Costa Rica Real Estate Magazine

ARTICLE | REAL ESTATE

authorized to enter our country under the immigration categories of Investors, Re tired Residents or Rentista Residents. The persons who Will Benefit under this proposed law would receive the following: • Duty free of all import taxes for one time only, for the importation of house hold items. • Importation of a motor vehicle for per sonal or family use, free of all import, tariff, sales and economic stabilization taxes, which may be sold or transferred to third parties, exempt from said taxes after three years have elapsed from the date of entry of the vehicle into the country. A total loss would allow a re placement vehicle to receive the same benefits. • The amounts declared as income to qualify for the benefits of this law will

also be exempt from Income Tax. • Exoneration of 20% of the total prop erty transfer tax for real estate acquired within the term of this law, provided that the beneficiary is the registered owner of the asset. • Tax exemption for the internment of in struments or materials for professional or scientific practice. Penalties: In the event that the benefi ciary person renounces his / her status as a “Pensioner Resident” or as a “Rent ista Resident” within the term of this law, he / she must pay the taxes from which they were exempt. The text also states that: “To maintain the benefits that a person acquires in compliance with the provisions of this law, the demonstration of permanence of a minimum of days in the country is not mandatory”.

T he Project to attract foreign inves tors and pensioners - File 22-156 is an initiative proposed by the Government of Costa Rica which is cur rently favorably working its way through the General Assembly and is aimed at contributing to the post pandemic reacti vation of the Costa Rican economy and would have an effective term of 5 years from the moment the Law is published and has the option to extend up to a de cade. It reduces from US$200,000 the amount required to qualify for Residency under the Inversionista Resident pro gram, down to US$150,000. Currently the law says the following for the Inves tors and their Dependents category of residency applicants: Article 87.- For the application for tempo rary residence as an investor, the inter ested foreign person must demonstrate their investment with a capital of not less than US$ 200,000 (two hundred thou sand dollars) according to the official sale exchange rate determined by the BCCR, and whether in real estate, reg istrable assets, shares, securities and productive projects or projects of nation al interest such as sustainable tourism infrastructure. In those cases where the investment is regulated by special laws, it will be analyzed individually. The proposed bill establishes that this will apply to all those persons who are

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