For the whole of Sint Maarten's history, the question of how to take money out of your own company has had the same answer at one end. Profit is taxed at company level, and what the company then pays out to its shareholders leaves without any withholding at source. That single fact has shaped how owner managed businesses on this island are structured, and it still holds today.
Sint Maarten levies no dividend withholding tax. A National Ordinance on Dividend Withholding Tax was enacted in 2000 but was never brought into effect. A more recent proposal for a 10% withholding, with an intended commencement of 1 January 2026, reached an advanced stage during 2025 and was withdrawn. If you have read elsewhere that a dividend tax now applies here, that reporting reflects the withdrawn proposal, not the law.
That does not mean dividends are tax free. This guide sets out what actually applies when profit leaves a Sint Maarten company: the profit tax at company level, the income tax a resident shareholder pays on the distribution, the position of a non-resident shareholder, and how the salary against dividend decision looks on the real numbers.
An earlier version of this article described the withdrawn 10% proposal as if it were in force. It was not, and it is not. This version has been corrected following a technical review. As always, confirm the current position with the Belastingdienst or your advisor before declaring a distribution, because proposals in this area have been raised before and may be raised again.
What the Law Actually Says
Two separate pieces of history are worth keeping apart, because conflating them is exactly how the misreporting arose.
The first is the National Ordinance on Dividend Withholding Tax of 2000, a piece of legislation from the Netherlands Antilles era that remains on the books but was never brought into effect. A tax that has never commenced imposes no obligation on anyone.
The second is the 2025 proposal to introduce a 10% withholding on distributions with effect from 1 January 2026. It progressed far enough to be widely reported as a done thing, and it was then withdrawn. No withholding obligation ever arose under it.
The practical consequence for a company today is simple: a Sint Maarten company that declares a dividend pays the shareholder gross. There is no withholding at source on outbound distributions, including distributions to shareholders abroad.
What a Dividend Actually Costs
The absence of a withholding tax does not make distributed profit cheap. Two layers of tax still apply, they just both sit somewhere other than at the moment of payment.
The first layer is profit tax at 34.5% on the company's taxable profit. Only what remains after that charge is available to distribute.
The second layer, for a shareholder who is resident in Sint Maarten, is income tax on the dividend in the shareholder's own hands, declared on their own return. For a shareholder with a substantial interest in the company, the dividend can be taxed at the special substantial interest rate of 18.75% rather than at the progressive rates, but that treatment applies on request. Failing to make the request is a routine and expensive mistake, because without it the dividend falls into the progressive rates, which climb well above 18.75% at the income levels where meaningful distributions happen.
| Stage | Rate | On $100 of profit |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable profit | $100.00 | |
| Profit tax | 34.5% | less $34.50 |
| Available to distribute | $65.50 | |
| Income tax at the substantial interest rate, on request | 18.75% | less $12.28 |
| Reaching the shareholder | $53.22 |
On those numbers the combined burden on distributed profit lands near 47%, and higher still where the substantial interest request was never made. The second charge applies to the post-tax remainder rather than to the original profit, so simply adding headline rates together misstates the position, but the direction is clear: the second layer is real, it is just collected on assessment rather than withheld at source.
Non-resident shareholders
For a shareholder who is not resident in Sint Maarten, there is no withholding at source, so the distribution leaves the island gross. What happens next depends entirely on the shareholder's own country of residence: most jurisdictions tax their residents on dividend income from foreign companies, and any relief depends on domestic rules there rather than on anything Sint Maarten does. Our guide to Sint Maarten's tax treaties covers how thin the treaty network is, which is the part of the answer most foreign shareholders find uncomfortable.
Salary Against Dividend
Owner managers in Sint Maarten take money out of their companies in three broad ways: salary through payroll, dividends, or the director's current account. The third is not really a route so much as a deferral, and it is the one that gets people into trouble.
The salary route is the well understood one. A salary is a deductible expense for the company, so it reduces taxable profit and never reaches the 34.5% charge. It is instead subject to wage tax withholding and to SZV premiums on both sides. A director is also expected to take a reasonable salary for the work actually performed rather than a nominal one, so the dividend route cannot simply be substituted for the salary route in full: a working director who pays themselves nothing and extracts everything as dividend is inviting the salary to be imputed. Our guides to wage tax and SZV premiums set out the payroll costs, and director salary and liability covers where the reasonableness line sits.
The dividend route carries the two-layer arithmetic set out above. It draws no SZV premiums, which is a real advantage, but it comes out of profit that has already been taxed at the company rate, and the shareholder's own income tax then applies on top.
The honest summary is that there is no universal answer, and anyone offering you one has not asked enough questions. What decides it in practice:
- Where the shareholder is resident, because that determines whose income tax reaches the distribution and at what rate
- Whether the substantial interest request has been made, because 18.75% against the progressive rates is the difference that matters most for a resident owner
- Whether the salary is defensible as reasonable remuneration for the role actually performed
- The SZV position, including whether premium ceilings are already reached through other employment
- Whether the money is needed now or can remain in the company for reinvestment, because a distribution is a decision you control and time
The director's current account is not a third option
Taking money out through the director's account, without characterising it as either salary or a dividend, is the most common informal practice among owner managed companies here. A pattern of drawings without a documented basis invites recharacterisation on review, and a balance recharacterised as a distribution or as salary is taxed accordingly, with interest and penalties attached to the periods it should have been declared in. Our guide to what happens in a tax audit covers how closely that account is examined.
What Owners Should Do
- Ignore reporting that says a dividend withholding tax applies. It does not. If a future government revives the proposal, it will need to pass and commence before it binds anyone, and that is the point at which to react.
- Establish your shareholders' residence positions. Not where they say they live, but where they are actually resident for tax purposes. This decides whose income tax reaches the distribution.
- Deal with the substantial interest request before you distribute. For a resident owner it is the difference between 18.75% and the progressive rates on the same dividend.
- Model the two routes on your real numbers. Salary and dividend, at your actual profit level, with your actual SZV position and a defensible director's salary underneath.
- Clean up the director's current account. If informal drawings are how money has historically come out, deal with that on a documented basis now rather than after a review has characterised it for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Sint Maarten have a dividend withholding tax?
No. Sint Maarten levies no dividend withholding tax. A National Ordinance on Dividend Withholding Tax from 2000 was never brought into effect, and a 10% proposal intended for 1 January 2026 was withdrawn. Distributions leave the company gross.
How are dividends from a Sint Maarten company taxed?
Profit is taxed at company level at 34.5%. A resident shareholder then pays income tax on the dividend in their own return. With a substantial interest, the dividend can be taxed at the special rate of 18.75%, but that treatment applies on request.
Is there withholding on dividends paid to foreign shareholders?
No. There is no withholding at source on outbound distributions from a Sint Maarten company. The dividend is then taxed under the rules of the shareholder's own country of residence.
Is salary or dividend better for a Sint Maarten company owner?
There is no universal answer. Salary is deductible for the company but carries wage tax and SZV premiums, and a working director must take a reasonable salary. Dividends avoid SZV but come out of profit already taxed at 34.5%, with income tax on top. Model both on your real numbers.
The Short Version
Sint Maarten levies no dividend withholding tax. The 2000 ordinance never took effect and the 10% proposal intended for January 2026 was withdrawn. Distributions leave the company gross, but they are not tax free: profit tax at 34.5% applies at company level, and a resident shareholder pays income tax on the dividend, at 18.75% where a substantial interest applies and the request is made. On those numbers roughly 47 cents of every dollar of distributed profit goes in tax, which is why the salary against dividend decision still deserves modelling even without a withholding in the picture.
If you take money out of a Sint Maarten company and want the position modelled before your next distribution, talk to us. Confirm the current status and rates directly with the Belastingdienst before acting on any figure in this article.