Bahamas Value-Added Tax (VAT) to rise from 7.5% to 12%

Marina and Hotel Reservations made with deposits before Sept 30. for travel by June 30, 2018, will be charged the former 7.5% rate.

The Bahamas government has released the following notice “Effective July 1, 2018, The Bahamas’ current Value-Added Tax (VAT) rate of 7.5% will increase to 12%. This will include the tourism and hospitality sector which will see a 4.5 percentage point increase on all goods and services, including food and beverage.

However special agreement negotiated between Government and tourism industry stakeholders allows all hotels, resorts, tour operators/ground operators, attractions and other key tourism related establishments – including MARINAS – in the country and their respective international third-party affiliates to make a smooth transition to the increased taxation in VAT, under the following terms:

On or after July 1st, the Government will permit and honor VAT charges at 7.5% for bookings for any existing material bookings or bookings that will be done between now and September 30th 2018 for rooms, services, facilities and package deal arrangements for travel through June 30th 2019. For this purpose, material bookings would include any bookings for which a deposit is made.

For more information on boating in The Bahamas, visit www.bahamasmarinas.com.