There is no import duty
An import budget usually opens with a tariff line, and on Bonaire that line is empty. Belastingdienst Caribisch Nederland states in its own words that “The import tax rate due is set at nil (0%) for all goods.” No separate customs duty sits behind that statement for general merchandise, so a container of cut paving does not attract a duty percentage on arrival. It also changes how you should spend your preparation time. In markets with a tariff schedule, buyers chase preferential origin and argue over classification lines. Neither exercise earns anything here, so the effort is better spent on packing density, freight rates and getting the documents right the first time.
ABB is the levy that applies
The operative tax is ABB, and it is not a customs duty. Read any regional summary carefully, because the abbreviation travels across the Caribbean Netherlands while the numbers behind it are not shared.
- ABB is short for Algemene Bestedingsbelasting, the general expenditure tax.
- It applies both to the delivery of goods and to the import of goods.
- On Bonaire the rate on goods and imports is 8%.
- Services are charged at 6% and insurance at 7%.
- It is assessed on the customs value, not on a later resale figure.
What the eight percent is charged on
ABB at import is charged on the customs value, and the customs value is the value of the goods plus insurance plus transport costs. That is the mechanic worth writing on the first page of any budget, because the tax base is not the invoice for the stone alone. It behaves like a cost, insurance and freight figure, so anything that inflates the freight leg quietly inflates the levy that follows it. Your declarant works from the documents you provide, which means the split shown on the commercial invoice is the split that ends up in the calculation. Bundled figures do not make the tax smaller, they only make it harder to check. Ask for that breakdown before you sign anything, rather than after the goods have sailed.
Freight and insurance sit inside the base
Because transport and insurance sit inside the base, packing efficiency pays twice. A crate plan that fills the container properly cuts the ocean cost and then cuts the tax computed on that cost. The same logic applies to declared insurance: insure properly, because stone is worth insuring, but understand that the figure feeds the base as well as the policy. That is why our quotes for paving formats held for Bonaire projects separate goods, freight and insurance on the face of the document, so the value your declarant works from is visible rather than buried in a single lump.
Bonaire is not the whole Caribbean Netherlands
Rates published for neighboring islands are frequently copied across, and they do not transfer. Keep these apart when reading any summary you find online.
- Bonaire: goods and imports at 8%, services at 6%, insurance at 7%.
- Saba and Sint Eustatius run their own figures: goods and imports at 6%, services at 4%.
- Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are constituent countries with separate regimes, and ABB is not their tax.
- Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands, an openbaar lichaam, rather than a constituent country in its own right.
No VAT, and one currency
There is no VAT and no BTW on Bonaire, since the islands sit outside the Dutch and European VAT area, and ABB stands in place of the older arrangement. Money is simpler still. The US dollar has been the official currency since 1 January 2011, which means a US supplier can quote, invoice and settle in the currency the buyer already banks in. That removes a familiar line of risk from the budget: no conversion spread on payment, no hedging decision to take, and no argument about which rate applied on the day the invoice was raised. It also makes reconciliation straightforward at the end of a job, because the supplier invoice, the import declaration and the bank statement all speak the same currency.
Filing the declaration
The paperwork side is straightforward, but it has to be someone’s named job on your project, and timing follows the vessel rather than the purchase order. Late paperwork does not delay a tax bill, it delays a container.
- An import declaration is filed with Douane Caribisch Nederland for the consignment.
- Unless an exemption applies, the import tax is paid on that declaration.
- Businesses and private individuals alike are liable for ABB on import.
- Declarants and agents operate on the island; ask the customs authority what your own consignment requires rather than assuming a rule.
What to ask for on a quote
A supplier quote that hides the split turns your tax estimate into guesswork, so ask for it broken out from the beginning.
- Goods value by format, with crate counts and weights.
- Ocean freight shown as its own line rather than folded into the price per unit.
- Insurance stated separately, since it sits inside the customs value too.
- Origin paperwork listed by document name.
Ask, too, what the quote excludes, because a document that names its exclusions is easier to trust than one that appears to cover everything. Read what our Bonaire supply covers and you will see the same split applied before anything ships. A clean quote makes an eight percent levy easy to predict.