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True Cost of an Employee in Sint Maarten

Salary is the number people budget. It is rarely more than three quarters of what the role costs.

Your figures

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ZV employer share is published at 8.3%. Add AOV, AWW, AVBZ and OV employer shares as applicable. Source: SZV Premiums guide
Vakantiegeld, where it applies. Enter the percentage used in your contracts. Source: True Cost of an Employee
Common in Sint Maarten employment but not universal.
Cessantia accrues from day one. Provisioning for it turns a future shock into a budget line.
Recruitment, permits, training, equipment, insurance.

How this works

Employers routinely budget the gross salary and are then surprised by the annual total. The gap is made up of employer social premiums, the vacation allowance, a 13th-month payment where one is customary, and the severance provision that quietly accrues from the first day of employment.

ZV employer share8.3%SZV Premiums guide →
SeveranceCessantia accrues from day oneTrue Cost of an Employee →
Please read. This calculator uses figures published in CaribTax's own guidance, linked beside each one. Rates, premium splits and wage ceilings are set annually and can change. Confirm the current figures before relying on any calculation. This tool is a general guide, not tax advice, not a determination of your obligations, and using it does not create a client relationship.

Why the third hire costs more than you budgeted

A business budgeting ANG 4,000 a month for a new hire is planning ANG 48,000 a year. Add the 8.3% employer ZV share and it is ANG 51,984. Add a vacation allowance at 8% and it is ANG 55,824. Add a 13th month and it is ANG 59,824. Provision 4% for severance that is accruing from day one and it is ANG 61,744. Before recruitment costs, a permit, or a laptop, the role is already 29% above the number in the budget. None of those lines is unexpected individually. They are simply never added together until the year-end accounts arrive.

Questions

Because the entitlement accrues while the person is employed, not at the moment they depart. Employers who first budget for it on the day of termination are funding several years of accrual out of a single month's cash flow.

It is common in Sint Maarten employment but depends on the contract and on custom in the sector. The calculator lets you switch it off.

Anything specific to your business: pension arrangements, private health top-ups, bonuses, company vehicles. Add them under other annual costs.

No. If the arrangement is genuinely a contract for services rather than employment, most of these lines fall away, which is exactly why the distinction is worth getting right and why it is tested rather than assumed.

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