If a private person or a legal corporation wants to purchase a property at the beaches of Costa Rica, whether it is to build a house, hotel, resort or business, first it should be informed about the requirements to obtain a concession in the maritime zone. To have a concession means that the person doesn’t acquire the property, but obtains a permit […]

The need to submit a real estate property to the Condominium Regime must take into account a number of requirements and procedures before the Registro  Nacional and the Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y Arquitectos, among other Costa Rican institutions. A condominium, according to the Ley Reguladora de la Propiedad en Condominio (No. 7933, published in La Gaceta on November 25 […]

In recent years Costa Rica has been experiencing a peak in the real estate market, strongly associated with the development of a large number of vertical housing projects or apartment buildings. On the Grand Metropolitan Area (GAM) a subject that surprise and concern is the oversupply of vertical initiatives, in particular, the fact that real estate developers have continued to build. “A clear […]

This week’s article is dedicated to the tax that applies to direct and indirect transfers of real estate properties, and the way it is calculated, among other important issues. According to Article 2 of the Real Estate Transfer Tax Law, a transfer is any legal business that transfers, directly or indirectly, a property, based on the legal nature […]

Nowadays the Ministry of Finances and the General Directorate of Taxation of Costa Rica are conducting tests for the mandatory implementation of the electronic bill and tax collection, “a commercial document with tax effects, generated, expressed and transmitted in an electronic format”, that must comply with legal requirementsapplicable to traditional bills. The purpose of the electronic bill is to […]

Due to the financial crisis in the United States of America in 2008, Costa Rica was seriously affected in the real estate field, because most of the people that were buying or selling properties in Costa Rica, mainly in the Pacific and Caribbean area, were coming from the U.S.A. and some other foreign countries. Buying […]

In this issue we will follow up on the issue of registration of Limited Companies (S.A.) and Limited Liability Companies (S.R.L. or LTDA.), Explaining the legal information and requirements to register a company that interested parties must submit to the Costa Rican National Registry. Number of partners as requirements to register a company For both Corporations and Limited liability […]

In Costa Rica there are different types of companies or of Legal Corporations to develop commercial activities or investments, and on this blog we will talk about the features and differences between the two most commonly used: the “Sociedad Anónima” (S.A. or Corporation) and the “Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada” (S.R.L., LTDA or Limited Liability Company). […]

January 31st of 2014 was the deadline for paying the Tax on Legal Corporations without any penalty, tax which came into force on April 2012 and applies to all legal entities that are duly registered in the Costa Rican Public Registry (e.g. “S.A.”, “LTDA”, among others), as well for those corporations  that are in the process of being registered or that will be registered […]

January 15th of 2014 was the deadline for payment without surcharge of the Solidarity Tax (also known as Luxury Houses tax). This tax is imposed on residential property whose construction value amounts to ¢121,000,000.00 (one hundred twenty-one million colones) which is approximately $239.605,00 1 (two hundred thirty nine thousand six hundred five dollars). Solidarity Tax This  Solidarity Tax  came into effect in october 2009 […]