An article headlined “St. Maarten residents exempt from room tax for staycations” in Wednesday’s newspaper apparently sparked so much reaction that the Tax Administration issued a release on Thursday (see related story) explaining the matter. It mentioned many comments and questions received from the public and sought to provide clarity on what the law states.
Based on the “Logeergastenbelastingverordening” Room Tax applies to persons who are not in the country’s Civil Registry. Therefore, legal residents are exempt from paying such when staying at accommodations like hotels, lodgings, apartments and guest-houses, provided valid proof of residency is presented.
The impression now exists that some including operators of resorts were not aware of this and may have been mistakenly charging local customers the tax. If so, there is no reason to worry as long as the funds were properly passed on to the Receiver’s Office with proof of such.
The latter can be used to recover the money from government should it ever come to retroactive financial claims by former guests. Keep in mind though that citizens and particularly businesses are expected to know the law and ignorance is neither a good excuse nor effective legal defence.
Important thing going forward would be to immediately stop this practice where existent, since the pertinent rule has just been widely published. Hoteliers might consider actually using these latest developments as a way to attract new clients by offering so-called “tax free” staycations.
That could help turn a possible disadvantage into advantage.
