Hotel Room Tax Levied

The Curaçao Tourist Bureau has levied a room sales tax at a rate of 7%. The government has amended the sales tax (Omzetbelasting or OB ) in order to abolish the room tax. It is now expected that this change will take place as of January 1, 2014. The hope is that this will make compliance somewhat less burdensome since only sales tax must be paid. Hotels or other businesses that are currently subject to room tax must make a distinction between different categories of goods and services provided in order to levy the correct amount of sales tax: 9% on food, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, as well as on diving and other tours; 7% on the room rate; 6% on other goods and services.