Your car to Saba: twelve months of ownership, a stepped ABB and a weekly boat from Sint Maarten

With Bonaire the car is a customs sum; with Saba a journey is added. Yes, your car may come tax-free if you have owned and used it for twelve months; what it costs otherwise is not Bonaire's 25% but a stepped ABB of 18, 22 or 30% by customs value; and the trap is the route. No ship sails from the Netherlands to Saba: the car goes to Sint Maarten and from there on the weekly cargo boat to Fort Bay, where you clear it through Customs yourself.

The exemption: six months for the goods, twelve for the car

The rules of Customs Caribbean Netherlands are the same on all three islands. Removal goods may enter without ABB and excise, with a permit you apply for in advance and a signed list of everything you want the exemption for. Ordinary goods must have been in your possession and use for six months, a passenger vehicle twelve months; you import everything within six months of taking up residence on the island, and you do not sell, rent out or lend it for twelve months after import. Whoever bought their car eleven months before departure therefore pays the full rate, and that rate is different on Saba than on Bonaire.

What do you pay without the exemption?

The Tax Act BES gives Sint Eustatius and Saba a table of their own. On a used passenger car or van you pay 18% on the customs value up to USD 20,000; if the value is higher, USD 3,600 plus 22% on the part between 20,000 and 30,000; above that USD 5,800 plus 30% on the rest. For a new car the first step is 10% and the fixed amounts are USD 2,000 and 4,200. The customs value is the purchase price plus the freight and insurance costs to the first place of entry, so including the crossing to Saba. A car without CO2 emissions pays 0%, regardless of the period of ownership. There is no import duty, and Saba levies excise only on petrol. For an ordinary second-hand car the Windward table is thus milder than Bonaire; for an expensive car the rate rises to 30%.

Item	Amount or rule
ABB on import with exemption permit	0%, after 12 months of ownership and use
ABB used car, customs value up to USD 20,000	18%
ABB used car, USD 20,000 to 30,000	USD 3,600 plus 22% on the excess
ABB used car, above USD 30,000	USD 5,800 plus 30% on the excess
ABB new car, first step	10% (fixed amounts USD 2,000 and 4,200)
ABB car without CO2 emissions	0%
Import after settling	within 6 months; no sale for 12 months
Export at the RDW	€ 12; export plate valid 14 days
Motor vehicle tax private car Saba	$ 157 a year, $ 79 per half year
Motor vehicle tax motorcycle	$ 115 a year
Licence plate	$ 20
Payment	in two instalments, by 31 January and 30 June

The Dutch side: no BPM back, but a tidy export

Here Saba is the same as Bonaire. The Tax Administration refunds residual BPM only on permanent registration in an EU member state, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway; Saba is not among them, so the residual BPM is lost. You arrange the export itself at an RDW inspection station, a counter or a recognised export company: you hand in the licence plates, receive an indemnity certificate and the export certificate (registration certificate part II) you need on the island, pay € 12 and may drive on white plates for another fourteen days. Whoever removes the car from their name online gets no export certificate. Because Saba lies outside the EU, you also file an export declaration with Customs.

How does the car get to the island?

Via Sint Maarten. Saba C-Transport represents the cargo boat Mutty's Pride, which carries vehicles, containers and loose cargo: loading on Tuesday at Swift Shipping in Port de Galisbay on the French side, unloading on Wednesday morning at Fort Bay. Two copies of a commercial invoice go along for Customs. On arrival you collect your bill of lading and invoice at the customs window, clear the cargo, pay the freight at the agency in the harbour office and take the car with you; the shipping line is not a customs broker. Fort Bay has no covered storage: what is not collected on Wednesday goes to the customs yard.

Count the crossing into the customs value. The ABB is levied on the price plus freight and insurance to Saba, and the twelve months of ownership count from the purchase, not from the booking. Whoever buys another car in the last year before departure pays the full rate on an amount higher than they thought.

After arrival: plates, tax and no diesel trap

The Public Entity's motor vehicle tax is one of the lowest items of the move on Saba: $ 157 a year for a private car, payable at the Receiver's Office in two instalments, with a valid proof of insurance in hand, and $ 20 for the licence plate. The island makes no distinction between petrol and diesel for private cars; only heavy vehicles above 7,700 pounds on diesel pay $ 367. Whoever wants to start without a car reads how the driving licence works on Saba; the container for the rest of the household is in your household goods to Saba, and the place of the car in the journey on /saba.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Saba or go straight to step 3.2 in the open plan.