Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes For years, lawyers have recommended using a corporation for property ownership in Costa Rica for resident and non-resident foreigners. For many years, lawyers recommended a corporate structure to own a property because of personal liability, estate planning, tax planning, and a few other reasons. Also, real estate developers used to…
Estimated Reading Time: 12 Minutes Is buying a business in Costa Rica a smart move? Or should you start one from scratch? If you plan to move to Costa Rica, you will need to create an income, right? I know, it’s not so easy to do business in Costa Rica. But don’t worry, we will…
You might not even know you have Costa Rican corporation problems, especially if your corporation owns property in Costa Rica. Or if you own a corporation and are not a citizen or resident. Above all, you don’t want to lose your assets in CostaRica because you are not up to date with your legal obligations, don’t…
I started practicing law in Costa Rica in 2003. At the time, incorporating, or not incorporating a company in Costa Rica to hold real property and other assets, was a straight forward decision. Property buyers were Incorporating a Company for basically 3 reasons: 1. Limited liability aspect afforded by the corporate structure. 2. Anonymity afforded…
Watch the new legal requirements on Anonymous corporations in Costa Rica. In the past, property in Costa Rica was almost customarily purchased into anonymous corporations by foreign buyers. One of the most important reasons was to protect the property for the personal liability of the owner. Another good reason was that several owners could possess a…
Are you amongst the more than 250,000 corporate owners whose corporation was dissolved by the Public Registry for non-payment of the Corporate Tax? If your corporation was dissolved by the Public Registry, what happened to your property? During the real estate boom of 2007-2008, real estate developers set up corporations so that their clients, could…
Now, a Costa Rican corporation filing is also required, if your corporation is inactive. Just paying the 2017 corporation tax is not enough. In another blog, I already explained what and how you can make the 2017 corporation tax payments. The Finance Ministry of Costa Rica has decided that the new corporation tax also requires…
The purchase of a Boutique Hotel on the Caribbean coast can be easy if you know what you’re doing. For an inexperienced hotel buyer and someone who doesn’t know how to do business in Costa Rica, it’s definitely not. Buying a hotel through a FSBO might only be a good option if you have a…
To use a corporation to purchase real estate in Costa Rica is a pretty common way. The purchase transaction usually goes through a shelf corporation or newly constituted one, called an S.A. For many years, attorneys recommended foreigners to use a corporation to purchase real estate for several reasons. Those clients took the recommendation so…
There are some significant changes in the real estate tax procedures in the air that you should know about. In my first blog about Costa Rica Fiscal Transparency, I explained about Costa Rica’s legislation being on the verge of passing two new laws. This will bring about significant changes to the tax structure currently in…
Did you know you can do your own free Costa Rica real estate title check? In fact, if you own property in Costa Rica, you should do this at least once a month. You might ask what for? To make sure the title of your property(ies) is still clear. Registro Nacional (also called Registro Público)…