The Short Answer on Import Duty
Customs Sint Maarten states on its own government site that it is mainly a law enforcement agency rather than an import-duty collecting organization, and that the only tax it levies is excise on unleaded gasoline. For a paving buyer that sentence is worth reading twice. A container of stone discharged at Point Blanche does not attract an ad valorem tariff. There is no rate to look up, no classification argument to have, and no percentage to add to the invoice before the truck leaves the terminal. Landed cost here is freight, handling and local margin, and nothing else is bolted on at the border.
What Turnover Tax Is, and What It Is Not
The island’s principal indirect tax is Turnover Tax, charged at a standard rate of five percent on realized revenues from the sale of goods or the provision of services. It is a tax on a local business’s turnover, and it is expressly not levied on imports. If a quotation describes it as a five percent import tax or a value added tax on arrival, that quotation is wrong on the face of it. The mechanics matter if you are the one selling on the island:
- Returns are filed monthly on a cash basis.
- Filing and payment fall due by the fifteenth of the following month.
- Late filing or payment carries a fifteen percent default surcharge.
- Exemptions cover a short list of necessities such as basic food, water, electricity and cooking gas.
No Common External Tariff Here
Sint Maarten is not a CARICOM member state, so the Common External Tariff that governs so much of the eastern Caribbean simply does not apply to a shipment landing here. Nor is the island in the European Union, and it does not use the euro. Since 10 October 2010 it has been a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, holding equal status with Aruba, Curacao and the Netherlands itself. That constitutional position is why comparisons drawn from a neighboring island’s tariff schedule tend to mislead. A quotation for stone priced into a free port starts from a genuinely different baseline.
Where the Money Actually Goes
Strip out the tariff and the remaining lines become the ones worth negotiating. A realistic landed build-up for a stone order looks like this:
- The stone itself, priced by format, thickness and finish.
- Ocean freight from the loading port in the United States.
- Terminal handling and stevedoring at the Captain David Cargo Quay.
- Clearance and documentation through an agent.
- Inland haul, offload and any machine hire at site.
The first two lines are the ones you influence most at ordering stage. Consolidating into a full container and packing to a marked schedule can move more money than the conversation about rate per square foot.
The Currency Line on the Invoice
The Caribbean guilder became the official currency of the Curacao and Sint Maarten monetary union on 31 March 2025, replacing the former guilder one for one and pegged at 1.79 to the US dollar. Both were legal tender until 30 June 2025, and from 1 July 2025 only the Caribbean guilder is accepted for cash payments. The US dollar remains widely used, and construction and hospitality routinely price in dollars, so a dollar-denominated stone quotation reads naturally to a Dutch-side buyer.
Clearance Still Needs a Person
No duty is not the same as no formalities. Customs remains a law-enforcement body with an interest in what crosses the quay, and declarations, documentation and an agent who knows the terminal are still part of the job. Confirm the clearance arrangements for your own consignment rather than assuming a light-touch regime means an unattended one:
- Agree who lodges the declaration before the vessel sails.
- Check that the packing list and bill of lading agree piece for piece.
- Confirm terminal storage terms and any free-time allowance.
- Keep origin and product descriptions consistent across every document.
Budgeting a Refit With No Tariff Line
Resort and timeshare refurbishment, villa work and public realm around Front Street and the Boardwalk all share the same budgeting reality: the surface material arrives without a tariff, so the specification conversation can stay on performance rather than on how to shave a tariff band. That is a better conversation to be having. It means density, absorption and finish can be chosen for the exposure the surface will actually face, instead of being traded down to protect a duty allowance that was never needed. Ask us for a delivered quote for Philipsburg and the lines will be set out separately.
Read the Quote, Line by Line
A supplier who understands this market will show freight and handling as their own lines rather than folding them into a single delivered rate. That openness is easy to offer where there is no tariff to hide behind, and it lets you compare two offers honestly. Four questions separate a real quotation from a headline number:
- Does the price land at the quay, at the gate, or at the working area?
- Who lodges the clearance declaration, and is that fee shown separately?
- Who pays for the machine that lifts the pallet down at site?
- What happens to terminal storage if collection slips by a few days?
In a free port the freight line is the negotiation, so ask to see it on its own.