~ Legal jurisprudence needed whether lockdown is force majeure or not ~ PHILIPSBURG — We asked local accountants to provide us with their Top Three Tips for businesses on St. Maarten to survive this economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One local accountant sent us an extensive email on the following issue. In this article, we would like to discuss this highly important topic for many businesses on the island impacted by government lockdown measures. According to the accountant, SZV is now requesting companies to write out (read: fire) employees because companies have been filing “0” in wage taxes…
Author: The Publisher
Dear Editor, A great many yachts migrate from the Northern Caribbean to the Southern Caribbean to evade the hurricane belt every year. This year with the Covid danger all the territories closed their borders and for a while the yachts were without a hurricane-free destination. There are currently four destinations for yachts outside the hurricane belt being Trinidad, Grenada, Curacao and Aruba where storage and service facilities exist. Trinidad and Curacao kept their borders closed and created no opportunity for quarantine to allow boats to be stored and serviced. Grenada and Aruba created opportunities for yachtsmen to quarantine for two…
PHILIPSBURG – The article StMaartenNews.com published Friday, August 29, 2020, under the headline ‘Pension fund toys with plan to reduce pensions’ has triggered a reaction from APS director Nadya Croes-Van Putten that should put the minds of pensioners at ease: ‘At no time has APS ever been in a situation that would require such a measure to be implemented.” Our article was based on a compliance audit from the General Audit Chamber. This report states literally on page 13 under 4.2: “The current recovery plan (of 2019) contains far-reaching measures (including reduction of the pension).” In its preface, the audit…
~ No jurisprudence on ‘no work, no pay’ policy of employers during lockdown ~ PHILIPSBURG – The department of labor affairs and social services has a top-ten of non-compliant employers, department head Peggy-Ann Dros said in an interview with Keoma la Hamer that was published on Youtube. At the same time, Dros said that “not all employers are the same,” thereby indicating that there are also companies that do stick to the rules when it comes to respecting the rights of their employees. Dros, who started working at the department seven year ago, made clear that during a disaster, like…
THE HAGUE – The third tranche of liquidity support will only become available after St. Maarten has met all the conditions attached to the second tranche and after there is a clear political agreement about the conditions attached to the third tranche. “Liquidity support will not become available before that,” State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) writes in a 30-page document containing answers to questions from Dutch parliamentarians. Knops also made clear that emergency assistance will continue with or without the government’s agreement to the conditions for liquidity support. “The Netherlands will not abandon the most vulnerable citizens.” The…
~ Seniors are ready to unite; taxation on pension income a serious issue ~ PHILIPSBURG — Senior citizens who are pensioners are ready to unite as taxation on pension income is become an intolerable issue for them. Members of Parliament will be soon be approached to tackle this situation once and for all. “We need to see laws put in place to protect pensioners.” says a pensioner and senior citizen who has been called on to be the spokesperson for pensioners in this position. The spokesperson who wishes to remain anonymous for now, says they will be waiting until a…
PHILIPSBURG – The General Pension Fund APS is not financially sound and never has been, it appears from a compliance audit published by the General Audit Chamber. While the APS coverage ratio significantly improved in 2019 from 97.6 to 103.8 percent, it still falls short of the minimum ratio of 105 percent that is required to cover its general and investment risks. Related: Insuffient progress on APS’s domestic investment projects The result of local investments is dragging the pension fund’s performance down. Since 2015 these investments have shown a negative result of around 1 percent every year. In 2018 the…
PHILIPSBURG – Party for Progress members of Parliament Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson issued a press release on Thursday, expressing their concern over responses received to questions sent to the Prime Minister, particularly those related to Government’s much-discussed ‘plan B.’ The faction noted that they had submitted questions to the Prime Minister regarding the ongoing discussion with the Kingdom Government over support for the country, the economic recovery plan (which was requested by Parliament on July 8th” and what was in Government’s ‘plan B.’ Clarity on the economy, it seems, will not be available for several more weeks, according to…
GREAT BAY — The members of the Committee of Civil Servants Unions (CCSU), known in Dutch as the GOA, filed an official complaint with the Ombudsman against the Government of St. Maarten on Friday August 21, 2020. The CCSU in its complaint to the Ombudsman highlighted several infractions committed by the Council of Ministers throughout the negotiation process on Cost Cutting Measures as agreed to with the Kingdom Government. From the onset, the Unions continuously raised its deep concerns and remained firm in its opposition to the abundance of irregularities since the start of negotiations, with Government, on Thursday May 7,…
PHILIPSBURG – St. Maarten has a fundamental difference of opinion with financial supervisor Cft about the conditions attached to the second tranche of liquidity support, Finance Minister Ardwell Irion said during last week’s online Council of Ministers press briefing. “Our opinion is that we have met the conditions for the second tranche, while the Cft could not determine this,” the minister said. Irion said that his cabinet is currently working on a response to the concerns “to make sure we have a seat at the table. Starting the discussions about the third tranche are important.” The minister said that these…
