In This Issue: Turtles, Bicycles, and Ladies
Here’s hoping that everyone enjoyed a great Thanksgiving and is well on their way to getting ready for Christmas. Karen and I are back stateside for Thanksgiving and greatly enjoying ourselves, particularly with shopping and food being as cheap as it is when compared to Costa Rica.
A lot of news as usual. I’ll devote some time to the luxury home tax which is still up in the air plus another new law that snuck in that like the problems with the one about up-dating your bank account information is probably going to impact all of us. Now, as usual, Matapalo news first.
MATAPALO
Turtle Festival. This was a first and hopefully not the last. For three days in November Matapalo celebrated the turtle program with live entertainment, boxing matches, food and drink, dancing, a surfing competition, volleyball and soccer matches and who knows what else. The festival culminated in new hatchlings being released.
Bikes for Matapalo. Just got an e-mail from Bobby Workman about this. He evidently is in the bicycle business now. He’s worked out a deal with a U.S. company to buy bicycles and have them shipped down and is selling them at very, very affordable prices. This has been done twice with 55 bicycles being sold in three hours the last time a shipment arrived. All told 100 bikes have been brought in. As has become typical when something needs to be done the good folks from Hacienda Matapalo stepped forward this time paying the shipping charges. Bobby is making up another order so if you want a bike contact him at either 8889-2913 or .
Ladies Groups. There are two ladies groups in the area which meet monthly for lunch just to socialize and have some fun. One meets in Quepos, the other in the Uvita area. For info when they meet you can contact Melissa Anderson about the Quepos group () or Karen () about the Uvita group.
Chris Cobb’s Blog. Chris has started a blog which is really informative and impressively done. The pictures he has posted and which you can download for use as wall paper are professional quality. The link is http://ccobb.net/blahblahblog. [ Thank you, Frank :) ]
PAVING & BRIDGES
When Karen and I left for the states about three weeks ago the second layer of asphalt had been laid all the way from the Savegre to Hatillo. The laying of this second layer further widened the roadbed about another 4 – 4 1/2 feet with a slight slope from the center to ensure water run off during the rainy season. Laying of the second layer from the Savegre to Quepos is underway both from the Savegre towards Quepos and from Quepos towards the Savegre.
From Hatillo on down to Dominical a tremendous amount of road bed preparation had been accomplished. The Hatillo by-pass had been opened. That along with the other road bed work that had been done made the trip from Hatillo to Dominical a very easy and fast drive.
With the opening of the Parrita bridge and the widening of the Savegre bridge to two lanes there is now no more waiting to cross any bridges when going towards Jaco. The only bridge left to be done and for which for some reason work hasn’t even been started on is the bridge crossing the Nuevo Hatillo.
NATIONAL NEWS
Luxury Home Tax. This is still up in the air and totally confusing. The formal name is Solidarity Tax. www.amcostarica.com is the only news source publishing any information. Insidecostarica has published one article which was verbatim of one published by amcostarica, The Tico Times has published one article. None of the Spanish language newspapers have published anything although a lot of Ticos potentially fall under this taxation. For those of you who have missed these articles on page 4 of each days edition of amcostarica towards the bottom is a red banner with a lit bomb and starts out “ATTENTION EXPATS.” Click on this and it will take you to the past articles.
Talking to people who have talked to others about this law elicits many different stories. A lot of people, Ticos and Expats both, haven’t heard about it. Lawyers are as confused as everyone. Some lawyers haven’t even heard of it, others give grossly divergent information and offer services as divergent as the information they give out.
Karen and I have always dealt with the law firm Facio y Canas. They are offering two services. One is where the individual determines the value of their property with Facio y Canas providing guidance and assistance in completing the required forms and filing those forms electronically. That by the way is the only way the forms can be filed. Also, payments of the assessments have to be made electronically.
The other service is Facio y Canas hires a certified civil engineer to assess your property, once the assessment is filed Facio y Canas completes the forms and files them for you. The BIG positive on this is the civil engineer certifies his work so if the government disagrees with the assessment the liability rests with the civil engineer not you the individual. With the government reserving the option of assessing a fine of FIVE times the taxable amount if they disagree with your assessment that is a big safety valve. Facio y Canas’ fee for this is US$1400.00. Karen and I elected this route.
Also, for those of you thinking of taking a wait and see attitude…the fine for not filing is TEN times the taxable amount. A lot of people think this will be fought in Sala IV but so far no news of anyone filing a suit.
New Income Tax Law. This was reported in last Friday’s amcostarica and affects everyone who has paid any merchant, handyman, doctor, lawyer, etc., etc., etc., a cumulative amount of 50,000 Colones for the taxable year. Evidently, sometime last year the government passed a revised income tax law that not only requires someone who works to file an income tax form it requires that anyone who pays someone that cumulative amount to also file a tax form showing who the monies were paid to and how much was paid.
The philosophy behind this is a lot of Ticos hedge on filing returns so if who ever pays them has to also file a form showing how much they paid an individual the government can cross reference forms and go after those Ticos who either do not file or who hedge on their returns. It also works in reverse in identifying those who do not file what they paid someone. Of course, the deadline to file was this past Monday. The only reason the article was publsihed was the legislature again changed the law to require filing of forms every three months vice yearly.
Knee Jerk Reaction. A lot of Expats legally own firearms. That is up for review. A little over a month ago some OIJ officers gave chase to a car of suspicious individuals. It turns out these individuals were Jamaicans who were in the country illegally. Some of them had been here for some time and were well known to law enforcement officials. A gun battle ensued with one OIJ office being killed and one wounded. Weapons used by the Jamaicans were fully automatic weapons that are banned from even bringing them into Costa Rica. This resulted in an up-roar which in turn resulted in President Arias issuing a decree stopping the issuance of weapon permits to Expats and ordering that all existing permits be “rigorously” reviewed. Guess if you’re in the country illegally with an illegal weapon you’re OK.
Banco de Costa Rica. BCR is some what getting in step with credit card and debit card usage. In the past if you lost or had your credit card or debit card stolen regardless of which Costa Rican bank issued it you were fully responsible for what ever was charged to it or withdrawn from your account. Now, BCR is somewhat catching up with other countries. If you report your credit card or debit card lost or stolen you are only responsible for 20% of any illegal or unauthorized charges or withdrawals…that is…effective three days after the reported loss or theft. During those three days you’re still fully responsible for everything.
COST OF LIVING – Up, Up, Up, and Away!!!!
Exchange Rate. Today’s rate at BCR is up to 571 Colones to the dollar. A few days ago the exchange rate was down in the low 540s.
Fuel. Presently, Super runs 564 Colones per liter (US$3.75 per gallon), Regular 547 ($3.64) and Diesel 488 ($3.24). It’s been reported that in December prices will increase.
Food. Poultry, eggs and dairy products continue to increase in costs. The Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Comercio just released figures that the Canasta Basica (the basic food stuffs a family of four consumes each month) increased 7,436 Colones (US$13.02) from October 2008 to October 2009.
Electricity Rates. Electric bills are a big thing with everyone now a days. The following may shed some light on your electric bill. According to a brochure issued by ICE (Tarifas Electricas 2009) ICE uses a three tiered tariff system. The first 200 kilowatt hours (kwh) are billed at 61 Colones per kwh. This increases to 110 Colones per kwh for the next 201 to 300 kwh used. Above 300 kwh the rate is 151 Colones for each kwh. If you are one of the fortunate few who actually get an electric bill you can look under Servicio Brindado to find out the service period (month) and then under Consumo KWH to find out your usage.
ICE indicates there will be a major rate increase in January but hasn’t announced what the rate increase will be.
FREE HIGH SPEED WIFI. If you live in Panama that is. In October Panama started offering free high speed WIFI to those living in the country’s 20 most populated areas. By June of 2010 it will be offered country wide to anyone who wants it. Panama is able to do this because of a special tax enacted about five years ago which was ear marked to be used solely for infrastructure improvement.
That’s it for this newsletter. Stay safe and happy.
Frank and Karen
Lot 12, Finca Zacatona
011-506-8887-1933
