Best Places to Live in Costa Rica 2020 - Baby Boomers - New Law to Attract Baby Boomers, Gringos...

There are some things that I just really love  about Costa Rica. It's beautiful no matter   where you are and the temperature seems to be very  predictable until you go to one place... this one   place well, not only is the weather unpredictable  but the people, the culture, everything   is night and day different than it is where I'm at  now. Welcome to another beautiful day in paradise   and to part 4 of our 5 part series. Today,  we're taking you to... hey what's going on?   I think we're being hacked!?!?! We interrupt  our program to bring you this important message.   A new bill for a proposed law has been presented  in the Costa Rican legislature is called the law   for the attraction of investors retirees and  rentistas which are people with fixed income.   Welcome to this breaking news story. Today we're  gonna hear about a bill being presented in Costa   Rica that if passed will help the majority  of people who are interested in moving to   Costa Rica Roger Peterson is an attorney  who is a member of both the Costa Rica bar   association and the Florida bar he will help  us understand better how this new law if passed   will greatly help people who want to come to Costa  Rica and those looking for the best places to live   in Costa Rica. Let's get started dissecting this  proposed law Roger what is the purpose of this   new bill that has been introduced into Costa  Rican legislature the objective of this law   is to create a legal incentive program to attract  Investors, Rentistas and Pensionados under the   current immigration law in order to contribute  for the reactivation of the Costa Rican economy   as with every country Costa Rica has felt a  big hit from covet 19. and do you feel this is   Costa Rica's reaction to the Covid crisis by 2019. The Costa Rican economy was already contracting   and showing signs of weakness unemployment in the  fourth quarter of 2019 was already at 12.4 percent   and now during Covid the unemployment rate sits  at 24.4 percent. So clearly the government is   trying all measures possible to reactivate  the economy the tourism sector of course   with the flights and the airports closed have  been one of the hardest hit sectors in Costa Rica.   With that said what are the incentives at Gringo's  or people moving to Costa Rica will benefit from   by becoming a resident of Costa Rica. Number one,  to provide a duty-free vehicle to anybody that's   approved under this category to be able to bring  in import your vehicle without paying any of the   import taxes. This is a huge benefit because at the  moment to bring in a vehicle is very expensive and   as crazy as it sounds. The older the vehicle the  more it cost to bring the vehicle into Costa Rica.  According to an article on Roger's website if  the vehicle is new or less than three years old   then the tax percentage or what you will pay for  import duties will be 52.29 percent of the value   of the vehicle. If the vehicle is 4 to 5 years old  then the tax percentage goes up to 63.91 percent   and if the vehicle is six years or older then the  tax percentage increases again to 79.03 percent.  I can only guess that the reason the percentage  goes up it's because the value of the vehicle gets   less and less and Costa Rica obviously is going  to charge you a sizeable chunk of import fees   to bring in a vehicle since you're not going to  buy one here in Costa Rica. So the first incentive   is a huge savings. So let's look at an example  Roger provides for us on his website so if you   purchased a used car for ten thousand dollars and  the cost to ship it to Costa Rica was one thousand   two hundred bucks, the landed cost of the vehicle  in Costa Rica would be eleven thousand two hundred. The import value of the vehicle as established in  the valuation database of the ministry of treasury   referred to locally as Kartika or Auto valor. Well  this is something similar to what people in the   U.S would call a blue book value. The customs  department would use the higher of the two   values in calculating the tax as such if your  invoice. For the example we're talking about is for   eleven thousand two hundred dollars landed cost  and the vehicle appears with a value of eleven   thousand four hundred and the database of the tax  department they're going to use the higher value.   If we assume that the car we're talking  about in this example that you're going   to import is five years old then we'll take  the valuation set by the valuation database   at eleven thousand four hundred dollars as such.  The calculation will be as follows import value   of the vehicle eleven thousand four hundred  dollars. Let's multiply that by 63.91 percent   which is 7285 dollars. You'll pay for import  taxes assuming your actual cost for the vehicle   was eleven thousand two hundred and you add  the seven thousand two hundred and eighty five   dollars for the import taxes well the total cost  of the vehicle in Costa Rica would now be eighteen   thousand hundred 485 dollars for a vehicle  that you paid 10 000 for so as a side note.   This incentive if passed would be a huge benefit  for you but if you own a Honda accord it would not   be wise to bring that car over. If you needed  repairs you may never get that vehicle fixed   because Costa Rica probably wouldn't have those  parts. so you should consider buying or bringing   over a vehicle from one of the three most popular  brands that are found in Costa Rica which are   Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai. You can't go wrong by  sticking with these brands and for several reasons   parts are readily available in almost any area of  the country and parts are generally less expensive   than any of the other brands. Okay Roger so what's  the next incentive two the beneficiaries will get? A one-time exemption from import taxes for their  personal household items and goods that they're   bringing in to live in Costa Rica now this is a  huge benefit as well when Rebecca and I decided to   come to Costa Rica we sold all of our stuff and we  came to Costa Rica with 10 suitcases knowing it   wasn't worth trying to bring a container of stuff  to Costa Rica. I heard the horror stories of people   who brought their stuff and when their container  arrived every single item was unpacked, examined   and taxed. So let's look at some products with the  tax percentages to learn. What you would have to   pay for simple items coming into the country. So if you have a fryer wow almost 50 percent.   Fitness accessories almost 25 wow it's almost  as if they don't want you to be fit and lean.   Okay, hair dryer almost fifty percent hair styling.  Iron, almost fifty percent hair styling products.   Wow nearly sixty nine percent so I don't know I  I can't understand this maybe they think you're   gonna open up a salon and go into business. Home  appliances almost 50 percent. A karaoke machine. Don't sing in Costa Rica that's going to cost  you an additional 49 and a refrigerator 81.48.  Wow so looking at this list you can understand  why it would be beneficial for import officials   to go through every single item in your container. The more they find to tax you the more you pay.  So you need to understand it's not that Costa  Rica doesn't want you to bring stuff into Costa Rica it's that they want you to buy your stuff in  Costa Rica so you can help the local economy but   if you're going to bring your stuff you're going  to pay dearly for it so this second incentive   is as big if not more of a saving than the first  incentive. So what is the next incentive Roger?   The third one would be that any income that you've  declared as part of your application process as   your source of income will then be exempt from any  Costa Rican income tax laws. Okay your income is   exempt from tax but this is something you should  talk more about with your attorney when you arrive.   Because I have heard of the people who declared  ten thousand dollars a month income now was it   to show off how much money they have I don't know  but they didn't know before declaring such a huge   amount is when you become a resident. You have to  pay 10 percent of your declared income for your   Kaha which is the Costa Rican health insurance so  I'm not saying to lie or not disclose the truth   but I know some people might like to exaggerate  their income or their wealth a bit in order to   impress those around them. They ended up paying a  lot more each month because of their exaggeration.   Now I know this from personal conversations  with people who made this very mistake. Okay   what is the next incentive Roger? The fourth  provision is a discount on the property transfer  tax. You will be able to get a 20 discount on that  transfer tax for any properties that you buy and   title and your personal name as the beneficiary  of the residency status. This is good and obviously.  The more expensive the property the more you'll  save. At the time of this recording the government   applies a 1.5 transfer tax on the value of the  transaction if you paid a hundred thousand dollars   for a piece of property you'll pay one point five  percent transfer tax which is one thousand five   hundred dollars with the twenty percent discount  you'll save three hundred bucks and only pay 1200   dollars in transfer tax fees. Okay that's not  bad and what's the next incentive? And the fifth   and final provision of the proposed law is the  creation of a expedited priority window for those   that are applying under the investor rentista or  pension auto residency categories at the present   time. It's all handled by immigration but it's all  lumped into the general immigration processing   so this would break it out from that and create  a specialized window. This has been done before   for companies so in that scenario a specialized  priority window was created at the department   of immigration for companies that were bringing  in their executives and technical personnel etc.   and it gave priority and much quicker processing  times. So the idea is to create a similar window   for Investors Rentistas and Pensionados in order  to expedite the processing of residency. This is   good because from my research it seems that the  three most popular types of residency programs   can take 12 to 15 months or more depending  on the processing time of the Costa Rican   immigration department which takes approximately  nine months. Just to analyze the application.  So this fifth incentive could speed up the long  process of getting your residency. The three most   popular types of residency programs are residency  for retired people, Investors and Rentistas which   are the people with fixed incomes the law also  modifies the investor category in one sense. Basically what it does is it's going to reduce  the amount of investment required currently   to qualify for investor. You need to prove an  investment of two hundred thousand dollars and   this law proposes to reduce that to one hundred  and fifty thousand dollars. That is great news for   people who are planning on buying a property and  can qualify for the investors residency program.  This new bill will be a huge benefit if passed  and Roger has an English translation of this   proposed law and we will include a link  in the pdf that you can download for free   along with links to Roger's website where he  can explain all of the different categories   for residency and the step-by-step process. Also  make sure to get Roger's legal guide to Costa Rica   now in its seventh edition Roger was born in Costa  Rica and has practiced law in the country for over   20 years. During that time he has seen many of the  challenges facing X-Pac's as they settle in Costa   Rica. In his book the legal guide to Costa Rica he  shares years of knowledge and experience to ensure   you have a smooth transition into Costa Rica. The  legal guide to Costa Rica has guided thousands   of people to avoid any pitfall in starting a  new life or business in Costa Rica you'll find   a link to that book in the description below  and in the pdf that you can download for free. Roger has a wealth of knowledge and experience.  However Rebecca and I also follow a few   sites that help keep us knowledgeable about what's  happening in Costa Rica. We follow the Tico times. The Costa Rica star and information we find  on the U.S embassy in Costa Rica website.   I'll include a link to those in the free pdf as  well. Now bear in mind that what I have discussed   here is a proposed law. It's currently pending  in the legislature but I will keep you updated   and let you know when it's approved and  if there are any changes to the content. That   sounds great and we're hoping this proposal will  pass. Thanks Roger for helping us understand this   new proposed bill and now back to your regularly  scheduled program that would have been funny. Yeah that would have been cute because there's  so many different things we gotta try to focus.  Hey it looks like we're back on so but I think  maybe we're out of time. You're right we are out of   time but I've enjoyed this breaking news story  and not only will we benefit but everybody who   decides to move Costa Rica are really going to  benefit from this new proposed law if they pass  it. Oh I've got an important announcement Rebecca  and I have been talking about doing some fun   contests for our subscribers but the only way you  can win is to subscribe. So if you've enjoyed our   videos make sure you give it a thumbs up, make  sure to subscribe, poke that notification bell   so that you can be notified when the next video  goes live. Alright we'll see you Thursday where we   continue our five part series where we're talking  about. The best places to live in Costa Rica.

Channel: Off The Grid Homestead Costa Rica

Views: 28,624

Keywords: best places to live in costa rica, live in costa rica, moving to costa rica, retiring in costa rica, expats in costa rica, best places costa rica, where to live in costa rica, americans living in costa rica, best place to retire in costa rica, moving to costa rica from us, expat living in costa rica, cheapest place to live in costa rica, safest places to live in costa rica, cost of living in costa rica, 2020, baby boomers, babyboomers, Proposed Law to attract baby boomers

Id: 8SAtINMBN6E

Length: 16min 53sec (1013 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 02 2020