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COSTA RICA |
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New Luxury
Tax In Costa Rica - A Contribution To The
Poor
By: Yalile Alpizar
As of October 1st. 2009 Costa Rica sets a
standard for giving home to the poor at
times when the luxury real estate industry
of the world is facing the challenges of the
current worldwide financial crisis.
The new “Solidarity Tax for the
Strengthening of Housing Programs” will
collect approximately $45 million a year
during 10 years.
The purpose is to build affordable housing
in order to help impoverished families out
of the shanty towns. There are roughly 390
shanty towns and government estimates put
the number of families living in inadequate
housing at 40,000.
Costa Rica is world renowned for adventure
and ecotourism thanks to its constant
efforts to protect and preserve nature. It
has also generally enjoyed greater peace and
more consistent political stability compared
with many of its fellow Latin American
nations. Fighting poverty and bridging the
gap between the rich and the poor is a major
challenge for any government; for this
reason, taking direct actions such as the
“Solidarity Tax” is another example of why
Costa Rica is also recognized as a leader in
social action. This also means that owners
of luxury homes in Costa Rica will be an
example to the world with their direct
contribution for providing of better housing
conditions to the poor.
The solidarity tax is to be paid in addition
to the other property tax owed to the
government of Costa Rica (for an amount of
2.500 colones annually for each million of
colones).
The new tax is to be paid on a yearly basis
starting with the last quarter of year 2009
and would be due on January 1st of each
year. The regular property tax that has
always been paid to the government is paid
to the Municipalities. It is the obligation
of the owners to declare the amount of the
value of their properties to the
corresponding municipality at least every 5
years.
The tax excludes the value of the land on
which the homes are built. The tax is
calculated based on the value of the
structures on top of the lot, this includes
the exterior constructions such as swimming
pool, ranch, garages, guest house, caretaker
houses, etc. This value is normally recorder
in the local municipalities.
How to calculate the luxury tax or Impuesto
Solidario to luxury homes in Costa Rica?
The new tax is applied on a scale that
begins with houses with a value of over ˘100
million colones with 0.25% up to a maximum
of 0.55% for houses above ˘1,5 billion
colones.
The following is a table for easier
calculation of the solidarity tax or
Impuesto Solidario:
- Below ˘100 million colones exempt
- ˘100 million colones up to ˘250
million colones: 0.25%
- ˘250 million colones up to ˘500
million colones: 0.30%
- ˘500 million colones up to˘750
million colones: 0.35%
- ˘750 million colones up to ˘1
billion colones: 0.40%
- ˘1 billion colones to ˘1.25
billion colones: 0.45%
- ˘1.25 billion colones ˘1.5 billion
colones: 0.50%
- ˘1.5 billion colones above: 0.55%
Yalile Alpizar, is president of Costa Rica
Leading Estates CLE S. A and can be reached
at :
yalile@clecr.com |
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