Jon Nellis
Contributor
I just heard from a customer this weekend that there is a customs agent at the airport in Bonaire now confiscating anything expensive looking, for temporary import taxes. Customs confiscated their DPV, gave them no paperwork and told them they had to get a temporary import document and they needed the original invoice to do so. ...on a Saturday.
Our customer talked to three local import companies before finding one willing to help. According to the local import companies, this just started recently and it's "the customs agent with a beard" at the airport doing it. Reminds me of Mexican customs shakedown.
I looked at the Bonaire's import regs and ANYTHING over $500 can technically be taxed 8%. The only loophole I could find is that the regulations say something along the lines (translated from Dutch) that tax is due on items not divisible below $500, so you may have to dismantle whatever you bring in. Other option is a carnet for anything over $500. Considering BCDs, regs and computers are all over $500, not to mention cameras and laptops, pretty much any diver on vacation is fair game.
If any local dive shops or resorts can look into this and raise a fuss, it might be in their best interest. I've been traveling to Bonaire for almost 20 year and with the decline in dive quality over the years (moray die off, lion fish, coral bleaching and SCTLD), the last thing the island needs is another reason for divers NOT to go to Bonaire.
Our customer talked to three local import companies before finding one willing to help. According to the local import companies, this just started recently and it's "the customs agent with a beard" at the airport doing it. Reminds me of Mexican customs shakedown.
I looked at the Bonaire's import regs and ANYTHING over $500 can technically be taxed 8%. The only loophole I could find is that the regulations say something along the lines (translated from Dutch) that tax is due on items not divisible below $500, so you may have to dismantle whatever you bring in. Other option is a carnet for anything over $500. Considering BCDs, regs and computers are all over $500, not to mention cameras and laptops, pretty much any diver on vacation is fair game.
If any local dive shops or resorts can look into this and raise a fuss, it might be in their best interest. I've been traveling to Bonaire for almost 20 year and with the decline in dive quality over the years (moray die off, lion fish, coral bleaching and SCTLD), the last thing the island needs is another reason for divers NOT to go to Bonaire.
