Taxes Treasury Secretary of Costa Rica taxes Agriculture Asamblea Legislativa (Costa Rica) agricultural sector raising taxes Agronomy Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Costa Rica) Tax declaration property tax Ley para la preservación del uso agropecuario de los terrenos paying taxes tax reform CAFTA-DR

Costa Rica: Tax Exemption Overlaps with CAFTA

A bill under discussion, that would exempt or establish the removal of property tax paid by farmers, might violate the provisions of the FTA with the United States, Central America and Dominican Republic.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

According to an article in Elfinancierocr.com, among other accusations against the approval of this project, the Technical Standards Body (ONT) at the Ministry of Finance, "emphasized their concern that the partial tax reduction to be received by farmers is a waiver in disguise that would go against what was negotiated by Costa Rica as part of CAFTA. "

The ONT has even suggested changing the term "exemption", which is used in the DR-CAFTA, to "being unaffected" ("no afectación" in Spanish).

Source: elfinancierocr.com

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Key entities

Asamblea Legislativa (Costa Rica) Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Costa Rica) Treasury Secretary of Costa Rica

Countries

Costa Rica

Insight

CAFTA-DR CAFTA-DR implications property tax Tax declaration agricultural sector Ley para la preservación del uso agropecuario de los terrenos Taxes Agriculture

Costa Rica: Taxes Lowered on Farmland

August 2012

The newly approved project establishes tax calculations based on the historical value of the properties, not applying the rates developed by the Ministry of Finance in 2008.

The tables compiled by the Ministry of Finance "equate the value of agricultural land to urban and tourism projects, which made the price of farms engaged in agriculture go through the roof", reported Nacion.com

Taxes on Agricultural land

August 2012

In Costa Rica a property tax which does not distinguish between use of the properties in question, has the agriculture sector on the brink of war.

Lined up on the other side are mayors of dozens of rural towns for which the tax is virtually the only source of income.

According to an article in Elfinancierocr.com "Of the 5.11 million hectares that make up the Costa Rican territory, 1.7 million is earmarked for agricultural use (33%). This considerable amount causes the same sleepless nights for farmers as for municipalities , when they respectively pay and receive, land taxes. "

New List of Products Exempt from VAT

May 2012

In Costa Rica, the Ministry of Finance has published a new list of products exempt from the basic VAT of 13%.

The Ministry of Finance has decided to include in the list of exemptions meats such as steaks, ground beef, sirloin tip, brisket, liver and tongue, and others.

Also exempted is honey, fish, other than those consumed by higher income sectors, such as tuna filets, cod and salmon, reported Nacion.com.

Discussion about technical and financial assistance for CAFTA-DR

November 2008

Representatives from the US, CA and the Dominican Republic met in Santo Domingo to analyze the need for technical assitance for the signed in CAFTA-DR 2004.

The director of Foreign Trade and Administration of the Treaty from the Dominican Ministry of Industry and Trade, Pablo Amaury Espinal, said that one of the objectives of the meeting is for the Committee for the Strengthening of the Commercial Capacity of the FTA to present an operational plan in 2009 that will allow the signatory countries to the agreement to access more resources.