses is unclear

Social security

Heading into the EU or EEA does not unlock A1 coordination for a BES worker

Social security

No coordination instrument means double contributions are the default, wherever you go

Social security

Past a year without BES wages, your insurance lapses

Social security

Staying on BES payroll keeps you insured past the one-year mark too

Social security

Self-employed and BES resident, your AOV and AWW still travel with you for a year

Social security

Your AOV and AWW cover keep running for up to a year abroad

Social security