Canadian Continues Battle To Get His Vehicle Out of Impound
It's been almost a year and Ray Neufeld still has to get his Dodge Durango out of impound following its confiscation by the Policía Fiscal (tax police) in the Juan Santamaría (San Jos) airport parking lot.

The Policía Fiscal confiscated three vehicles in June 15 of 2005 from the airport parking lot on the suspicion of tax evasion following an anonymous tip.

Canadian Neufeld told the Spanish language newspaper Diaro Extra that he was in Costa Rica on a six month vacation but due to a family emergency, he had to leave for Canada unexpectedly.

"I left my car in the airport parking lot and the attendants said there was no problem leaving it there and when I got back they told me the car was suspected of evading duty tax and was in the hands of the tax people", said Neufeld, the legal owner of the vehicle.

According to Neufeld, he paid the parking lot us$700 for the care of his vehicle but as he attempted to leave the lot, the vehicle was impounded and taken to the Almacén Fiscal Tical.

The vehicle had been introduced to the country on a temporary basis and was issued a temporary import permit NO. 32501549, that allows a vehicle to circulate in Costa Rica without having to pay the import tax. The permit expired on June 12, 2005 and according to the tax man, the car was in the country without having the import tax paid and subject to impound.

Neufeld charges that he had been working with a customs agent to legalize the importation of the vehicle and that the impouding of the vehicle was not justified as Fiscal agents could not know his intentions when they confiscated the vehicle.

The Canadian intends to return to Canada in early July and wants to take the vehicle with him. And that is where the problem comes in, the Fiscal authorities want payment of us$7.000 to release the vehicle from impound. Neufeld feels the situation is "una locura" - craziness - and says that he never tried to evade the import tax.

Alterra Partners, the managers of the airport, say that they could not have disobeyed authorities in pointing out the three parked vehicles in their lot. Neufeld feels that Alterra misrepresented him and is responsible for the entire situation since they are the onces who called the Policía Fiscal.

However, judicial authorities are clear that charges against Alterra resulting in the Policía Fiscal action are unfounded.

Tourists are permitted to bring in vehicles into the country on a temporary basis, without paying any importation tax, for up to three months. The permit can then be extended for another three months, after which the vehicle has to leave the country or be imported and the appropriate taxes paid.

The import tax is based on the year of the vehicle and the "Valor Fiscal" imposed by the Ministerio de Hacienda, based on criteria that is not related to the purchase price of street value of the vehicle.

To find out what the Valor Fiscal of vehicle is go to http://www.hacienda.go.cr/autohacienda/autovalor.aspx.

To determine the import tax on a vehicle it is best to contact a customs agent or an expert in imports, like Ship Costa Rica.