Your car to Sint Eustatius: the twelve-month rule, the progressive rate and $ 135 a year

On the European routes the car sum is a matter of refunds and inspections; on Sint Eustatius it is a customs sum, and it turns out differently than on Bonaire. Yes, your car may come along and enter the island tax-free, provided you owned and used it for twelve months. What it costs otherwise is on Statia not a flat 25% but a progressive rate that starts at 18%. And the trap is the same as on Bonaire: whoever buys another car in the year before leaving makes exactly the mistake that costs most.

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

Removal goods may enter the Caribbean Netherlands exempt from ABB and excise, with a permit from Customs that you apply for before import, with a signed list of everything you want exempted. For ordinary goods: at least six months of ownership and use. For a passenger vehicle, twelve months. Further: import within six months of taking up residence, and do not sell, rent out or lend the goods for twelve months after import. How the container itself works is in your household goods to Sint Eustatius.

What do you pay without the exemption?

Here Statia differs. The general ABB rate on import is 6% on Sint Eustatius and Saba (Bonaire: 8%), and for passenger cars and vans article 6.19a of the Tax Act BES sets not a fixed rate but a progressive levy on the customs value, which is the price plus freight and insurance up to the first place of arrival. For a used car: 18% up to USD 20,000; above that USD 3,600 plus 22% on the part between 20,000 and 30,000; above that USD 5,800 plus 30% on the remainder. For a new car the first bracket is 10%, with USD 2,000 and USD 4,200 as the fixed amounts. A car without CO2 emissions pays 0%, regardless of how long you owned it. There is no import duty, and excise on Statia is only paid on the import of petrol.

Item	Amount or rule
ABB on import, car owned and used for twelve months	0% with an exemption permit
ABB used car without exemption, customs value up to USD 20,000	18%
ABB used car, USD 20,000 to 30,000	USD 3,600 plus 22% on the part above 20,000
ABB used car, above USD 30,000	USD 5,800 plus 30% on the part above 30,000
ABB new car, first bracket	10%; then USD 2,000 plus 22%, USD 4,200 plus 30%
ABB electric car	0%
Export at the RDW	€ 12; export plate valid 14 days
Motor vehicle tax, passenger car and van	$ 135 a year, by quarter if you start later
Number plate and inspection sticker	$ 45 and $ 15
Payment	within 30 days of the date of the assessment

A worked example. A used car with a customs value of USD 25,000 costs without exemption 3,600 plus 22% of 5,000, so USD 4,700; on Bonaire that would be USD 6,250. The difference only disappears above USD 30,000, where the rate reaches 30%. With the exemption permit it is zero in all cases, and that remains the sum that counts.

The Dutch side: no refund, but a tidy export

Here Statia differs sharply from every EU destination: the BPM refund does not exist. The Tax Administration refunds residual BPM only on permanent registration in an EU member state, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway; Sint Eustatius is not one of them. The export itself you arrange at the RDW, at an inspection station, a desk or a recognised export company: you receive a certificate of indemnity and the export certificate (registration certificate part II), which you need together with the registration card for registration on the island. It costs € 12, and with the export plate you may then drive on Dutch roads for another fourteen days.

After arrival: the pier, the registration and one date

The ship arrives at the Charles A. Woodley Pier in Oranjebaai, the island's only seaport, which handles cargo daily from 6 to 18 and unloads containers under customs supervision; Customs is on H.M. Queen Beatrix Road in Oranjestad. With the exemption permit the clearance is a formality, after which the car enters the island's motor vehicle tax: $ 135 a year for a passenger car or van, $ 85 for a motorcycle, plus $ 45 for the number plate and $ 15 for the annual sticker, payable within thirty days of the assessment. If you start during the year, you pay for the remaining quarters. The plate is valid for the calendar year printed on it and one month after; unlike Bonaire's, the ordinance has no separate diesel rate.

Only take the car if you have owned it for twelve months. Eleven months of ownership costs over USD 4,700 in ABB on a used car of USD 25,000, and the residual BPM is lost anyway. Whoever just bought another car works out before shipping whether the local market is not cheaper.

You drive on your Dutch driving licence, which is recognised as equivalent on the island; what happens at the expiry date is in your driving licence on Sint Eustatius. Where the car falls in the planning next to the container and the pet, you see in the step-by-step plan for Sint Eustatius.

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 Sint Eustatius or go straight to step 3.2 in the open plan.