What changed in Curaçao

Becoming a Curacao resident enrolls you in social insurance automatically, at 2026 rates that reach further than they look

Social security

If your Dutch employer keeps you on Dutch payroll after you settle in Curacao, both sides can charge premiums at once

Social security

Moving to Curacao ends your Dutch AOW accrual, with no coordination rule and no detachering route to fall back on

Social security

Director and supervisory fees have no day threshold at all, unlike ordinary employment income

Personal income tax

Past 183 days in a rolling 12 months, Curacao gets the exclusive right to tax your salary, at rates that can beat the Dutch top bracket

Personal income tax

Under 183 days of presence in any rolling 12 months keeps your salary taxed in the Netherlands, not Curacao

Personal income tax

The exit tax bill on your Dutch shares no longer expires, and Curacao being outside the EU means you must post security to defer it

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

The Netherlands can still tax your AB shares and the dividends collecting the bill for ten years after you leave

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

Working from Curacao for foreign clients is domestic profit, not the 0 percent everyone markets

Moving your company

Moving your Dutch BV to Curacao with you converts its dividends from foreign to domestic and ends the 10 percent

Personal income tax

Dividends from the Dutch BV you leave behind can qualify for the 10 percent penshonado rate

Personal income tax

The penshonado 10 percent regime is real, but you must elect it fast and then buy a house on a clock

Personal income tax

Penshonado is not a route to a lower crypto tax rate, and passive holders don't need it for crypto anyway

Crypto tax and legal status

Active crypto trading can disqualify you from the one regime that might tax your gains at 10 percent

Crypto tax and legal status

Privately held crypto gains are untaxed by default in Curacao, but three triggers can pull them into tax

Crypto tax and legal status

Holding crypto in Curacao is unrestricted, and service providers finally have a real regulator

Crypto tax and legal status

Curacao has real 0 percent regimes, but each one comes with strict qualifying conditions

Moving your company

Genuinely running your company from Curacao creates the exposure you moved to avoid

Moving your company

Moving your company to Curacao means territorial profit tax, not a blanket tax haven

Moving your company

The exit tax that actually bites is charged by the country you are leaving, not by Curacao

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

No wealth tax does not mean no estate tax, gift and inheritance tax are real here

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

Curacao itself charges no exit tax and no wealth tax

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

There is no Curacao citizenship, only an unverified path to Dutch nationality

Permanent residency and citizenship

An indefinite Curacao permit is not unconditional, know what can end it

Residency routes

Penshonado approval grants an indefinite permit, applied for separately from the tax regime

Residency routes

The investor permit buys residency in three tiers, but treat the dollar figures as approximate

Residency routes

As a Dutch national moving for good, you are admitted without a permit

Residency routes

Past the tourist window, the @HOME permit is your legal basis to stay

Immigration and visa

Your Curacao employer needs to reassess payroll once you stop being a resident

Employer compliance

OV accident cover is built around work in Curacao, not work abroad

Disability and accident coverage

ZV sick pay should follow your contract abroad, but the practical side gets harder

Sick leave

Curacao's dismissal-permit protection travels with you on a temporary posting

Dismissal protection

Your Curacao employment contract keeps its protections during a temporary stay abroad

Employment law

No treaty with your destination means dual tax residency has no referee

Tax residency

Your destination has a tax treaty with Curacao, so a tie-breaker exists if you end up dual-resident

Tax residency

Curacao has no unemployment benefit, Cessantia is a one-off payout instead

Unemployment rights

BVZ barely follows you abroad, and there's no EHIC to lean on anywhere

Healthcare coverage

Whether you can buy back AOV pension years while abroad is genuinely unclear

Pension

Your Curacao coverage holds for a year abroad, then stops with no coordination to fall back on

Social security

Your Curacao social insurance keeps running for any trip under about 8 months

Social security

Almost nothing to register as long as you stay a non-resident

Local registrations

Curacao isn't on the EU's adequacy list, so EU data flowing here needs safeguards

Data protection

A durable stay can pull Curacao's mandatory employment rules into your foreign contract

Employment law

Curacao's public health insurance doesn't cover you, and neither does an EHIC

Healthcare coverage

No Curacao social security contributions expected for a non-resident remote worker

Social security

Signing contracts or managing the company from Curacao creates real PE risk

Permanent establishment risk

Permanent establishment risk looks low for an ordinary remote employee

Permanent establishment risk

Your foreign employer usually has no Curacao wage-tax obligation, but the Inspector has a third, discretionary trigger

Employer payroll obligations

No treaty means no tie-breaker if you become a Curacao resident too

Personal income tax

A tax treaty backs you up if Curacao and your home country both claim you

Personal income tax

Remote salary from a foreign employer isn't Curacao-source income

Personal income tax

A real home or real ties here make you a Curacao tax resident, whatever your day count

Tax residency

Curacao has no day-count test, residency depends on your center of life

Tax residency

Serving the local market without a work permit is what's actually banned

Right to work

The @HOME permit is what authorises remote work past the tourist window

Right to work

Remote work for a foreign employer is officially contemplated here, not a grey area

Right to work

Past a year, there's no visa or permit route left to extend on, unless you are Dutch

Immigration and visa

The 6-month figure for Dutch and US tourists doesn't fully match the written statute

Immigration and visa

Your admission by right is real, but it runs on three conditions that keep having to be true

Immigration and visa

Visa-free entry to Curacao covers stays up to 90 days

Immigration and visa