Your household goods to Saba: the exemption in advance, 6% ABB without a permit, and everything via Sint Maarten

Yes, your household goods go to Saba tax-free, and the rules are the same as on Bonaire: Customs Caribbean Netherlands grants the exemption only to whoever has a permit before import, applied for with a signed list of everything you want the exemption for. What it costs otherwise does differ: on Saba and Sint Eustatius the general expenditure tax on import is 6%, against 8% on Bonaire, levied on the purchase value plus the freight and insurance costs to the island. The trap is the logistics. No line sails from the Netherlands to Saba; your container goes to Sint Maarten, is transferred there to the weekly cargo boat, and at Fort Bay you clear it yourself, on a quay without covered storage.

What conditions does Customs set?

The exemption from ABB and excise applies to removal goods, and Customs itself names furniture, appliances, clothing, personal belongings, a car and pets. The conditions all apply at once: you come from outside the Caribbean Netherlands and go to live on one of the islands, you did not live there for at least 183 days per calendar year, you have had the goods in your possession and use for at least six months (a passenger vehicle twelve), you use them for the same purpose, you submit the signed list, you import within six months of taking up residence on the island, and you do not lend, pledge, rent out or sell anything within twelve months of import. Pleasure craft, sports and hobby vehicles, alcohol beyond a household stock and tobacco never count as removal goods.

What do you pay without a permit?

Item	Rate or deadline
Import duty, all goods	0%
ABB on import on Saba	6% on the customs value (Bonaire 8%)
ABB on a passenger car or van on Saba	18, 22 or 30% by value; electric 0%
Excise on Saba	only on petrol; not on alcohol and tobacco
Customs value	purchase price plus freight and insurance to the first place of entry
Period of ownership ordinary removal goods	at least 6 months
Import after settling	within 6 months
No sale, rental or lending	12 months after import
Traveller's allowance in your luggage	USD 500 per person from age 15, USD 150 below that
Cargo boat Saint-Martin to Fort Bay	loading Tuesday, unloading Wednesday; collection Wednesday 8 to 11
Winair Speedmail SXM to Saba, 1 to 10 kg	at least $ 35

A striking difference from Bonaire: on Saba and Sint Eustatius Customs levies excise only on petrol, so on a wine stock beyond the household level you pay ABB but no excise. And the traveller's allowance in your suitcase is the same on Saba as elsewhere in the Caribbean Netherlands: USD 500 per person from age fifteen; if a single item is worth more, you pay ABB on the whole amount.

The order is: first the permit, then the ship. Customs wants the application with the signed list before import. A container that arrives at Fort Bay without a permit is cleared at 6% on value and freight, and the six months count from your settling, not from the day the boat docks.

How does the container reach Saba?

Via Sint Maarten, and on Saba that is no detail but half the story. The cargo boat Mutty's Pride, represented by Saba C-Transport, loads on Tuesday at Swift Shipping in Port de Galisbay on the French side and unloads on Wednesday morning at Fort Bay; the boat takes containers, loose cargo, refrigerated freight and vehicles, subject to space. Every shipment goes with two copies of a commercial invoice, clearly marked with shipper, consignee and destination. On Wednesday between 8 and 11 you collect your bill of lading and invoice at the customs window, clear the goods, pay the freight at the agency in the harbour office and take your cargo with you; the shipping line is not a customs broker. Fort Bay has no covered storage, the cargo stands in sun, wind and sea spray, and whatever is not collected by the time the ship leaves goes to the customs yard, possibly against a transfer fee. Small, urgent parcels go by Winair Speedmail from Sint Maarten, dropped off at Swissport at the airport; Customs on Saba is on Matthew Levenstone Street in The Bottom, reachable on +599 416 4029.

What do you arrange on the Dutch side?

Saba lies outside the European Union, so you file an export declaration for your removal goods with Customs in the Netherlands, with an inventory list. Make that list once, per box, and use it on both sides: it is practically the same as the signed list Customs Caribbean Netherlands asks for the permit, and the commercial invoice the shipping line wants to see. Pack for an open quay, not for a warehouse. Separate rules apply to the car, with a twelve-month ownership requirement and the Windward rate; they are in your car to Saba. A pet counts as removal goods at customs, but travels with its own vaccination clock. Where the container sits in the planning, next to the admission, is in the step-by-step plan on /saba.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.1: 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 3.1 in the open plan.