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The total of my municipal tax, luxury tax, corporate tax,and legal fees to maintain a corporation were higher in 2015 in CR than the municipal tax I paid on my home in the USA in 2013. Admittedly, my ocean view condo in CR has a value a bit higher than my house did, but these costs do add up.
When I set up the corporation, part of the intent was to save on the transfer tax when the condo is sold, but that “loophole” has now been closed.
The other thing that I dislike with using a corporation for home ownership in CR is that the value of the home is treated by the IRS as a financial interest in a foreign corporation, which dictates that I must file Form 5471 with my USA tax forms each year (even though it does not generate any income). And Turbo Tax does not include this form, so I must now mail in my tax form rather than filing on line.
At this point, I wish that I had not used a corporation to buy my condo.
I paid all of my corporate taxes for the corporation that owns our condo, but I wish that I could find an economical way to get out of the corporation now. The problem is that I would have to transfer the property from the corporation to my name as owner of the property. That would require payment of a transfer tax based on the value of the property, as well as some legal costs. Even though that would save some corporate taxes in the future, the transfer tax would cost enough to make the value of doing the transfer questionable.
You must have your approved residency and then wait 3 months plus one day after your last Visa entry date.
I have not wired money into my BCR account to date. I did wire some money out to Nicaragua, and BCR charged about $25 for the outgoing wire. Several years ago I wired money into an account at Scotiabank and they charged an incoming fee of about $45. The fee may vary according to the amount transferred.
If you are not in a rush, you may be able to deposit a check from your home bank account to the CR bank account (when in CR) – but it will likely take about a month to clear. I do that with checks from my USA bank account – not sure if they will do it for Canadian currency or if it must be in US dollars. BCR limits the maximum amount of the check to $2500, but they do not charge any fees for this method.
In 2011, before we were residents, we were only able to open a bank account in CR under the corporation name that we used for purchase of our condo. The account also permitted “SINPE” transfers to other CR bank accounts to pay bills and provided for direct payment of water and electric bills. The account can also be used for personal banking (cash withdrawals, etc) in CR.
You should be able to wire transfer a large sum to that bank account to cover significant purchases in CR. It may take a few days to clear. But we could only do so when physically present at our bank in the USA. You can also deposit smaller amounts using a USA bank check – it does not have the fees associated with wire transfers, but it can take several weeks to clear and the maximum deposit is limited by the bank.
You do need to make sure you understand all of the ramifications of owning a home via a corporation – potential CR corporate taxes (void now, but likely to be re-enacted), FACTA reporting in the USA, having a CR “Will” to transfer CR property upon death, and possible loss of USA capital gains tax on increase in value of your home (when sold).
I agree that if you want to experience more local culture where you stay, Tamarindo may not be your best choice. But your first post mentioned staying at a beach front resort hotel with access to tours/activities – all typical of tourist type beach towns in Costa Rica! You may need to choose between more local culture vs a nice beach town with easy access to stores, restaurants, etc.
My wife and I have lived in Tamarindo for 3 years and have not had any problems with safety.
We love the beach and being able to walk to so many restaurants. “Crimes of opportunity”, i.e. theft of unattended items, are quite common, so one must use common sense and never leave valuables unattended on the beach, in a car, etc. (We are careful and have never had anything stolen.)
You can buy some groceries at the various “mini-supers” in town, although they tend to be a bit pricier; Super Compro is a small grocery store in town that has good prices and some local produce; and the 2001 Super in town has some harder to find items.
Auto Mercado is a modern gringo-style grocery store with the most variety – you could walk to it but a short taxi ride is easiest.
For the best local produce there are small farmer’s markets in nearby Villareal on Mondays and Fridays (taxi ride).
Tamarindo is expensive for Central America but is not unreasonable by USA standards. Many locals work in Tamarindo but live in nearby villages, as Tamarindo caters mostly to tourists and expats.
It is a very multicultural area with Europeans, Argentinians, Canadians, etc.
I agree with Imxploring – you are at the whims of the immigration officer at the border. Technically there is no explicit law against being a perpetual tourist, but if the border agent feels that you are “abusing” your Visa privileges, he has the right to give you less than 90 days. I have also heard of people getting 5 or 15 days. (I haven’t heard of anyone being denied entry for this, but it may be possible.)
Although you may not have the funds, you did not mention the Rentista Residency option. You must have $60K that you can invest in a CD savings account, with monthly payouts over two 2 years. But it would take about a year to get residency, so if you want the duration of the stay to be flexible, you are best off with the perpetual tourist route.
At the bottom of the list at this link, there is a list of restricted items. You’ll need to do more research to determine if a permit can be obtained for some of them (e.g.g firearms).
http://newsite.mailboxesetc.co.cr/files/taxes%20pdf%20web%20site.pdf
