The Costa Rican Congress approved in second debate the bill 22,156 called “Law of Attraction of Investors, Rentiers and Pensioners“. The purpose of this law is to encourage the attraction of investors, rentiers, and pensioners to contribute to economic reactivation.

Among the most important aspects are:
a) INCENTIVES:
The people covered by this law will enjoy the following incentives:
Duty free and all import taxes present for a single time, for the importation of household items. In the applications they will be able to protect their dependents, for immigration purposes.
Up to two land, air and/or sea transportation vehicles may be imported, for personal or family use, free of all import, tariff and value-added taxes.
The amounts declared as income to qualify for the benefits of the law will be exempt from income tax.
Exoneration of twenty percent (20%) of the total transfer tax, in those real estate assets that they acquire within the term of the law.
Exemption from import taxes for instruments or materials for professional or scientific practice, carried out by the person with the migratory category of investor, retired resident, or rentier resident.

b) TAX RESIDENCE:
The beneficiaries of the law will not be automatically considered as tax residents.

c) INVESTORS:
For the category of investors, for the period of validity of the law, the sum of ONE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND US DOLLARS (US $ 150,000.00) is established as the new investment range, according to the official sale exchange rate determined by the Costa Rican Central Bank, whether in real estate, registrable assets, shares, securities and productive projects of national interest. In those cases where the investment is regulated by special laws, it will be analyzed individually.
In addition, investors may be considered those who invest in venture capital funds or in sustainable tourism infrastructure projects.

d) VALIDITY:
The term of validity will be five years from its publication in the Official Newspaper. Currently the bill was sent to the Executive Power for the signature of the President of the Republic and will later be published.
The law also contemplates the creation of special windows for the attention of requests in these categories.

At ERP Lawyers & Associates we receive this news with great enthusiasm, and we value the approval of this bill very positively, because without a doubt they are extremely attractive benefits for people who are thinking of emigrating to our country within the indicated categories. In addition to the above, the attraction of these categories will alleviate the fiscal situation by encouraging foreign investment.

If you are contemplating emigrating to Costa Rica, we invite you to contact us at jose@erplawyers.com where our team of experts will gladly provide you with the necessary legal advice and inform you about our payment benefits.