CAN I IMPORT A VEHICLE INTO COSTA RICA TAX FREE?

By | 2022-12-12T08:59:00-05:00 December 12th, 2022|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , |

Costa Rica import vehicle

Importing a car into Costa Rica is an expensive endeavor. Buying one is expensive as well. Either way, be prepared to pay a lot if you want a car. And trust me, there is no way around it. Many think they can drive their vehicle into the country and get around the tax issue. That’s impossible. In fact, if you don’t do your homework, you may purchase a car from someone who did just that and never paid the import tax. Now you’re stuck with an $8000 tax bill to make the car legal. I know someone this happened to.

Many are hearing about the new law (Costa Rica Law N. 9996) that was passed, giving expats the ability to import two cars and household items, tax-free. There is a lot of confusion about this, so allow me to clear some things up.

 

  1. This bill was only for people who are applying for residency. Residency can take upwards of a year. Perhaps longer. This is not an option for perpetual tourists or for people applying for the Digital Nomad Visa.
  2. No one is quite sure when, or if,  the government will enact this.

 

Things move slowly in Costa Rica. And often, a law is passed that is later rescinded. Here is my take on things.

When the pandemic hit, Costa Rica wanted to entice more expats. But the strangest thing happened: they didn’t have to. Thousands of people moved to Costa Rica, flooding the tourist towns and buying up real estate.

I think I can speak for many Ticos in that Costa Rica looked drastically different pre-pandemic. At least from the perspective of living in or near a tourist town. And with that, I’m not sure what will happen to this new law. If everyone is coming anyway, why offer this tax break when the country desperately could use these tax dollars?

This is what I would do. If your heart is set on moving to Costa Rica, just do it. I wouldn’t wait around to see when this law takes effect. The Costa Rica Escape Manual 2023 is loaded with useful information, especially on how to get residency. And that is the first step if you want to qualify for this tax exemption.

Many times we wait to begin our adventures. And sometimes, we wait too long. So, if you want to live the pura vida lifestyle,  start today. Take a vacation and travel the country. Talk with expats and investigate if it’s right for you. Maybe the pull will sweep you off your feet like a riptide. “We’re definitely moving!” you say to your wife. Or perhaps the trip was just that, a delightful way to get away from it all. And getting away is often the best thing to do when we need to recharge our batteries. And there is no better place to do that than Costa Rica.

**Find out more about buying a car, paying import taxes, and applying for residency in The Costa Rica Escape Manual 2023.

The Costa Rica Escape Manual 2023

By | 2022-11-30T09:42:38-05:00 November 30th, 2022|Categories: Uncategorized|

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” ~C. S. Lewis

“I want to move to Costa Rica,” you said, confiding to your spouse, friends, and maybe even your boss while cleaning out your desk. Congratulations! Moving abroad is the adventure of a lifetime, and Costa Rica will guarantee you wonderful moments. Some dream-like. Many hilarious. A few frustrating.

Even if your friends think you’re nuts (they do). Even if your spouse is on the fence (they are). And even if you don’t speak Spanish (you probably don’t). The Costa Rica Escape Manual 2023 is the blueprint for making this move as seamless as possible.

I’m here as your trusted advisor making this move easier. I’ve done it all: obtained residency, laid sick in the hospital, bought and sold properties, ran a business, and paid Costa Rican taxes. I’ve seen and learned a lot, and I want to share my experiences with you.

Whether you’re planning an extended vacation or permanently relocating, this guide provides the tools necessary to make your Pura Vida dreams come true.

Inside, you’ll find trusted advice from experts in their field. Whether filing for residency, purchasing a home or searching for a rental, The Costa Rica Escape Manual delivers the nuts and bolts on where to begin.

The 2023 edition includes:

  • How to apply for the new Digital Nomad Visa
  • New residency rules and “what not to do” when applying
  • Quick and quirky tips when traveling throughout Costa Rica
  • Opening a bank account, Atms and discontinued currency
  • Honest advice on staying safe and new ways thieves are committing crime
  • How to get health, home, and auto insurance
  • Dental Tourism
  • New information from Barry the Shipper on how to get your stuff to Costa Rica
  • Renting a car or hiring a personal driver
  • Selecting a school and the different types of diplomas
  • Buying, renting, and even developing raw land from scratch
  • Three locations expats are calling home
  • Convenient checklists ensuring you meet all your goals
  • Popular road trips throughout the country

Read this book before booking those plane tickets, and you’ll be ready for that Pura Vida adventure.

Available on Amazon

 

 

Volcanoes, Chihuahuas, and Mountain-View Properties

By | 2020-11-25T13:26:16-05:00 November 10th, 2020|Categories: Mountain House, Uncategorized|Tags: , , |

Grecia

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Total Monthly CAJA (health insurance) for my husband and I — $197

I wrote my first Happier book in Grecia, a Central Valley town in Costa Rica. The reason we started our adventure there was that we needed to buy a car. It was the most unglamorous reason to move anywhere. Grecia, for reasons unknown to me, is the mecca for car lots. We gave ourselves three months and then would move along.

That three-month stay turned into three years. Grecia is one of the happiest places on earth. We rented a house on top of a mountain where we enjoyed temperatures in the 70s (21-26C). The Ticos were kind, even waving to us each time we rode past their house on our scooter. We made friends everywhere, except with Chihuahuas, who always chased us down the mountain. To this day, I get the finger from every Chihuahua I pass.

Henchman

Each Saturday, we looked forward to shopping at the farmers’ market. Food is much less expensive in the Central Valley as compared to the coast. We brought a carry-on suitcase and stuffed it with all the produce that would fit. Rob then balanced it on our scooter, even shoving the eggs under our seat.

If you’ve read any of my books, you know why I’m so fond of this town. It was where everything in my life changed for the better. It’s where my writing career began. It’s a place where I imagined all sorts of things, and many of them came true.

Even though today we live at the beach, I can still remember that cool Grecia-mountain air. We didn’t need air conditioning or heat, so the inside was always the same temperature as the outside. I never realized how good that felt.

Every Thursday, we scooter’d to Poas Volcano. The scenery looks like a cross between Jurassic Park and the Swiss Alps. At 10,000 feet, it’s one of the few places in Costa Rica I needed a jacket. La Paz Waterfall Gardens is not far down the road. We’d visit there and walk through their butterfly observatory and hummingbird garden. Before going home, we’d stop at a Mirador and enjoy a hot cup of coffee. It was simple, and that’s what I remember most about starting our adventure—living a simpler life.

Volcano

Our attorney reached out to us to let us know he is selling his mountain-view property. If you’ve read my Costa Rica Escape Manuals, then you are familiar with Gilford Banton Beckford. He helped us get residency and is one of the nicest guys we know. Residency rules kept changing, and our file became more complicated. Banton quoted us a low price for the job, even though it became clear the process was more than he expected. When we offered more money, he said, “I quoted you that price, and I’m a man of my word.” We have relied on his advice ever since.

I’m feeling nostalgic today, playing a mental slide show, recalling the good times, passing over the bad. Selecting out happy moments and shaking them like a snow globe.

What I’ve learned this year is to keep the good memories at the surface. Place a paperweight on them so a breeze can’t ruffle them away. Grecia will always be near the top of the pile, reminding me of where it all started, with scooter rides and yapping Chihuahuas. And of times when we stood 10,000 feet in the air.

(To contact Gilford about his property, you can email him at gbanton8@ice.co.cr , or call 506-8896-7910)

I Want to Move to Costa Rica

By | 2020-07-19T17:01:58-04:00 July 19th, 2020|Categories: The Happier House, Uncategorized|Tags: , , |

The Happier House

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Electric Bill (pool and multiple air conditioners during the rainy season) — $204

People are Googling about moving to Costa Rica. Inevitably my face pops up, holding a watermelon…

Watermelon

or smiling on a boat.

Sailboat

While scanning the images, I found one of Rob’s bloody hand from falling off his scooter. And another of me boogie boarding in ankle-deep water with the concentration of a North Korean Olympian.

Boogie Boarding

The only reason I’m Googling myself is to find out why so many people are contacting us. The email subject line is always, “I want to move to Costa Rica.” And I believe I found it.

An episode of EXPATS (a show we appeared in) has gone viral. It shows my husband pushing me on a swing and us walking hand in hand on the beach. Is that an accurate representation of our life? Absolutely, but so is him ripping his hand open after falling off his scooter, twice, once while delivering my stool sample to a doctor.

blooy hand

 

During the EXPATS show, I mentioned Rob’s friend questioning our search for a happier life. If you’re looking for a warm and fuzzy conversation, don’t expect a snarly guy from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, to deliver one.

“What’s different about you?” he said, “Why should you be happy? We’re all miserable.”

But that wasn’t good enough, and perhaps that’s how you’re feeling today. All this stress has you gripping the ropes, hoping the bell rings before the referee counts to ten. Maybe moving to Costa Rica was on your mind way before the events of this year. You want to set this plan in motion, and now you’re Googling “I want to move to Costa Rica.”

Take my hand… I got you on this.

My life hasn’t been the same since we started our adventure. This country sparks inspiration every day. Lately, the sunsets have a lavender hue and remind me of macarons with orchid buttercream. It feels like falling in love inside a French bakery.

lavender sunset

With Rob’s green thumb, our garden continues to expand. He’s bending bougainvillea over a backyard staircase, turning the passageway into a hobbit village. I went there to watch butterflies when I spotted a female coatimundi. It appears Walter (our resident coatimundi and papaya thief) has found a girlfriend, a little furry companion to snuggle with under the sunset.

Walter the Coati

Sometimes I wonder where I’d be if I didn’t go on this adventure. If we listened to Rob’s friend who told us that there was nothing special out there.

“Why should you be happy?” he said.

But even during the stressful times, I still believed there were swings under palm trees. And maybe that’s all you need to know. Believe when others don’t. Find the people who are doing what you want to do. Nothing is impossible, even if your timeline has changed. Even when the world has paused.

Rob said it best in the EXPATS episode, “Treat life like an adventure. Get that spirit back you had when you were a kid.”

I rediscovered mine in a place with butterflies and macaron sunsets. Yours may be on a rooftop deck in Manhattan, or a snowy ski chalet in Switzerland. All I know is it wasn’t where I was standing before this journey, in front of that friend, telling me that unhappiness was inevitable.

Fall back in love, go for the gold, and let this year be the one that made all the difference. Lean on the ropes while waiting for the bell to ring.

And when it does, come out swinging.

(My journey started with my first book, Happier Than A Billionaire. I’ve written more about moving to Costa Rica, and You can find them here. If you are looking for Rob and I talking about our life in Costa Rica, you can find the EXPATS episode here.)

 

Stranded in Costa Rica, Waterfalls & a Funny Mother-in-Law

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:06-04:00 January 27th, 2018|Categories: Uncategorized|

Mother-in-law

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Car towed on flatbed to garage— Thirty Dollars

My mother-in-law, Joanna, is visiting and she’s having a blast. At nearly seventy years old she refuses to be sidelined.  Every morning my husband asks, “Do you want to—?”

Before he can even finish his sentence, she always answers, “Yes! I don’t care what it is.” Now I know where Rob gets it from. Joanna wants to have a good time, so we’ve been busy taking her around to our favorite hot-spots. Every day here has been a perfect one.

The other morning we took her boogie boarding at Sugar Beach. My husband positioned her on the board, pushed her into the waves, and simultaneously drowned himself in the process. I watched this sequence of maneuvers repeated again and again for over an hour. Joanna left the ocean laughing and exhilarated. Rob emerged from the bottom of the sea like Sigmund the Sea Monster. (Wait for the laugh in the video, it’s contagious…)

It was also a challenging week since Rob took our best camera into the ocean, and to his surprise, it got wet. I told him not to, but like all Busted Camerahusbands who suffer from hearing loss when their wives speak, he did it anyway, and now it looks like this…

Being the frugal and savvy people we think we are, we attempted to fix it ourselves. And we got pretty close. At the very end of the reassembly process, we broke something completely unrelated to the original problem. My husband’s solution? Stick a piece of aluminum foil in there.

“This should have it working in no time!” he said. But it didn’t, so now I’m sending the camera to a Canon repair facility where the technician will wonder what fool stuck aluminum foil inside our camera. I plan to say the camera came that way. No need to incriminate oneself.

We also had a short in our laptop’s magnetic DC connector. I asked Rob not to use it until I can replace the broken piece. But he didn’t listen and consequently shorted out the logic board. That’s really bad guys… like bring in the bugle and play Taps bad. But since I’m the IT person around here and have the same temperament as every office IT guy, I angrily removed the logic board and cooked it in the oven at 375 degrees for seven minutes in a half-baked attempt to resolder its connections. People who do not live near a Genius Bar do these kinds of things, folks. And this genius idea resulted in a logic board with nice crispy edges that will never do anything logical again.

Llanos de Cortez Waterfall

To cheer ourselves up, we all piled into the car and headed out to Llanos de Cortez Waterfall. Joanna quickly jumped in and swam straight to the edge of the pounding water. She then rolled over and floated like an otter for over an hour while staring up at the clouds. She acts like a kid in any body of water. I love showing people the beauty of Costa Rica. Every time we think we’ve found the best spot, we find another that’s even more spectacular.

We were once again having a perfect day, and I said precisely that on the ride back when suddenly our car lost its power steering, brakes, and smoke began billowing from the engine. Luckily, we made it to a gas station where a large, circular metal wheel that turns the fan and belts fell off the car and into a puddle of anti-freeze. I’m not even sure what to call this part, but I’m guessing it’s a flywheel since it flew right off our car.

What sound did it make, you ask? The sound of defeat. I could once again hear Taps being played in the background while I stood up and saluted. It was the respectful thing to do for a vehicle that has been a loyal soldier for many years.

I write a lot about this car. It has made its way into all of my books: Happier Than A Billionaire, The Sequel, The Costa Rica Escape Manual, and my latest and best work, An Acre in Paradise. We should have retired her years ago but Rob keeps saying, “We’ll get one more year out of it.” And remarkably, he’s been right. But to have a large metal piece fall from your engine seems like a call for mercy, and this might be the end of the road.

The gas station attendant looked underneath, as well as a taxi driver, and a few other people who all shook their heads and said, “Grave.” Which means serious in Spanish, but let’s just use the English version of the word and all agree that this car should be buried six feet underground.

Just then a mechanic named Jeff showed up and explained to Rob that we had options. This intrigued my husband, and he listened as Jeff said we could buy a new part for over seven hundred dollars.

“Absolutely not,” Rob said. “What else you got?”

Jeff then described how he could solder the piece with a stick of gum and a bag of squirrels.

“Yes. That’s the plan,” Rob exclaimed with arms raised like we had just won the car repair lottery.

So we left our car with a guy named Jeff who swiftly towed it to his garage/house. We have no idea where his shop is located, which left me with a logical question for my husband: “What if we never see this guy again?”

“If he’s desperate enough to steal a car like that, he can have it.” Rob said. “It might actually be the best result we can hope for.”

So our waterfall day ended up with a taxi ride back from Liberia, in a car that was in worse shape than the one we left behind, hoping we will/or will not see Jeff ever again. From my experience, we will because we’ve witnessed incredible acts of kindness many times before in Costa Rica.

The day ended up exactly how it was meant to. We met friendly new people, got home safe, and laughed it all off while reminiscing about swimming under an incredible waterfall with Rob’s hilarious mother.

Perfect days come in many different forms. Sometimes they end with boogie boarding at the beach and other times you break down on the side of the road. But I’ll take them all. Because even though our car fell apart, earlier that day I swam under a waterfall with people that I love.

And that’s pretty perfect to me.

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