Costa Rica Real Estate Magazine June-September 2020

Registry of Transparency and Final Beneficiaries (Also known as UFO or Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Registry): By means of Law No. 9416 published on Dec. 20, 2016, the Costa Rican Congress approved the creation of such Registry and commissioned the Costa Rican Central Bank to implement it in their databases in coordination with other government entities. The law granted a specific period for that im-

and yearly income. Due day, Janu- ary. Education and Culture Stamp tax (Due on March 30th): Costa Rican Corporations or foreign corporations registered in Costa Rica National Reg- istry must pay a tax called “Timbre de Educación y Cultura” (Education and Culture stamp tax) and its amount is based on the Registered owner´s social Capital. Luxury tax: (Due day January 31st) Properties above the $231.900 value must file and pay it. This tax has a sliding rate ranging between 0.25% and 0.55% based on the value of the construction and a portion of the land in use. Every three years, taxpayers must present a D179 form to update the value of the real estate. Property taxes: It is the tax on the real estate and to pay to the county, where the real estate is located. The tax rate is 0.25% of property value registered in the Mu- nicipality. At least once every 5 years, the landowner must present a value declaration to the Municipality. Such value, if accepted by the Municipality, will be used as the tax base. This tax is

due quarterly on March, June, Septem- ber and December, but in some cases, you can get a discount if you pay the whole year in advance. D135: Declara- tion of Assets value. Due in April and the first year to be filled corresponds to April 2021. We recommend keep- ing good records of the purchase and improvements to have current value to declare every year. D140: A form filed at the tax administration once the cor- poration is setup or when you make changes in the legal representation or domicile. The corporation must file the form to register the company in Tax and get online access for filling D135 or regular income tax, if any business activity. Tax for Non-traditional rent- als: If part of the adventure is to buy a property for vacation rentals, then 13% VAT must be collected from the guest and paid the following month to the Tax. Dept. D140 : The corporation must file the form to register the company in the Tax Dept. and get online access for fill- ing D135 or regular income tax, if any business activity and other tax reports.

plementation and due to delays in the system implementation; deadline was March 2020, for 2019 and September for 2020; from now on, ordinary reports are due on April each year (for all the corporations and companies). Corpo- rate tax: It is a tax for active or inac- tive corporations registered in Costa Rica, for 2020, the amount is US$ 121 approximately (depending on the dol- lar exchange rates) for inactive corpo- rations and ranges between $121 and $200 depending on company activity

COSTA RICA REAL ESTATE MAGAZINE 59