St Maarten MPs Seek To Secure Tax Rights For French-Side Workers

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

06 September 2005

Two members of the St Maarten Democratic Party have written to Finance Minister Ersilia de Lannooy urging the government to re-issue a Ministerial Decree to secure the rights of French-side residents working on the Dutch side, according to a report in the Daily Herald.

The terminated Ministerial Decree, Publication Sheet 1998 no. 90 states that those who are working and receiving income in the Netherland Antilles, but who are not resident in the jurisdiction, will, upon a written request to the tax inspector, be considered for the application of several articles of the income tax ordinance, wage tax ordinance and the ordinance on old age insurance AOV and the ordinance on widow(ers) and orphan insurance AWW.

However, the decree was cancelled when the income tax law was amended in 2001, and MPs Marcel Gumbs and Maria Buncamper-Molanus have written to de Lannooy asking for the decree to be reinstated so that the legal position of persons paying taxes on the Dutch side, but living on the French side, can be secured.

“It is of great importance to the island of St. Maarten that the policy expressed in the 1998 Ministerial Decree be continued in the benefit of all those existing cases pertaining to the working labourers living on the French side of the island, but who are employed on the Dutch side of the island and contribute to the wage tax, old age and orphan/widow(ers) pension fund,” the letter stated, according to the report.

“We implore you to issue a new Ministerial Decree as soon as possible to cover this void, in order to avoid any unfairness to the people involved, to guarantee the legal security and to avoid future court battles, as this policy was put into law since 1986,” the MPs added.

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