Your car to Bonaire: the twelve-month rule
The household removal exemption on Bonaire also applies to the car — but with a stricter requirement: twelve months of ownership and use. Below that you pay 25% on value plus freight, and the Dutch bpm refund doesn't exist outside the EU. The whole sum, from the RDW export of € 12 to the motor vehicle tax of $ 190 for petrol and $ 838 for diesel.
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Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
Taking your car to Bonaire turns out well surprisingly often, provided you know one rule that is stricter than all the others. When you move within Europe, the car sum is a matter of refunds and inspections. For Bonaire it is a customs sum.
The exemption: six months for the sofa, twelve for the car
Removal goods, the belongings you take with you when you move, may enter the Caribbean Netherlands tax-free. You need a customs permit for this, which you apply for in advance. For ordinary belongings the rule is: at least six months in your possession and use. For passenger vehicles the rule is twelve months. That difference is the most missed rule of this route.
Whoever bought their car eleven months before leaving pays the full whack on import: 25% tax on the value plus freight and insurance. That is because the customs value is the price plus the freight and insurance costs to the first place of entry. There is no import duty; that stands at zero for all goods.
Fully electric cars are the exception: they pay 0% ABB (the general expenditure tax, the tax on goods and services in the Caribbean Netherlands), regardless of how long you have owned them.
The other conditions apply to everything:
- import within six months of settling;
- no selling, renting out or lending for twelve months after import.
The Dutch side: no refund, but a proper export
Here Bonaire differs sharply from every EU destination: the bpm refund doesn't exist. Bpm is the Dutch tax that is built into the price when you buy a car. The Tax Administration only refunds residual bpm on permanent registration in an EU member state, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway. Bonaire is not among them, so the residual bpm in your car is lost.
The export itself you arrange with the RDW: at an inspection station, a counter or a recognised export company. You bring your identity document, the registration card and the registration plates; the plates you hand in. You receive:
- a certificate of indemnity, which shows that you are no longer responsible for the car;
- the registration card with a corner cut off;
- the export certificate (registration certificate part II), which you need together with the card for the registration on the island.
At the RDW that costs € 12. With the export plate on white plates you may then drive on Dutch roads for another fourteen days. Whoever takes the car off their name online gets no export certificate. If you need it on Bonaire, follow the counter steps. Only when the RDW confirms the export do the insurance obligation, the MOT and the road tax stop.
For a young car with a lot of residual bpm this is a reason to do the sum twice. For a car of five years or older the loss is limited.
The sum on the island
| Item | Amount or rule |
|---|---|
| ABB on import, car owned and used for twelve months | 0% with an exemption permit |
| ABB on import without exemption | 25% on value plus freight and insurance |
| ABB electric car | 0% |
| Export at the RDW | € 12; export plate valid 14 days |
| Motor vehicle tax passenger car, petrol | $ 190 a year, $ 95 per half year |
| Motor vehicle tax passenger car, diesel | $ 838 a year, $ 419 per half year |
| Registration plate | $ 8.40 |
| Payment | before 1 April: in one go or in two instalments |
| Who pays on sale | the seller up to and including the quarter of transfer, the buyer after that |
Against the customs sum stands the local market: small supply, import prices, and the same 25% tax that every dealer builds into his price. Have you owned your car for twelve months, and can it cope with the climate (high entry, air conditioning, preferably no paint and leather splendour that suffers under the sun)? Then you usually bring it along at a profit. What shipping costs is in the cost indication on /bonaire. One fuel choice deserves a warning.
Don't bring a diesel. The island's motor vehicle tax charges a diesel passenger car $ 838 a year, against $ 190 for petrol: more than four times as much, every year again. Bringing a diesel is therefore almost always a mistake.
After arrival: registration, plates and one date
With the exemption permit the clearance, the handling at customs, is a formality. After that the car gets its Bonaire registration. The order:
- first take out insurance (that gives you the plate number and a policy number);
- then pay for the registration plate and the motor vehicle tax at the Tax Administration Caribbean Netherlands;
- only then collect the plate at the Finance department of the Public Entity (the island government).
For that you need a CRIB number, your tax number in the Caribbean Netherlands. The Tax Administration creates it automatically after your registration.
Two things to remember. The tax runs per quarter and only stops when you hand in the plates. The OLB writes it with an exclamation mark: whoever doesn't hand in the plates on leaving abroad keeps paying. And the island itself is the biggest wear item: salt, sun and unpaved roads demand more maintenance than Dutch kilometres ever did.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but applied to your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Bonaire.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Customs Caribbean Netherlands — moving and the exemption — belastingdienst-cn.nl
- Customs Caribbean Netherlands — import taxes for private individuals and the customs value — belastingdienst-cn.nl
- Tax Administration CN — the ABB rates on import — belastingdienst-cn.nl
- Dutch Tax Administration — bpm refund only within the EU/EEA — belastingdienst.nl
- RDW — exporting a vehicle: documents, costs and the export plate — rdw.nl
- Public Entity Bonaire — motor vehicle tax and rates — bonairegov.com
- Public Entity Bonaire — the registration plate: pay in one go or in two instalments before 1 April, and hand in the plates — bonairegov.com
- Tax Administration CN — the CRIB number you need to put a plate in your name — belastingdienst-cn.nl
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