US citizens / Aruba residents - taxation

[lizzardo]

All the US citizens I know who are residing in Aruba
have just gotten Income tax bills starting from the
date they came. In our case since 2005. The
tax office is unresponsive - can't get anyone on the
phone. When we came to the island we were told
that interest, dividends and capital gains were not
taxable.

It now seems - and we are in the process of checking this
out - that Aruba can tax interest and dividends from
US retirement accounts.

If this is true - A lot of US citizens will be leaving the island.
In these economic times - who can afford an extra tax
on stuff you already paid US tax already!

[Schnauzerjoy]

This is a complicated area to answer on a forum. You should ask the proper authorities or accountants.
That being said these links had a load of information about taxation:

http://www.lowtax.net/lowtax/html/jarpetx.html

this one is mainly about the US tax relations:

http://www.lowtax.net/lowtax/html/jar2tax.html.

On one side it states that you are not being taxed on Capital gain, but on the other it states that income from capital is taxable, so it is a bit confusing.

It may look as if a foreign paid tax will be deducted from the Aruba tax.

Again, this is just from what can be seen/guessed from online information, I would strongly suggest that you round up a few other people in the same situation, and get on of the Big4 to advise you on what the rules are.

Just out of interest: who told you that Aruba would not tax you? Tax office, Accountants, Lawyers??

[DushiHeidi]

Why dont you go downtown to the govt offices and speak to someone?

[lizzardo]

We tried going downtown and waited and were not seen by the person who knew about this. Gave our name and number - will wait for a call....

We did go to a big 4 accounting firm when we moved down here.
So either the tax code changed or we were given incorrect advise.
Either is possible.

Thanks for the website - I had found that before and it looks like the only
site that has any kind of information. Just not sure about if it is true -
so we are going to another accountant and see what happens.

The thing I hear from others and feel this way ourselves is people are getting bills with just numbers plugged in them as bills - they are dating back years and years - if the tax office had sent forms every year (and I know i'm asking a lot) -
people wouldn't feel so put upon. The timing isn't that great now either w/
everyone's retirement saving in the dumps.

[Schnauzerjoy]

If you got the wrong advice from one of the Big4 and can prove it, they all have liability insurance to cover wrongful consulting like this.

Carsten

[lizzardo]

We didn't get anything in writing - even if we did - are not about to start a lawsuit in Aruba. Legal fees are high and we had one ruling in 2005 - which we never
saw the money that we were supposed to have been rewarded.

[Pendell]

My advice to all members of the board is to avoid buying property in Aruba until such time as the government initiates an agreement with the US, similar to the one they have with Holland, that income is not subject to double taxation.

The former post is correct, that many Americans will be leaving the Island. It is no longer financially viable to retire here.

Right now they can get their hands on all US income, including pension and retirement income, which, by the way, you must declare to obtain legal residency. The tax rate, depending on your bracket, may be up to 58%, and they don't want to hear that you have already have been taxed on it.

For those looking at time shares, remember that if you want to stay here for more than 30 days, taking advantage of the 180 day rule, you must register with the government. This means that they MAY have taken the first step in imposing fees on you as well. It's the government - its good to be king.

[sugar]

I am also an American living in Aruba. I was hit last week with bills for 5 years of AZV tax. It was not a small amount. After sitting for 2 hours in the tax office to talk to someone from "customer service", I was given the name of another person to call. Of course, after 5 days of trying to reach this person, when I finally did he gave me the number of a different person. I guess time is not valuable here in Aruba.
I am considering giving up my permit and selling my house. The majority of my retirement is invested in Aruba. This may be the final straw!

[DushiHeidi]

Try talking to the governor of Aruba. He's a great guy and you might have some luck. His name is. Mr. Refunjol.

[lizzardo]

Can you PM me the information? There is an ever growing group of people at the moment who are really upset about this. Would there really be anything he could actually do for us? Thinking about the powers of the position.....

Thanks for any information or help/advise you can give us.

Found out the Aruba got a new IT system for taxes and this is why they
all were sent like this. The AZV bills are all the same - based on the max
you can pay.