Curaçao's annual OB return is due 15 January 2027: what to get ready

Since January 2026, a lot of small businesses in Curaçao file their turnover tax (OB) return once a year instead of every month. Eleven fewer returns is a real relief. The catch is that the 2026 return has to cover the whole year in one go, and it's due on 15 January 2027. The deadline falls just after the holidays, so it pays to start going through your invoices now.

How often do you need to file?

The tax office (Belastingdienst) sorts businesses by taxable annual turnover. Up to and including XCG 30,000, you file once a year. Above XCG 30,000 up to and including XCG 75,000, you file every quarter. Above that, every month.

Your assignment is already set in the online filing portal. If you couldn't file a return for January earlier this year, that's probably why: you were moved to annual or quarterly filing. Go by what the portal says rather than your own turnover figure, because the Inspector can assign a different frequency.

If you file quarterly, your fourth-quarter return is due on the same date. Monthly filers hand in their December return that day too. So 15 January matters to almost every business on the island. What differs is the period you're reporting.

A whole year in one return

When you file monthly, mistakes tend to surface within weeks. When you file once a year, you end up hunting for a March invoice in January. These are the spots where things usually go wrong.

OB follows the invoice, not the payment

OB normally becomes due when you issue the invoice, or when you should have issued it, even if your client hasn't paid. If you work out your turnover from what landed in your bank account, you'll miss everything that's still outstanding. With a regular client who always pays a couple of months late, that adds up quickly.

Sending an invoice later doesn't simply push the OB into next year, either. For work you do this month, the invoice should go out within fifteen days after the month ends.

Invoices in US dollars

You can invoice in dollars, but the OB amount must also appear on the invoice in Caribbean guilders. The conversion uses the latest selling rate of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS) at the moment the OB becomes due. That's not the same as the rate your bank applied when the money came in. Keep a note of the rate you used.

Credit notes

A credit note doesn't automatically give you an OB refund. You can ask the Inspector for one in writing if you can show that the amount hasn't been received and won't be, or that you repaid it after lowering the price. The request has to be made within two months after the end of the period in which you became entitled to the refund. Keep credit notes separate and follow that procedure, rather than netting them off your turnover.

No sales still means a return

If you had little or no turnover in 2026, you still file, even if it's a nil return. If you don't, the tax office can issue an estimated assessment (taxatieve aanslag).

What you can do now

Put every 2026 invoice in order by invoice date and check that the numbers run in sequence. The law requires unique, consecutive invoice numbers, so you should be able to explain any gap.

Then check, among other things, that each invoice shows your CRIB number and Chamber of Commerce registration number, the names and addresses of you and your client, a description of the work, the relevant dates, the amount before OB, the rate, the OB amount, the total and the word "factuur". Fixing an invoice now is far easier than explaining it later.

Include unpaid invoices for which OB became due in 2026. If an invoice was already in an earlier return, don't count it again.

Set the OB money aside now. A year's worth of turnover tax is a bigger number than you're used to seeing in a single month, and payment is due along with the return. Annual filing isn't an exemption. If you have approved RKO relief, ask your accountant how much OB you need to remit.

And keep everything. Your records can be in Dutch, Papiamentu, English or Spanish, and you need to keep them for ten years.

What if you miss the deadline?

The tax office made this a little easier this year. If you get an estimated assessment because your return was missing, and you then file that return electronically through the portal, it automatically counts as an objection to the assessment, and you get a payment deferral at the same time. No separate objection letter is needed. It's good that this exists, but filing on time is still cheaper and a lot less stressful.

Where Zentract fits in

For ordinary services subject to 6% OB, Zentract calculates the tax on the amount before OB and puts it on the invoice the way Curaçao's rules require. When you invoice in dollars, it asks for the CBCS rate and prints the OB in XCG as well. Invoice numbers run in sequence on their own.

For your accountant, you can download a pack per month or per quarter, with a tax summary on an invoice basis, credit notes listed separately and a list of open invoices. For an annual return, that's four quarterly packs. Your accountant can also log in with the Accountant role, which doesn't take up a paid seat. The pack doesn't fill in your return for you, but it puts the numbers your accountant needs in one place.

For the rules themselves, see our guide to OB on invoices in Curaçao.

Check your filing frequency in the portal

Log in to the filing portal and check which frequency is listed for your business. Then you'll know which period you need to report by 15 January, and you can start today.

This article is general information, not tax advice. If you're unsure about your own situation, ask your accountant or the tax office (0800-461 5000).

Sources (checked on 25 October 2026): Belastingdienst Curaçao, OB filing frequencies 2026; Belastingdienst Curaçao, Simplified objection procedure for late returns; Algemene landsverordening Landsbelastingen, articles 43 and 44; Belastingdienst Curaçao, Omzetbelasting.