Property Tax

Hereby we inform you about the property tax on Bonaire, the assessments will be sent to you shortly. The first assessment will be regarding the year 2011, 11 months hereafter regarding the year 2012 and so on.
The Government has decided to have a Dutch valuation firm carry out the valuation of your home/lot. Unfortunately they have not made use of the local expertise present on Bonaire; we are seriously wondering why this decision was made this way…. This valuation will be carried out once every 5 years so the valuation you will be sent is valid for 5 years. Reference date for the property tax is January 1st, 2011.

The property tax @ 0.95% (consisting of 0.8% government tax and 0.15% island surcharge) will be charged on:
*  Every home belonging to a non resident of Bonaire
*  Every second home of a Bonaire resident (value $ 50,000 and up)
*  All land belonging to a non resident of Bonaire, regardless whether this is private land or
    leased land, built on or not
*  All company buildings serving a commercial purpose
(Because income tax is not due as of January 2011, you will not have to mention your rental income on your income tax form)

It is very well possible you will not agree with the valuation of your home. Should the valuation turn out to be less than the actual value you do not need to take action; you pay less tax which is fine. Should however the valuation turn out to be too high you have the right to an appeal. This will have to be a well founded appeal; otherwise it will be turned down.

To be of service to you we can take care of this appeal for you (by power of attorney) and make a valuation of your property for you which will have to be handed to the Tax Office along with your appeal. Of course we  will advise you whether an appeal is meaningful.

Our fee for this appeal and valuation is:
Properties $ 500,000 and less: $ 250
Properties from $ 500,000 and up: $ 350,-.
Of course we will take care of all matters regarding the appeal.
Please be advised that no guarantees for the results can be given and that an appeal has to be submitted within two months after the assessment!

Should you have any questions please let us know.