Baker Tilly Dutch Caribbean | Edition 1 2014

PENALTIES IN
TAX LAW
Incorrect tax returns? You could
face incarceration.
Curaçao and St. Maarten’s Tax Legislations have a special
chapter on penalties in case of violations of tax laws. If a
taxpayer evades tax regulations, he risks punishment under
either administrative (tax) law or criminal (tax) law.
In case of criminal (tax) law, only
a criminal Court may impose a
penalty. This penalty may vary
from a fine to imprisonment or a
combination of the two. In general,
criminal prosecution only takes
place if the taxpayer deliberately
and/or regularly did not file tax
returns and/or evades paying large
amounts of taxes.
In most cases, a taxpayer
is punished on the basis of
administrative (tax) law.
The fines under this law can be
divided in ‘offence fines’ (in Dutch
“vergrijpboetes”) or ‘default fines’
(in Dutch “verzuimboetes”). Certain
officers of the Tax Authorities or
judges of aTax Court may impose
these fines.
An offence fine will be imposed in
case of more serious tax offences.
This fine may run up to 100% of
the tax not paid. The amount of a
default fine depends on specific
conditions such as the number of
prior defaults.
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