Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
This should give you some idea …
http://www.costaricantimes.com/costa-rica-caja-health-insurance-ups-rates/24947
As a rentista, you will start at the $2500 level and the pain only increases from there.
Lower rates are sometimes available through retirement associations … like ARCR.net
Remember, the CAJA requirement isn’t about making sure that everyone is covered. If that was the case, private insurance would be acceptable.
This is about wringing out the Gringos to bail out a failing system.
In the process, they are only making CR a far less desirable expat destination.
Add to that other Gringo Taxes like the Luxury Tax, etc … and other, far more expat friendly destinations, start to become attractive … even if that means dealing with existential risks like a Daniel Ortega govt or having to fly a few more hours south … to get to a similar latitude on the other side of the equator.
[quote=”Freedom-2020″]…would be a lesser shame than the usual pedophilia that finally gets publicly exposed within months of the funeral.[/quote]
Social mores are in a constant state of flux …
What was unacceptable yesterday, is tolerated today, and embraced as a preferred lifestyle tomorrow …
In the 50s and 60s, living together outside of wedlock was unacceptable in the US. In the 80s and 90s, it was tolerated. The 2010 census showed, for the first time in history of the US, that there were more couples living together outside of wedlock than inside.
As I understand the argument currently being purported on the world stage …
[QUOTE]A person cannot help how they are born. They cannot control what they find sexually attractive or exciting. Therefore, they should not be persecuted, ostracized, ridiculed, or discriminated against for any particular orientation or preference.[/QUOTE]
Where the bar is set today is quite unlikely to be where it is set tomorrow.
[quote=”davskiss”]300 per day..Meaning, I can only take 300USD per day per account out from the ATM. From the US Banks[/quote]
Maybe not from the US banks … you need to check their policies.
The CR govt needs the dollar reserves to manipulate their currency … thus limiting your access to your own money.
You may want to check out this thread …
Take care,
Bill
I have no problem wiring 25K+ from my US bank to my builder’s BN account in CR. In the wire I just put “Payment for Construction Services” though once per year, he is required to sit down with a bank official and be interrogated about his finances. Are you using SWIFT or IBAN ?
I should probably add that it is coming from a corporate platform not as an individual wire.
I don’t know about their policies, but you may want to do some research on ScotiaBank, though, there are some things (paying corporation taxes, etc.) that you can only do through one or more of the national banks.
I don’t know what it costs you to send/receive a wire, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is over $60 total. You could simply write yourself a check and deposit it into your BN account. BN now charges about $40 to process a foreign check (when it costs them virtually nothing now that it is only an image moving electronically). It will clear your US account in 48 hours but not be available to you in CR for 3-4 weeks. (Electrons seem to move much slower there)
The problem is quantifying the money. Did it come from your wages? Did it come from your savings ? How are you going to be able to prove that ?
The $300 daily limit is CR’s fault. They need large dollar deposits to be able to manipulate their currency. The $5000 daily limit for a wire is likely a product of someones interpretation of FATCA.
[quote=”Scott”]
IMHO we can expect stricter controls on the movement of money internationally and this will be yet another example used as to why a ‘cashless society’ is the way to go, to A: ‘prevent money laundering’, B: to ‘eliminate’ fraud, corruption and tax evasion’ and of course C: ‘for your protection.’
[/quote]Of course, you are right.
It’s all about a way of thinking …
Imagine that you and the wife are throwing a party and a short time into the party everyone starts wanting to leave?
Do you …
A) Search for the cause of the discontent and correct it so that folks will want to stay … or …
B) Lock the doors and screw the windows shut so that they can’t get out ?
The last bastion of hope for Europe was Germany …
And now, with their plummeting birth rate and the way that Merkel stupidly opened their doors to scores of (at worst) terrorists and (at best) welfare baby-makers … you can pretty much write them off in about one generation …
The situation in the US isn’t a great deal better and don’t think for a minute that folks high up in the government don’t see what’s coming.
One in every two people in the US get some type of government assistance … whether is is SS, Medicare, Medicaid, EIC, SNAP, WIC … and the seemingly endless list goes on …
Never forget … [B]Demography is Destiny[/B]
Go to the Pew Foundation and research the numbers …
Don’t worry about whether they are white or black or latino …
Look at it based solely on a socioeconomic basis … and you will see the collapse coming …
The US is desperate to trap “wealth” within it’s borders …
They feel like they have a right to, since, after all, it is “their” money …
Why do I say that? Well, if it was “your” money, it would have your name on it … but the money that you consider yours has their name on it ….
[B]AND THEY WANT IT BACK!![/B]
If you ever sit down and just think about how an economy works, you will realize that every dollar, that is not saved or exported, churns it’s way through the economy until it is consumed by taxes … i.e. they get their dollar back. The dollars that you saved, or exported, … they want those back too !
Taxa Rica is a puppet of the US. Don’t expect anything else.
[quote=”slackerbill”]
I’ve got a bit of gold and silver, is there a way to bring it?
[/quote]Cruise ship passengers typically aren’t subject to immigration and customs. Since they sleep on the ship, it is often looked at as if they are not really entering the country. Don’t know if this is the case in Taxa Rica … but it may be.
The national budget is about one third debt service … and about half is borrowed money.
So …. if you’re leaving the US because it’s a train wreck …
Unless you are above the threshold where the luxury tax would apply, my understanding is that the general property tax rate is 0.25% and is payable to the local canton. Based on your tax amount, I would estimate that your property is on the books for $156,800.
There can be a huge disparity between the “fiscal value” that your Notario used for the purpose of property transfer and the actual sales price (although there is not supposed to be).
This difference can save you a lot of money in property taxes but sort of robs the govt coffers.
You do realize that if you go this route, your “in country” requirement will be 6 months instead of 1 day. Life can sometimes be unpredictable.
Take care,
Bill
It’s just a math problem …
Take your property tax amount and divide it by the tax rate …
If the tax rate is .25% and your tax bill is 50,000 CRC …
50000 / .0025 = 20,000,000 CRC
Take care,
Bill
[quote=”barbara ann”]
2. It is amazing to me that no one that sells real estate in Costa Rica gives a clue as to the form once you property here.[/quote]Well …
The field of international taxation is very specialized. Most of the folks that truly understand the ins and outs of it are working for companies like Price Waterhouse Cooper with multi billion dollar multinational corporations as clients that are handling sums of money that are incomprehensible to most folks. An expat that owns a house in a foreign jurisdiction is below chicken feed to them.
With that said, which form would you have them tell you to file as it depends on so much other data …
Do you own it personally, or is it held in an SA or SRL … that’s three different forms.
Is it above or below a dollar threshold that depends on …
a) Your filing status
b) Your primary place of residency
c) etcThat determines which additional forms that you may need to file …
In the end, do you want them to be professional real estate agents or professional international tax specialists ?
In Costa Rica, it’s hard enough just being a real estate agent. In the US, I have a property with four survey markers … in Costa Rica, I have a property with 211. Is there a registered spring on (or near) your property ? That can keep you from building anything within 200 meters of that spring. Is the property registered at the National Registry ? What about the surrounding properties ? Have they all been checked for overlap ? It is my understanding that there is more square meters of property registered at the National Registry than exists in the entire country by a wide margin.
The best that a real estate agent can really do is to encourage you to speak with an international tax specialist prior to purchase,as,in the end, it is each person’s own individual responsibility to comply with the laws of their country of citizenship and residency.
Take care,
Bill
I agree completely Scott …
To give the author the benefit of the doubt, I think that he/she must be working with some pretty dated data …
Their price per sq ft for an apartment wouldn’t cover the cost of land in some areas …
Building with ICFs (Insulated Concrete Forms)is an up & coming way to build. Structurally, they are head & shoulders above the traditional way of building in Costa Rica whereas you pour a footing with emerging re-bar, run a couple of #3 or #4 re-bar between every course, vertical re-bar in every pocket, and pour the block full of concrete with a riga corona every 10 or 11 courses. That said, they are heavily dependent on training, technique, and the ability to get get ready mix and a pump truck, which can be difficult in many places in CR and sometimes quite expensive. ICFs erect quickly and you may want to look at some videos here. http://www.quadlock.com/
Much of the concrete used in construction in CR is from bags and it is simply not feasible to try to fill ICFs in this manner. When done correctly, you have an homogeneous, monolithic structure reinforced by #6 re-bar far more resistant to seismic disturbance than the traditional building method that will ALWAYS have seams. Remember that what hurts you in a seismic disturbance is generally “racking” not a stable up & down motion. A monolithic structure can’t really rack. Although you really don’t need the insulation in CR, there are few faster, better ways to custom build to my knowledge. But again, technique and mix designs are crucial. Since this is an emerging technology in CR, I would probably arrange to have a factory rep there if I was to use them. It would only be few a few days and it shouldn’t be hard to find one that would like to visit CR.
Although the panel systems that are sprayed with Gunite are deemed structurally sound, I personally just don’t trust them in a seismically active environment. There’s just not enough aggregate for my liking. But that’s me, your mileage may vary.
Take care,
Bill
They have [url=http://www.hacienda.go.cr/contenido/13056-impuesto-solidario-para-el-fortalecimiento-de-programas-de-vivienda]downloadable software[/url] on their website to make the calculation for you.
In my world, those prices are completely off the chain. They make me want to compare median home prices with median income. And they beg to question, are foreigners pricing prosperity out of reach for most Ticos? Although I am a capitalist, and not a bleeding-heart liberal, I am constantly asking myself if I’m doing more good than harm.
[i][b]”Live such that the weather doesn’t determine the size of your funeral.”[/b][/i]
Take care,
Bill
