In which country do you have the highest net income?

With the addition of the British Virgin Islands and Guyana in 2023, Celery now enables customers to process payrolls for seven different countries: Aruba, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Caribbean Netherlands (CN), Curaçao, Guyana, St. Maarten, and Suriname. Celery includes all tax and social legislation for these seven countries.

Each country has its own tax tables, brackets, and rates, as well as unique social security systems and premium structures.

But in which of these seven countries do employees retain the highest net income from their gross salary? We analyzed this for the following monthly wages:

• USD 1.000
• USD 2.000
• USD 5.000
• USD 10.000

USD rates used
Although the US dollar is not the standard currency in all 7 countries, we have chosen to do so to make the results easily comparable. The following USD rates have been used (1 USD):

• Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten: 1.80 AWG/ANG
• Guyana: 210 GYD
• Surinam: 35 SRD

General assumptions and starting points
These calculations assume a standard scenario for a local taxpayer, without any exemptions or expat-specific legislation.

The figures are based on 2025 legislation and apply to an employee who is 25 years old, unmarried, and without children. As a result, tax reductions for children or married couples are not considered. However, generally applicable basic deductions and statutory elements, such as the deduction of taxable wage costs, are included since they relate directly to wages.

If a tax-free allowance applies, 1/12 of it has been incorporated into the monthly calculations.

All applicable social security contributions are included, with no exemptions taken into account. Contributions subject to an annual maximum are calculated based on a monthly cap.

Only Aruba and Suriname have legally required pension plans, but these have been excluded to ensure a fair comparison between countries. However, mandatory insurances and old-age pension premiums have been included.

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In the table below, you can see how much net income you retain per gross salary amount per country.

USD	Aruba	BVI	CN	Curaçao	Guyana	St. Maarten	Suriname
1.000	935	909	1.000	886	863	879	860
2.000	1.871	1.751	1.941	1.704	1.608	1.608	1.531
5.000	4.322	4.309	4.029	3.666	3.908	3.433	3.543
10.000	7.021	8.777	7.312	6.424	7.742	6.106	6.897

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Gross USD 1,000
With this salary, employees retain the highest net income in the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba), as no wage tax is deducted. This means that gross wages are equal to net wages. The minimum wage in the Caribbean Netherlands varies by island, ranging between USD 10.30 and USD 10.41 per hour. Additionally, although employees do not pay health insurance premiums, they are still insured for medical expenses.

The least favorable outcome is in Suriname, where employees retain only USD 860 net. No health insurance premiums are deducted from salaries, meaning employees must arrange their own health insurance. Notably, even at a gross salary of USD 1,000, the highest tax bracket of 38% already applies. The minimum wage in Suriname is approximately USD 1.40 per hour.

In reality, the net salary in Suriname would be slightly lower due to a legally required pension plan, which requires employees to contribute 4% (capped at USD 5.70 per month). However, to ensure fair comparisons across countries where such a pension plan is not mandatory, pension contributions have been excluded from this analysis.

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Gross USD 2,000
With this salary, you will once again retain the highest net income in the Caribbean Netherlands, primarily due to the tax-free allowance of USD 1,781 per month. Conversely, Suriname remains the least favorable, where net earnings are more than 20% lower than in the Caribbean Netherlands.

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Gross USD 5,000
With this salary, it is surprisingly Aruba where you will retain the highest net income. At this salary level, an employee pays USD 261 in social security contributions (including health insurance) and only USD 417 in wage tax per month.

In Aruba, a tax-free allowance of USD 1,389 per month applies, and the maximum wage tax rate of 52% is only applied to taxable income exceeding USD 6,274 per month. At a gross salary of USD 5,000 per month, the highest taxable portion still falls within the 42% tax bracket.

In reality, the net salary in Aruba would be slightly lower due to a legally required pension plan, where employees contribute 3%. However, to maintain comparability with countries where such a pension plan is not mandatory, pension contributions have been excluded from this analysis.

What is even more surprising is that St. Maarten, another country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, turns out to be the least favorable in terms of net salary. Employees in St. Maarten receive more than 20% less at this salary level compared to Aruba. In addition to USD 608 in employee contributions, including health insurance, USD 959 in wage tax is deducted from this salary in St. Maarten.

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Gross USD 10,000
Here we see another country included in Celery: the British Virgin Islands (BVI). At this salary level, employees retain the highest net income in BVI, where a flat 8% wage tax applies, along with a tax-free allowance of USD 10,000 per year. In this calculation, only 1/12 of the tax-free amount is applied, which results in just USD 733 in wage tax being withheld. Additionally, USD 489 in social security contributions, including national health insurance, is deducted.

Unfortunately, we also see here that St. Maarten is the least favorable of the 7 countries in Celery, namely 30% net less than in BVI. In BVI an employee pays 8% or the aforementioned USD 733 in wage tax, but -at a distance of 175 kilometers- in St. Maarten USD 3,113 in wage tax is deducted on the same salary, whereby the calculation falls with approximately USD 3,000 per month in the highest tax bracket of 47.5%.

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Curaçao and Guyana
These two countries were not mentioned in the above comparisons, meaning they do not stand out in terms of exceptionally high or low net salaries for the given salary levels. In Guyana, the highest tax bracket of 35% applies to taxable salaries starting at USD 1,238 per month. In Curaçao, the highest tax rate is 46.5%, but it only applies to salaries exceeding approximately USD 7,400 per month. One key difference between payroll calculations in Curaçao and Guyana is that in Curaçao, employees pay health insurance premiums through their salary, whereas in Guyana, this is not the case.

➡️ If you found this article interesting, stay tuned to our blog. Later this year, we will publish a comparison of wage cost differences across these seven countries, as well as an analysis based on their applicable minimum wages.