Costa Rica News – Some of you might remember a few years back Costa Rica agreed to offer fiscal transparency. Like most things in Costa Rica, they did not really put anything into action and law until they were required to do so. Well the day of implementation is now.
The government plan aims to bring to Costa Rica from the gray list of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).Costa Rica agreed in April 2009 to meet the standards of the OECD to get off this list.
The 48 deputies present in the legislature unanimously approved the plan of fiscal transparency. The information will be shared with the United States and many other countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and France.
The agreement allows officials from other countries may even be present at tax audits when companies or individuals are audited here. These officials will also have full access to bank records and financial statements of their citizens and foreign-owned companies. So for all of you that have been doing things unethically or avoiding paying your taxes in full, you need to talk to your local Costa Rica CPA to get things sorted quickly.
In addition, tax authorities with be notified in the person’s home country when a person opens a bank account here – and information about property owned by foreigners in Costa Rica will also be shared with officials from their home countries.
The goal is to prevent the potential for tax avoidance and evasion.
I agree that people should follow the letter of the law when it comes to paying taxes, but to me this is more a sham by the OECD to allow the USA and other countries to collect from their citizens…….but what will be the end result?
Will this just be another negative law forced on expats that live and work in Costa Rica and drive more people away? How is this going to be enforced? Will the people with money be able to buy their way out of having this law apply to them?
When it comes to starting and running a business in Costa Rica most people saw it as a place to get away from the high taxes in the USA or other countries with high income tax and business tax laws.
Large corporations get tax breaks and save money by outsourcing their operations abroad due to the fact it helps the economies in which they are located. Why can’t the small business owner get the same treatment if they decide to set up shop in a foreign country?
How close are we to people saying……..ENOUGH????
