WILLEMSTAD - It was previously announced, but now it has been included in the amended budget for 2022: the government will not change the rate of sales tax (OB) yet but does intend to have the payment made through the local banks.
“Due to high transport costs, scarcity of goods and the consequences of the corona pandemic, the prices of goods are going through the roof. Groceries and building materials, among other things, are much more expensive than a year earlier. This is no exception in Curaçao. Due to this situation, the government has decided to keep the change in the rate of the tax for the time being.
In the year 2022, the government will evaluate the situation and come up with a new decision," it said. The government intended to levy one sales tax percentage, namely 7 percent, instead of the different rates of 6, 7 and 9 percent. Based on the coalition agreement that was signed in May of this year: the base rate, currently still 6 percent, will therefore increase. But the rates will have to disappear.
But as stated: "The project that when paying for a good or service the sales tax over the fee paid is immediately withheld and paid to the government will continue." This is expected to yield a surplus of 2 million guilders per month if the withheld sales tax by the business owners is passed on directly to the tax authorities by their respective banks.
It is therefore no longer the business owners who makes the sales tax-payment, but his bank. Now, it is stated in the explanatory notes, there is a loss of 4.5 million guilders per month if the calculation of the sales tax which the government is supposed to received is compared to what the treasury actually receives from sales tax.