Any news on the new flat tax system introduced by 2010. Income tax will change to a flat rate of 10%.

Any news on the new flat tax system introduced by 2010. Income tax will change to a flat rate of 10%.
Also implementation of real estate tax towards 0,6%.

Finally I found a document on the internet. Income tax will indeed be 10% and the first $10.000 is tax-free. The penshonado arrangement will terminate.
Annual real estate tax will be 0.6%. The value of the real estate will be established by the IRS. It is the same tax as ground tax.
Transfer tax ( buying property or land ) will be 5% of the economic value.
The starting point of the new tax implementation was keep it simple and low tariffs.
Hope this info helps.

Vincent, can you post a link to this document? There has been a lot of rumor and ongoing discussions but I haven't heard or read anything official.

Hi Vincent and Bruce,

Just to clarify a few things,
Bruce is an US tax attorney and has opened a business on Bonaire to
help US people living or investing there deal with their US tax filing
obligations.
He can answer questions regarding taxes here, but it would probably be better to discuss personal sums,amounts, problems off the boards.

{There will be, in the near future, a place on BT to advertise your businesses for a small cost. Hope this answers your recent email Bruce}

[{There will be, in the near future, a place on BT to advertise your businesses for a small cost]

I think that's a great idea Freddy!

Thanks Freddie. And yes, that answers my question.

Do I get a commission for the advertising idea? LOL.

I would NEVER discuss anyone's personal tax matters on a public board.

My idea was to give a general view on the ongoing changes from 2010 as bonaire will be part of BES. It would affect all people living on Bonaire. Certainly I would not discuss private tax matters on this forum. And Bruce the document is not official and it is written in dutch, it still needs to be approved by all parties.

For everybody interested in the link about the fiscal changes by 2010 (unfortunately all in dutch):

http://www.bonairegov.an/attachments/508_Tjin_Asjoe_Financien%20Bonaire.pdf

Cheers.

Vincent:

Thanks for the link, now I can really work on my Dutch! As I understand it this is the third draft, and it does say the personal income tax will be a flat 10% if implemented. Sales tax will go from 5% to 8.5%. Profit tax for businesses would go to zero. Some of this may end up in the final laws but so far it's just a proposal, as I understand it. But wow, this would be huge!

They also propose to add a new tax, a turnover tax of 5%. I don't know what that would apply to. That would be separate from the 8.5%. And the tax holiday for business would be limited to 10 years. Similar tax holidays have been used in other countries.

But until the rules are finalized, no way to plan or know for sure what will happen. Interesting times.

Hi Bruce,
All proposals are indeed not finalized but this third draft does look. Bonaire will be competitive with all surrounding islands and attract new businesses without being put on the list of tax havens.
This link: http://static.ikregeer.nl/pdf/KST128317.pdf
tells us exactly as you described nothing is sure until finalized.

Hi Bruce,
All proposals are indeed not finalized but this third draft does look good. Bonaire will be competitive with all surrounding islands and attract new businesses without being put on the list of tax havens.
This link: http://static.ikregeer.nl/pdf/KST128317.pdf
tells us exactly as you described nothing is sure until finalized.