[Andrew]

The [url=http://www.crtennis.com/]Costa Rica Tennis Club[/url] perhaps?

You can also find more [url=http://www.tenismmp.com/canchas.php]listings here[/url]..

[Andrew]

[quote=”dbserv”]Being new to this, I was hoping someone could explain how to calculate the Aguinaldo (spelling that right?) holiday pay, stat holiday pay. anything else that needs to be paid by, I am told December 20? We have a Part time person and can only find information for full time (40+ hours/week). We want to make sure we are doing this right. If anyone could private message me with their phone number, I could call after work during the week or anytime over a weekend. Thanks all! :D[/quote]

Please note that this is a Discussion Forum where we Discuss things together in the Forum so that we can all learn, it is not a private messaging service.

Having said that we have an article on this site that may answer your question:

[url=https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/1263.cfm]Christmas Employee’s Bonus – ‘Aguinaldo’ is mandatory in Costa Rica[/url]

[Andrew]

[quote=”lawfool2″]Not to muddy the waters, but . . .

I just went to my local clinic for an appointment that was made a month ago. However, I didn’t get past the receptionist. She said I now have to have my own account with Caja, that I can no longer be my wife’s dependent. But here’s the interesting thing. I asked her if this new rule applied to Ticos and she said no! She said according to the instructions that they’ve been given, only foreigners have to have separate accounts and can no longer have one spouse as a dependent of the other. So, while I respect Roger Peterson, our local clinic clearly believes that they only have to force us foreigners to get separate accounts. Ticos still only have to pay one monthly fee for the family, not two.[/quote]

Question: Knowing that you will get ten different answers from ten indifferent people working in practically any government office in Costa Rica, you prefer to believe them rather than our Costa Rica tax expert who regularly consults with Presidential candidates here in Costa Rica and a well known published Costa Rica legal expert?

[Andrew]

I spoke to Costa Rica Tax Expert Randall Zamora this morning who confirmed that this change in CAJA payments – where both husband and wife must pay the for the CAJA individually instead of as a couple – is NOT specifically for foreigners, in fact it affects Ticos in the exact same way as expats.

The one very puzzling exception is that this does not affect gay ‘married’ couples who can still pay for the CAJA as a couple….

—————————————

My good friend and Attorney Roger Petersen also wrote to me saying:

“Yes. I already had to deal with that in two of my residency cases and had to challenge the Caja office in San Rafael de Heredia.

In the past I would get the family (Main applicant, spouse and Children) all on one Caja account. The Main applicant who generally is the main income earner gets interviewed and then the income basis is established for the calculation of the monthly Caja payment. The other dependents spouse and children fall under one account.

On November 10th the Caja published in the Gazette modification to the regulations. As a result. They are now taking the family (allowing the dependent and the children) but excluding the spouse. In both the cases we handled we then had to take out a separate policy for the spouse which cost us 11,000 Colones per month.

We did this by indicating she had no income – guess why? Because she is a dependent on the primary applicant. So by saying you have no independent income they still hit you for 11,000 Colones.

So from my first hand experience it is not doubling the Caja contributions (at least not yet) but it is resulting in the requirement to open a new account and resulting in 11,000 extra Colones per month to cover the spouse. We just went through it this week.”

Saludos

Roger

[Andrew]

Thank you ….

As far as I know, expats in Costa Rica pay the exact same property taxes as everybody else but I will ask about this CAJA change and report back. …

Scott

[Andrew]

There’s one sentence in an [url=http://www.nacion.com/nacional/transportes/Contratistas-ejecutan-proyectos-supervision-Conavi_0_1455054511.html]article today in La Nación[/url] about the highway to San Carlos that’s important for us to read:

Original version in Spanish: “La carretera a San Carlos se concibió en 1969 y la conclusión está prevista para junio del 2016 (47 años), destaca el informe.”

English: “The road to San Carlos was conceived in 1969 and completion is scheduled for June 2016 (47 years), the report said.”

[Andrew]

[quote=”costaricafinca”]This is a HOT topic on another forum, with a few people experiencing the same ‘problem’. One recent resident who was given Permanent status, has been married to a [i]Tico [/i]for many years and lived with him in the USA but not long ago moved here, has also been told the same thing. Seemingly ARCR is now involved and it going to ‘take on CAJA'[/quote]

So instead of one CAJA payment for the couple they are now requiring that both pay individually, which means that it is doubling the monthly cost for the couple, is that correct?

[Andrew]

Hi Pete, this is important and would like to make sure we clear this up…

When you say you are ‘permanent residents’ you mean as pensionados?

Scott

[Andrew]

… and as usual, not one word about where the money will come from.

[Andrew]

As far as I know there is no new news ….

I honestly don’t this is going to happen for a very long time ….

You might enjoy my article entitled: [url=https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/944.cfm]Costa Rica’s New International Airport to be Built in the Sierpe Valley – Maybe…[/url]

It was written over 8 years ago ….

Scott

[Andrew]

[quote=”costaricafinca”]Some good points made here!
I know more than a few ‘buyers’ who just wanted to see [i]’how the other half lives…'[/i]and to fill in some time.8)[/quote]

We know numerous Realtors who literally will not reply to a Tico inquiry and will NOT show a property to any Tico because they are tired of being part of a ‘family day trip’ when they have no intention of buying…

[Andrew]

Sorry I have no idea Artie.

Unfortunately this was one of a handful of companies that I warned our readers about over the years but A: I am not an attorney and B: Sorry but I have wasted far too much time already on these people to waste more following up on ‘what happened.’

I sincerely wish you the best in sorting out your problems.

[Andrew]

I agree with CostaRicaFinca

To put these costs into perspective …

San Jose to Ojochal is about 150 miles, right? So $210/150 = $1.40 cents per mile, right?

Which is [url=http://www.taxifarefinder.com/rates.php]way less than half of what you would be expected to pay in the U.S.[/url]

[Andrew]

[quote=”yanner”]Hello Scott,

I’m glad that you take the time to answer me.

[/quote]

I did take the time to answer you yes Yanner, however you did not answer either of my two questions which leads me to think that you are not thinking this through at all well which can only lead to disaster.

Question #1: How much higher is the asking price compared to the sales price of comparable hotels? Do you know?

Question #2: What sort of valuation are you using to determine the ‘value’ of this hotel?

Question #3: I may be wrong but I’m guessing that English is your second language and that’s fine, but how’s your Spanish which you will need if you plan on being in business in a Spanish speaking country?

Scott

PS. bogino gives some good advice in his comments …

[Andrew]

How much higher is the asking price compared to the sales price of comparable hotels? Do you know?

What sort of valuation are you using to determine the ‘value’ of this hotel?

Scott

[Author]

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