Two taxes have sat on Sint Maarten's statute books for decades in an unusual condition: legally in force, and in practice not enforced. One is the inheritance tax, successiebelasting. The other is the land tax, grondbelasting.
In February 2026 the government moved to remove both. The Council of Ministers approved a proposal to abolish them, and the Minister of Finance, Marinka J. Gumbs, went before Parliament on Friday 13 February 2026 to begin deliberations. The Minister's own framing of the rationale was blunt: "What use is there in having laws that we have not enforced on the books?"
This guide sets out what each tax is, what abolition would and would not change, and what the bill deliberately leaves untouched.
The proposal was approved by the Council of Ministers and went before Parliament in February 2026. Public reporting does not confirm that Parliament has completed deliberations or that the abolition has taken legal effect. Treat both taxes as still on the books unless you have confirmed otherwise, and confirm the current legislative position with the Belastingdienst or your advisor before making a decision that depends on it. Planning around a bill that has not passed is not planning.
Inheritance Tax, and Why Nobody Paid It
Sint Maarten's framework inherits the Dutch Antillean structure, under which the relevant charges are successierecht on inheritance, schenkingsrecht on gifts, and a further right of transition charge. The design is the familiar continental one: the tax is borne by each beneficiary on their own share of the estate rather than by the estate as a whole, calculated on the net value of that share after debts, legacies and funeral costs, and charged at rates that rise with the distance of the relationship. Close family pay least. Distant relatives and unrelated beneficiaries pay most.
The unusual part is that the practice has been not to enforce it. That produced a strange position for anyone doing serious estate planning here. There was a tax on the books, so a careful advisor could not say there was none. There was no enforcement in practice, so nobody could say with confidence what compliance would look like if it began. Uncertainty of that kind is difficult to plan around and it is worse than either a clear tax or a clear exemption.
That is the real argument for abolition, and it is about certainty rather than about money. Formally removing the charge would settle the question, and it would settle it in a direction that supports Sint Maarten's position as a location for holding and passing on assets, particularly real estate passed to heirs. Our guide to estate planning in Sint Maarten covers the wider planning picture, which is driven at least as much by succession law, cross-border wills and forced heirship as by tax.
One exception worth knowing
Where a Sint Maarten tax resident transfers assets to a Private Foundation by inheritance, legacy or gift, a succession charge at a special rate of 25% has been described as applying. Anyone using or considering a foundation structure should establish the current position on that specifically, because it does not necessarily follow the general treatment. CaribTax's private client practice covers private fund foundations and estate and succession as dedicated areas.
Land Tax, and Why It Confuses Property Owners
Grondbelasting is an annual charge on the value of land, applying both to unimproved land and to land with a structure on it, levied on the owner. The rate has been reported at 0.3% of the property's value, and rates in this area have been described within a range depending on property type and location, so the figure applicable to a specific property is worth confirming rather than assuming.
Like the inheritance tax, it has been on the books for decades without being enforced. The result is a recurring conversation in Sint Maarten property transactions in which a buyer's advisor identifies an annual property tax, the seller says they have never paid one, and both are describing the same reality accurately.
For anyone modelling the holding cost of an island property, the practical guidance is unchanged by the bill: budget for the charge as though it applies, confirm the position for the specific property, and treat any non-enforcement as a matter of practice rather than a right. Our guide to real estate tax in Sint Maarten covers the full acquisition and holding picture.
What the Bill Does Not Touch
This is the part most likely to be misread, and it deserves emphasis because the misreading is expensive.
The proposal explicitly preserves:
- Transfer tax, overdrachtsbelasting, at 4% on real estate transfers. This is the largest single tax cost in a Sint Maarten property transaction and it is unaffected. Anyone concluding that property is becoming tax free here has misunderstood the proposal.
- Long-lease land fees on government leased property, which are a separate obligation with their own terms and continue as before.
Nor does abolition touch the taxes that actually generate most of what island residents and businesses pay: personal income tax on worldwide income, profit tax at 34.5%, turnover tax at 5%, wage tax and SZV premiums. The two taxes in the bill are notable precisely because they were not being collected. Removing an unenforced tax is a clarification, not a giveaway.
What It Would Change in Practice
If the abolition completes, three things change and one thing does not.
Certainty for heirs. Property passing to heirs would do so without an inheritance charge that might in principle have applied, which removes a contingency from every estate plan involving Sint Maarten assets.
Cleaner cross-border planning. A jurisdiction with no inheritance tax is a simpler input into a plan involving several countries than one with an unenforced tax of uncertain application. Beneficiaries resident elsewhere will still face their own country's treatment, and for many families that remains the binding constraint rather than anything Sint Maarten does.
A clean holding cost. Property models could remove the land tax line rather than carrying it as a contingency.
What does not change: the need to plan. Succession in a small jurisdiction with civil law roots, cross-border families and property that is difficult to divide is complicated for reasons that have nothing to do with tax. Wills, forced heirship, who inherits an indivisible asset and who has liquidity to buy out whom are the questions that actually cause disputes, and no abolition touches any of them.
The Short Version
Two unenforced taxes are on their way off Sint Maarten's books, and the value of that is clarity rather than saving, because they were not being collected. Transfer tax at 4% is expressly preserved and remains the real cost in a property transaction. Everything else in the system continues unchanged.
The practical position while the bill is in progress is to plan as though both taxes exist, confirm the current status before acting, and treat the abolition as an improvement in certainty rather than as a reason to restructure anything.
If you hold Sint Maarten property or are planning succession involving island assets, talk to us. Confirm the current legislative status and the position for your specific property or estate with the Belastingdienst or your advisor before acting on anything in this article.
Sources: 721news, February 2026; Government of Sint Maarten Ministry of Finance statements.