Luxury Tax goes into effect for Dwelling Investors

As one of our sister sites mentioned back in March 2009:

"In order to mitigate the effects of the economic crisis on Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Tax Administration authorized a special accelerated depreciation for all new assets (as in tangible property) increasing the acceleration of the useful life to 60% from the previous 50%. This measure applies to all new assets purchased from January 2009 until the end of the year. The move comes as part of President Arias’s new "Shield Plan" that hopes to protect the country from recession by implementing a series of temporary fixes to promote commerce and protect Costa Rica jobs".

On one hand, the Costa Rican government is offering local businesses the opportunity to get some tax relief while the raw investors or new capital infusion is being heavily taxed. Today is the first day of the newly coined term "Luxury Tax". This tax is directed at the rich. In Costa Rica, being rich means earning more than $50K per year, which makes this tax applicable to almost every investor who chooses Costa Rica. For this tax, it is any dwelling that is valued at more than 100 million colones, converts to $171,000 based on today's currency conversion.

The tax is for a period of 10 years and is calculated on the value of the Costa Rica property. Under Article 6, tax is based on market price. This will of course now draw in more issues since what a property is worth in Costa Rica is totally subjective despite investment records since there is not a standardized valuation process. In addition, there is no mention of how the tax will be assessed for dollar investments. Most investors buy property using dollars and all transaction data is in dollars,what will be used to assess the tax? Dollars or Colones?

Another noteworthy mention is Article 5 of the new tax law. Article 5 includes Maritime Zone concessions will have to pay the same tax even though they do not own the land the dwelling is built on. The government makes no excuses for this tax, they said the proceeds will be used for "social programs" The government hopes to collect $45,000,000 per year for the next 10 years.

If you need a tax advisor, please take a look at our Costa Rica Business Directory which offers you reputable professionals in the Jaco area.