• General Information
• Legal Entities
• Tax Treaty with the Netherlands
• E-Commerce in The Netherlands Antilles

General Information

The Spaniards discovered the islands of the Netherlands Antilles in 1499. From the beginning their location and natural harbors made them unique as ports of call for long voyages and as trading posts. After Rotterdam the harbor of Curaçao is the busiest port in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles consists of two groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Bonaire and Curaçao some 40 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba (the Windward Islands) located one hundred miles east of Puerto Rico. Aruba, which was formerly also one of the islands of the Netherlands Antilles, assumed a separate status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986.

Curaçao is the biggest island of the Netherlands Antilles. It is located just north of Venezuela in the Caribbean. Curaçao enjoys a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure as compared with other countries in the region. This thanks to a strong and diverse economy with many financial advantages offered through the favorable relations with the EU and USA. Historically, and because of its geographical location and excellent infrastructure, Curaçao has a strong and well developed financial industry, evidenced by the presence of a wide variety of banks, trust companies, (tax) law and accauntancy firms.