WILLEMSTAD – The Tax Authorities of Curaçao are targeting business customers. Of the outstanding debt of almost three billion guilders in tax and premium debts, 83 percent is related to business tax debts such as sales tax, payroll tax and profit tax. This amounts to a total of 2.5 billion guilders.
A recent analysis shows that no less than 94.5 percent of the tax authorities’ income comes from business customers; Curaçao has 115 thousand taxpayers with a debt. 78 thousand of these are private customers and 37 thousand are business customers. A large majority (63,000) of private individuals have a debt of less than 10,000 guilders.
Collection
In order to manage these numbers effectively, the tax authorities have implemented internal restructuring as of October 6. The ‘special collection’ department has redistributed its customer portfolios among collectors.
A special team of nine employees now focuses on the collection of private debts up to 10,000 guilders, allowing the other 29 collectors to focus more on business customers.
This strategic adjustment should improve the actual collection of sales tax, payroll tax and social security contributions. A redistribution has also taken place within the bailiff department based on geographical zones.
Despite these internal changes, the impact on customers will be minimal. Already planned agreements regarding tax debts are transferred to the newly responsible collector.