AOW, AOV and the BES taxes: what stops and what travels with you

If you live on Bonaire, Bonaire taxes your AOW and your pension, at the BES rate of the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba). A pension from government service, often with ABP, remains taxed in the Netherlands.

Three things to know up front:

• For the SVB and the Tax Administration Bonaire is abroad; for constitutional law it is the Netherlands. Out of that split comes a tax picture that turns out surprisingly favourable, with two sharp edges.
• Your accrued AOW comes along in full, but the accrual stops: every missed year costs two percent of AOW.
• Savings and investments are untaxed on Bonaire. Only real estate that isn't your main residence falls under the property tax.

The accrual stops, the benefit travels first class

Whoever moves to Bonaire is no longer insured for the AOW. The Caribbean part of the Kingdom counts as living outside the Netherlands, and every missed year costs two percent of AOW. In its place begins the Caribbean AOV, the basic pension of the Caribbean Netherlands: same mechanics, own pot. You are insured between your fifteenth and your 65th. In 2026 a full pension on Bonaire is $ 1,576 a month, and the pension age is 65 (not 67). Here too the law trims: a reduction of 2% is applied to the pension for every calendar year you were not insured. Whoever crosses halfway through their working life therefore ends up with two half basic pensions.

Voluntary continued insurance for the AOW is possible if two conditions are met:

• you were insured in the Netherlands for at least one uninterrupted year directly before leaving;
• you submit the application to the SVB within one year of the end of the compulsory insurance (usually the day you leave).

After that the door is closed.

The benefit side is the windfall. AOW already accrued comes along in full. The export decree literally says you receive your AOW "as if you lived in the Netherlands". So the single-person rate of 70 percent of the net minimum wage also stands. In a country outside the EU without a treaty, a single person gets 50 percent.

Who taxes: the country of residence, at the milder rate

Between the European and the Caribbean Netherlands there is no tax treaty but the Tax Arrangement for the Country of the Netherlands. Article 2.9 of it assigns pensions, annuities and similar remuneration to the country of residence: Bonaire. The SVB then no longer withholds Dutch wage tax. The BES rate does the rest. The 2026 figures are on one page of the Tax Administration Caribbean Netherlands:

Item (2026)	Amount or rate
Tax-free allowance	USD 21,956
Elderly supplement on top of the tax-free allowance	USD 1,678
Income tax up to and including USD 53,198 taxable sum	29.4%
Income tax above USD 53,198	38.4%
AOV contribution	25% on at most USD 38,390
AWW contribution (survivors)	1.3% on at most USD 38,390
Employee share health insurance	0.5% on at most USD 38,390
Full AOV pension Bonaire	$ 1,576 a month
AOV reduction per uninsured year	2%

For an average pension income that is considerably milder than the Dutch levy. One detail for whoever buys a house: mortgage interest is only deductible at 29.4%, even if your income falls in the 38.4% band.

There are two exceptions to the country-of-residence rule:

• Government pensions (article 2.10, for instance ABP for government service) remain taxed in the Netherlands.
• If a pension or annuity is surrendered before the start date, the source country, the country the pension comes from, may also tax.

Assets have their own surprise: box 3 doesn't exist on Bonaire. Savings and investments are untaxed there. Only real estate that isn't your main residence falls under the property tax. That is a flat-rate levy on a notional income of 4% of the value (effectively 0.91% of the value a year). The house you live in yourself is exempt.