Curaçao
Curaçao: 4 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment.
Forming a company
Company types in Curaçao
The 4 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names Curaçao. A listing means a company formed here may apply, not that it will be accepted.
Not in our records No provider's country list has been read for Curaçao.
EU listings
Two lists a bank checks when it opens an account for a company or its owner.
- EU high-risk third countries (AML)
- Not listed
- EU non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
- Not listedOfficial EUR-Lex, 52026XG01465, Annex I as of 2026-02-17
Official sites
The authorities’ own sites for Curaçao: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Curaçao belongs to, as each arrangement’s own texts state them: since when, and what each covers. What a membership means for a business is for you to judge.
Curaçao’s own position
- Customs territory
- Its own: Curaçao's own customs territory (Douane Curaçao); outside the Union customs territory
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the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe,
- VAT territory
- Its own: Curaçao's turnover tax (omzetbelasting), levied on sales and on imports; outside the EU VAT territory
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Per 27 september 2019 zijn brood, eieren, rijst, aardappelen, graan, meel, babyvoeding, fruit, groenten, medische hulpmiddelen en geneesmiddelen vrijgesteld van de heffing van omzetbelasting bij invoer.
- European Union: internal market and customs union
- Outside
Curaçao is an overseas country and territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands listed in TFEU Annex II (association under Part Four) and not part of the Union customs territory, which covers the Netherlands in Europe only; the OCT decision records that OCTs do not form part of the single market.
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The special arrangements for association set out in Part Four shall apply to the overseas countries and territories listed in Annex II.
- European Union: VAT territory
- Outside
Not a territory to which the Treaty applies under art. 355; the Directive defines third countries as territories to which the Treaty is not applicable and the Union customs territory covers the Netherlands in Europe only.
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‘third country’ means any State or territory to which the Treaty is not applicable.
- Agreements in force
- The authority’s own list read 27 Oct 2026
Regional and customs arrangements only, 36 of them; bilateral trade agreements are not yet in our records.
Tax
Company tax
Tax, and what the company owes the registry each year.
- Corporate income tax
- 22%
- Distributions
- Not in our records
- Audit
- Not in our records
- Small-company relief
- Not in our records
- Annual obligations
- Not in our records
- Annual registry fee
- XCG 100
Sales and consumption tax
The tax on what the company sells in Curaçao, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- The tax
- Turnover tax (omzetbelasting)
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De omzetbelasting bedraagt 6% (algemeen tarief).
- Standard rate
- 6%
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De omzetbelasting bedraagt 6% (algemeen tarief).
- Other rates
- 9% the high rate on listed goods and services (motor vehicles other than public passenger transport and emergency vehicles, yachts and pleasure craft, prepared food for immediate consumption and the other goods and services the Belastingdienst lists)
- 7% insurance
- 7% short-stay accommodation (letting for a maximum of 90 days)
- 0% letting of immovable property fitted out and used for permanent residence, let for at least one year
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Tot slot is er een hoog tarief van 9% voor de volgende goederen en diensten van toepassing
- Registration threshold
- Not in our records
- A foreign company
- See the note
The Belastingdienst states that a foreign entrepreneur providing services in Curaçao is an entrepreneur for turnover tax and must pay it there; the small-business exemption (RKO) requires the entrepreneur to live or be established in the taxing area, so no turnover threshold shelters a non-resident.
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Als een buitenlandse ondernemer op Curaçao diensten verricht, is hij ook ondernemer voor de omzetbelasting en dient dus omzetbelasting op Curaçao te betalen.
- Returns filed
- Monthly
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Zowel de aangifte als de betaling moeten binnen 15 dagen na afloop van elke maand plaatsvinden
- Tax authority
- Registration page read 2026-10-22
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Curaçao, tax year 2026, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- 6 months after the end of the accounting period · each year
The definitive corporate return is due within six months after the end of the calendar year or of the company's deviating financial year, filed online through the Department's portal. Deferment is possible on a reasoned request; where the Inspector does not refuse within fifteen days the filing period is extended by three months. The page does not say what happens when the last day falls at a weekend, so the shift is unstated.
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U dient uw definitieve aangifte winstbelasting binnen zes maanden na afloop van het kalenderjaar of hiervan afwijkende boekjaar te doen.
- Corporate tax, final payment
- 6 months after the end of the accounting period · each year
The tax shown on the definitive return is paid at the same time as the return is filed — six months after the end of the financial year — so payment and filing share one date. Winstbelasting is an assessed tax: the company calculates and pays, and the Inspectorate checks the return afterwards. Payment is by bank transfer only; cash at the counter is not accepted.
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Verder dient u tegelijkertijd met het indienen van uw definitieve aangifte winstbelasting de eventueel verschuldigde winstbelasting bij de Belastingdienst te betalen.
- Corporate tax, instalments
- 3 months after the end of the accounting period · each year
The provisional corporate return and the tax it shows are due together within three months after the end of the calendar year or the company's deviating financial year — 31 March for a 31 December year end. The amount must be at least the tax shown on the last definitive return filed, and no deferment is granted for the provisional return. A request to declare a lower provisional assessment is possible.
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U dient uw voorlopige aangifte winstbelasting binnen drie maanden na afloop van het kalenderjaar of hiervan afwijkende boekjaar te doen.
- Personal income-tax return
- Set each year by decree · each year
The return is due two months after the date printed on the Inspectorate's written invitation, which is posted after the year end; without an invitation the taxpayer must file on his own initiative within 36 months of the moment the return for that year can be filed. No calendar date is published, so the rule is recorded as decree with no dates and a consumer reads the invitation. A request for deferment is possible within the two months.
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Hier heeft u twee maanden de tijd voor na de datum die op de uitnodiging staat vermeld.
- Personal income tax, final payment
- Set each year by decree · each year
Personal income tax is paid on the definitive assessment: the Inspector issues the assessment on the return, and the amount must be paid within two months of the date the assessment is received. The assessment also carries the definitive AOV/AWW, AVBZ and BVZ premiums. No calendar date can be published in advance, so the rule is decree with no dates and the consumer reads the assessment.
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De opgelegde aanslag dient u binnen 2 maanden na de ontvangstdatum te betalen.
- Personal income tax, instalments
- Not in our records
belastingdienst.cw/particulier/themas/inkomstenbelasting inaccessible when checked
- VAT return
- Day 15 of the following month · each month
The turnover tax return and the payment are both due within 15 days after the end of each month, filed through the portal on the taxpayer's own figures; the return states the tax and the same amount is paid. The page states the weekend rule in terms: where the 15th is a public holiday, a weekend day or another free day, the return and payment may be made on the first working day after the 15th. A nil return is required even where there was no turnover. Businesses allowed to file annually have 15 days after the year end, to 15 January.
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Zowel de aangifte als de betaling moeten binnen 15 dagen na afloop van elke maand plaatsvinden .
- Payroll withholding
- Day 15 of the following month · each month
The payroll return — wage tax together with the AOV/AWW, AVBZ and BVZ premiums — is filed monthly, and both the return and the payment are due within 15 days after the end of each month. Where the 15th falls on a public holiday, a weekend day or another free day, filing and payment may be made on the first working day after the 15th. The Department's published 2025 dates show the shift in practice: 17 February, 17 March, 16 June and 17 November 2025 in place of the 15th.
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Zowel de aangifte als de betaling moeten binnen 15 dagen na afloop van elke maand plaatsvinden.
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Curaçao yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Curaçao exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Curaçao’s own trade; it does not compare places.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diamonds, whether or not worked, but not mounted or set HS 7102 | 12.8% | 26.2% | 26.7% | US$86 m |
| Machines and mechanical appliances having individual functions, not specified or included elsewhere in this chapter HS 8479 | 0.08% | 0.26% | 4.7% | US$15 m |
| Gold (including gold plated with platinum), unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms, or in powder form HS 7108 | 0.18% | 3.8% | 4.6% | US$15 m |
| Telephone sets, including smartphones and other telephones for cellular networks or for other wireless networks; other apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network), other than transmission or reception apparatus of heading 8443, 8525, 8527 or 8528 HS 8517 | 0.64% | 1.6% | 3.9% | US$12 m |
| Petroleum coke, petroleum bitumen and other residues of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals HS 2713 | 4.6% | 3.6% | 3.6% | US$12 m |
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, other than crude; preparations not elsewhere specified or included, containing by weight 70 % or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations; waste oils HS 2710 | 30.9% | 5.0% | 3.6% | US$12 m |
| Ferrous waste and scrap; remelting scrap ingots of iron or steel HS 7204 | 1.1% | 2.1% | 1.7% | US$5 m |
| Gas, liquid or electricity supply or production meters, including calibrating meters therefor HS 9028 | 1.5% | 0.94% | 1.6% | US$5 m |
| Other furniture and parts thereof HS 9403 | 0.28% | 0.65% | 1.5% | US$5 m |
| Meat and edible offal, of the poultry of heading 0105, fresh, chilled or frozen HS 0207 | under 0.05% | under 0.05% | 1.5% | US$5 m |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$322 m. The ten largest headings are shown.