Leaving Curaçao in 2026: end your tax residency without surprises

Last reviewed: November 2026 · Reviewed by Stéphane Gombauld, tax expert, technologist and digital nomad

You have lived in Curaçao and the next chapter is somewhere else. This guide shows when Curaçao stops taxing you as a resident, how the stamp procedure works, what happens to your company shares and property, and how your departure year is taxed.

Curaçao ceasing tax residency in 2026: the key figures

Amounts are in the currency the official source uses: XCG (Caribbean guilder, also written Cg) or ANG/NAf (the Netherlands Antillean guilder it replaced). Some tax office pages still quote ANG.

What changed for 2026

• The 2026 brackets apply to your resident period: 9.75% up to XCG 39,094, up to 46.5% above XCG 162,894 (2026 brackets). In 2025 the first bracket ended at 38,225.
• The basic credit rose from NAf 2,850 in 2025 to 2,915 in 2026 (2026 credits).
• The exit rules themselves, including the 19.5% substantial-interest rate, are unchanged.

Is this guide for you?

Read on if you…

• are leaving Curaçao after living there and want a clean, documented exit;
• own 5% or more of a company, local or foreign, and need to know what emigration triggers;
• keep a home, rental property or business on the island after you move.

Probably not your case if you…

• never became resident, for example because your family home stayed abroad;
• are only looking for your new country's arrival rules. Start with its own residency guide, such as the British Virgin Islands guide for the mirror view.

When does Curaçao stop treating you as a resident?

The Belastingdienst Curaçao (tax office) taxes you as a resident while you live on Curaçao. Once you no longer live there, you become a non-resident (buitenlands belastingplichtige). From then on, you only declare income from Curaçao.

The test is factual. Your residence ends when your durable ties move: home, partner and children, work and day-to-day life. Deregistration from the population register is strong evidence, but not the whole story.

Two people can deregister on the same day with different results:

• Ana ends her lease, ships her furniture and starts a job in Lisbon. She has left.
• Ben deregisters but keeps his furnished villa, his local clients and his family on the island. He arguably still lives there.

The departure procedure gives a useful benchmark. It applies when you leave for more than 8 months to live in another country. For another Kingdom country (Netherlands, Aruba, Sint Maarten), the threshold is 6 months.

Your new country applies its own arrival test. Gaps and overlaps are common. For the Netherlands, the Belastingregeling Nederland Curaçao (BRNC, the Kingdom tax arrangement) settles double residence. Elsewhere, check whether a treaty exists before you rely on one.

Is there an exit tax when you leave Curaçao?

For private assets, no. Curaçao taxes defined income categories: work, business profits, interest and dividends, real estate and periodic payments. Gains on private assets are not on that list. Your ETFs, savings and personal portfolio leave without a Curaçao charge. The Curaçao capital gains guide covers the details.

The substantial-interest exception

A substantial interest (aanmerkelijk belang) means holding at least 5% of a company's issued share capital. The tax office's explanatory guide lists "ceasing to live in Curaçao" as an event treated as a disposal of those shares.

How the gain is computed:

1. Take the market value of the shares on your departure date.
2. Deduct your acquisition price. If you arrived with the shares, the step-up rule (opstapregeling) uses their value at arrival instead.
3. Tax the gain at the flat substantial-interest rate of 19.5%.

Here's the catch. There is no sale, so there is no cash. Under art. 11(6) ALL, the inspector may impose a provisional assessment as soon as you leave Curaçao. The published guidance describes no emigration deferral, only payment arrangements with the collector (Ontvanger). Plan the liquidity before you leave. Structuring choices are compared in legal forms of business in Curaçao.

Your new country may tax the same gain again on a later sale. Check whether it gives a step-up to market value on arrival.

Property you keep

Keeping your Curaçao home triggers no exit charge. If you rent it out, Curaçao keeps taxing the rent as non-resident income. You declare 65% of actual rent, after specific running costs. Property tax (onroerendezaakbelasting) continues and is settled during the stamp procedure.

How do you formally leave? The stamp procedure

Curaçao uses a stamp procedure (stempelprocedure): a form that each authority stamps once you are clear. It is described on the tax office's departure page and the immigration departure page.

Non-Dutch nationals

1. Toelatingsorganisatie (immigration): pay the XCG 145 fee, book an appointment and collect the stamp form.
2. Public prosecutor's office (Parket van de Officier van Justitie): checks for outstanding fines and stamps the form.
3. Inspectie der Belastingen, income tax department: file all returns from your arrival to your planned departure. Say you are leaving permanently so they get priority. The inspector sets a settlement date.
4. Property tax department: if you own or owned real estate, any property tax not yet assessed is imposed now.
5. Ontvanger (collector): stamps the form once you have paid, or once a refund is arranged.
6. Publieke Zaken (Kranshi): deregistration, 10 days before departure, with a fully stamped form.
7. Toelatingsorganisatie again: final exit stamp. Any deposit (borgsom) comes back as a voucher you redeem at the Belastingdienst.

The tax office collects income tax, AOV/AWW, AVBZ, BVZ and property tax assessments at settlement. Allow about three weeks between filing and the settlement date.

Dutch nationals

Dutch nationals admitted by law skip the stamp form. You still settle fines, file and pay outstanding taxes, give your new address and deregister at Kranshi.

Timeline

How is your departure year taxed?

The departure year is split. For the resident part, income is annualised over a 360-day year, each full month counting 30 days. The tax on that annual figure, minus the basic credit, is then prorated by the resident days. After departure, only Curaçao-source income is taxed.

If you had the penshonado regime, it only covers your resident period. Foreign income after departure is no longer Curaçao's concern.

The inspector must issue the final assessment within 5 years after the tax year ends. A reassessment (navordering) can follow for 10 years (5 years for wrongly granted credits or offsets), or 15 years for income or assets held abroad (art. 13 ALL). Keep your departure file at least that long.

Common mistakes (and what they cost)

• Deregistering while your family stays in the house. Curaçao can keep treating you as resident and tax worldwide income at up to 46.5%, while your new country does the same.
• Forgetting the deemed disposal. A founder with a 5%+ holding owes 19.5% on the gain at departure, even without a sale. Unplanned, that can mean selling assets in a hurry.
• Starting the stamp procedure too late. The tax office needs 6 to 8 weeks. Without a stamped form, deregistration and the exit stamp stall.
• Ignoring old returns. Unfiled years must be filed before settlement. Late filing fines run from ANG 250 to ANG 2,500 (art. 18 ALL); deliberate omissions risk up to 4 years in prison or a fine of twice the evaded tax (art. 49 ALL). See Curaçao tax fraud regulations.
• No paper trail for the move date. Without a lease end, deregistration extract and flight records, both countries can pick the date that suits them.

Frequently asked questions

When does my Curaçao tax residency officially end?

It ends when you stop living on the island: your home, family and daily life have moved abroad. Deregistration at Publieke Zaken is strong evidence but does not decide alone. In the departure year you are resident until the move date. Afterwards you are taxed only on Curaçao-source income, such as local rent.

Does Curaçao have an exit tax?

Not on private assets, because private capital gains are not taxable income. The exception is a substantial interest of 5% or more in a company. Ceasing to live in Curaçao counts as a disposal, and the gain over your acquisition price, or arrival value, is taxed at 19.5%.

Do I have to file a tax return for the year I leave Curaçao?

Yes. Before the tax office stamps your departure form, you file all income tax returns from your arrival to your planned departure date. Mention that you are leaving permanently for priority handling. If you keep Curaçao-source income, such as rent, you keep filing as a non-resident.

What is the stamp procedure?

It is Curaçao's official exit checklist. Immigration, the prosecutor's office, the tax inspector and the collector each stamp a form once you are clear. Then you deregister at Publieke Zaken and get a final exit stamp. Non-Dutch nationals start it at least 8 weeks before departure and pay XCG 145.

Can I keep my house in Curaçao after I move abroad?

Yes. Keeping it creates no exit tax. Rent you earn stays taxable in Curaçao, with 65% of actual rent declared, and property tax continues. Be careful: a home kept furnished and available for your own use, with family there, can support the argument that you never left.

What happens to my penshonado status when I leave?

It ends with your residence, because the regime only applies to residents. Foreign income received after your move date is no longer taxed in Curaçao at 10%. Your new country's rules take over. Curaçao-source income, such as rent from a home you keep, stays taxable at normal rates as non-resident income.

Related guides

• How to obtain tax residency in Curaçao
• Capital gains tax in Curaçao
• Tax fraud regulations of Curaçao
• Legal forms of business in Curaçao
• Curaçao tax landscape overview
• Ceasing tax residency in the US Virgin Islands
• All country tax guides

Sources

• Definitief vertrek uit Curaçao (permanent departure) – Belastingdienst Curaçao
• Definitief vertrek (departure procedure) – Toelatingsorganisatie Curaçao
• Inkomstenbelasting (income tax) – Belastingdienst Curaçao
• Toelichting inkomstenbelasting (explanatory guide) – Belastingdienst Curaçao
• Schijven tarief 2026 (income tax brackets) – Belastingdienst Curaçao
• Penshonadoregeling – Belastingdienst Curaçao

This guide is general information, not personalised tax advice. See how we research and review.