San Joseculture & etiquette

Costa Rica requires every resident to be registered with and contributing to the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. It is checked when your residence is approved and again at every renewal — an unpaid CAJA account will stall a renewal outright. Contributions are calculated on your declared income rather than being a flat premium, so a retiree declaring a USD 2,500 monthly income pays substantially more than a modest fixed amount. Budget for it as a permanent monthly line, and note that it buys you real healthcare rather than being a pure tax.

Costa Rica taxes on the territorial principle under Ley 7092: income from services rendered, capital used and property located in Costa Rica is taxable, and income genuinely sourced abroad generally is not. That is a real advantage. What it is not is a blanket exemption. Income you earn from Costa Rican clients or a Costa Rican company is Costa Rican-source however it is paid, the territorial rule has been narrowed in specific cases involving passive income in international structures, and holding property through a company brings its own annual filings. Get the source of each income stream determined properly rather than assuming the shorthand covers you.

The 2021 law that lowered the investor threshold to USD 150,000 also attached genuine benefits — one-off duty-free import of household goods, up to two vehicles free of import taxes and VAT, a 20% reduction in property transfer tax, and exemption from income tax on the sums declared to qualify. Those benefits were available to people who applied within the law's first five years, and applicants who got in keep them for ten years from the grant. Confirm directly with the DGME whether the window is still open before you plan a container shipment or a car import around it.

Costa Rica has postal codes on paper and essentially nobody uses them. Directions are given as a distance and a compass direction from a known landmark: '200 metres north and 50 east of the church in Escazú'. One hundred metres means one block, whatever its actual length. Landmarks sometimes no longer exist — the antiguo higuerón, a fig tree in San Pedro cut down decades ago, is still a reference point. Deliveries, taxis, utilities and your bank will all ask for a description like this. Write yours down and keep it in your phone.

San José sits at roughly 1,150 metres, which in the tropics means daytime temperatures in the mid-twenties and nights in the high teens, all year, with no air conditioning and no heating required. It is one of the most comfortable urban climates anywhere. From May to November expect clear mornings and a hard afternoon downpour — plan meetings before two o'clock, and note that the humidity means mould in poorly ventilated flats is a genuine and common problem.

Imported goods, cars and electronics carry heavy duties, electricity is expensive despite being almost entirely renewable, and Escazú and Santa Ana are priced for an international clientele. Groceries in a supermarket cost close to North American prices; groceries at the weekly feria del agricultor do not. People arrive having budgeted for Nicaragua or Guatemala and find themselves closer to Portugal. The compensation is a functioning state, drinkable tap water and no army since 1948.