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[quote=”aguirrewar”]In the meantime my 1040 goes back to the USA every year with my taxes while I am living in CR?? Is that FAIR??
Maybe IF you earn Foreign Income while living in CR you should and be taxed in the country you live.[/quote]You have a valid point and I will assume that you are not one of those who continually complain about conditions here.
Not knowing your situation I can assume several scenarios:
1 ~ That you are a tourist visiting occasionally, make your living in a foreign country, do not have any residency here and the sales tax suits that situation in contributing to Costa Rica.
2 ~ That you are a perpetual tourist who basically lives in Costa Rica because of the low cost and have an income, passive or active, from a foreign country. If the sales tax, which is based on the average Tico income of 3 million colons or less per year, is all you are paying you are enriching yourself at the expense of the country.
3 ~ That you have residency in Costa Rica and the sales tax works very well in your favor at the expense of the country, giving you the ability to enrich yourself as you spend only a portion of your income..
As I said, my income is small enough that I am not taxed in the U.S. but my income is much greater than the average Tico income. I am retired and, understanding the financial underpinnings of Costa Rica, I do not complain about the poor condition of the social programs like the Caja and infrastructure of the nation.
Just what is it that these complainers feel that Costa Rica owes them? What is fair?
I do know that there are in excess of 100,000 Americans living here and the number of Canadiens is probably near 15% of that. I have no idea how many Europeans are living in Costa Rica.
I also know that if all expats were taxes at a fair rate that we, whether our incomes are great or small in our eyes, could contribute much to improve what we see as the shortcomings of this society.
[quote=”maravilla”] Out of every 50 expats that I meet, maybe — and that’s a big maybe — one of them is a person with whom i have even the slightest thing in common. The others, well, I am sure they are nice people.[/quote]
Now there’s an answer I can live with.
My social life as far as expats are concerned is pretty much right here on welovecostarica.com. I can ask questions and get knowledgable answers and respond to others with what I know.
No one in the area seems to have the same interests as I do but the locals do. For me it has been more a way of getting back to the type of rural community that I grew up in back in the 1950’s.
[quote=”jimkrica”] One day we meet a couple and the wife is just terrific and the husband is a complete whacko and the next week it’s the other way around.
Is it the type of expat that moves to Costa Rica or is it just us? I’m beginning to wonder.[/quote]
I don’t associate with many Gringos so I can’t address your question but I am really waiting to see what kind of responses you get.:D
My wife belongs to Newconers and a book club but from what she says, and those I have met, the gals all seem to be pretty normal.
[quote=”maravilla”]It;s not the CR banks fault for all this stupid flaming hoops of fire you have to jump through to get a bank account.[/quote]
It isn’t the faxct that it has to be done it’s the way that I’ve heard that it is done.
Freezing your account without notification, forcing you to go to the bank to find out what is needed (calling the bank gets no information) and getting documentation together can take a matter of weeks.
In the meantime you are without access to your money. Depending on your situation you may be without food, rent or mortgage, means of transportation (gasoline for your car or bus fare), bills to be paid could end up getting your electric, phone or water service cut off. Even if they know that the only funds going into your CR bank account come from SS and a pension they will shut you down.
If I have a problem with my U.S. bank they notify me by email and give me an opportunity to correct any issue before freezing my funds and there is no problem in getting the needed information by phone.
[quote=”Disabled Veteran”]waggoner41,
Thanks. We have been with our CR bank for two years, under a corporate account. In order to obtain only a debit card, we now have to provide a copy of our last federal tax return, and have our CR attorney provide the bank with our corporate paperwork. We have to pay our attorney, to provide the bank the same paperwork that was already provided, to open the account. You are correct, they do not appear to want our business badly,or they actually believe that every American is trying to launder money, from pensions![/quote]I just try to find the least hassle way to get things done and our bank has no problem with our location.
One day CR is going to require us to have a CR bank account but I will deal with that when it happens. They just put up too many road blocks.
We are lucky enough to have an attorney/notary who does what she has to do legally and lets me do the footwork. I learn more about how to deal with living here and share information with her regarding the hassles that I deal with in getting things done. It’s different when an attorney handles everything but her attitude is “learn how to live here”.
She is very aware that my ultimate goal is CR citizenship.[quote=”Disabled Veteran”]Can anyone give me addition insight into Costa Rican bank debit cards? We merely need a debit card for expenses, as opposed to paying cash for everything; each time we return to Costa Rica, and once we live there full time. Our current bank offers insurance for the debit card they issue, would this be essential for debit cards in Costa Rica? I currently have a U.S. credit card, with 0% foreign transaction fees. Would my use of this card, trump having a CR bank debit card? Any insight would greatly be appreciated.[/quote]
We still use our U.S. bank and their debit card but we draw local colons to pay cash for all transactions.
Our U.S. bank has a limit of $1,000 per day and charges a better exchange rate than the CR banks.
We have the convernience we had in the States and don’t have to worry about our bank deciding to lock our account because they suddenly see a need for additional documentation.The local banks are requiring two current account holders to vouch for you rather than checking you out in the States so they appear not to want our business very badly.
[quote=”2bncr”] I am talking about fitting your core personality not the various adjustments that come with moving into a different culture,
So if you have to change who you are to fit here, I would say you may want to think twice. It seems these people know what was important to them and who they are, took stock of that and determined Costa Rica was a fit.
They appear not to have come here trying to duplicate their US lifestyle for less.[/quote]
We came to Costa Rica with no expectations other than it was less expensive to live here than in the States giving us the opportunity to do things we could not do in the States. ith inflation hitting here as it is in the States it is nowe costing us what it did when we moved. We adjusted as we would have had to do in the States.
We spoke no Spanish, knew nothing of the culture and based our decision on the beauty of the country and the fact that the people are friendly, helpful and generous. The people react in direct response to our attitude toward them.
For the first year culture shock and stress of trying to get Costa Rica to fit me cost me 1/4 of my bodyweight. My Tico friends helped me through the transition and as time goes by we live more like the Ticos. It’s a matter of flexibility.
The idea that the Ticos are not as happy as we think they are is more a matter of perspective than actuality. I see them as more content with their lives than Americans tend to be.I’m one of those guys with “stuff”, mostly tools, and it does tie one down to a certain extent but that’s OK.
Life is good.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”] Sometimes it isn’t the destination but the journey.[/quote]
No matter where we have been or what we have done it looks like most of us a pretty satisfied with where we have ended up.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether we beat our heads against society or just went with the flow in our previous lives it’s here, it’s now and life is good.
[quote=”caliskatari”] Will I have a big enough pension to just stop working?.. that’s a big worry and question for many people, and is what keeps so many people working into their late 60’s and 70’s. Its the “Money mentality” that goes along with all those other horrible things that are happening on this planet. Its the way to keep people in the system, working, paying taxes, and being taken advantage of – is the mentality that you cannot live a happy life without money, or less of it at least.[/quote]
Although I agree that the typical American is tied up in the concerns that you mention some of us lived a life quite differently than you depict.
Some of us contributed to the system in a positive way rather than play our way through life contributing little. The taxes I paid provided for the infrastructure that was needed to make my life worth living like the roads to my favorite fishing spots.I took each day as it came and didn’t worry about the future except where my kids were concerned. I enjoyed the work that I did until I retired at 67 and I paid my taxes willingly and without complaint.
Nothing much has changed with our move to Costa Rica. I still stay busy doing the things I did before I retired and I still pay taxes here as I did in the States.It’s all a matter of perspective isn’t it?
[quote=”SeanD”]Wow, thank you for the response. Great link to show me a location. The visual helps a lot. Is the whole country rainy for 8 months or just this region?[/quote]
As far as I know its pretty much the whole country but you have to experience it. Although we can get some frog stranglers for the most part the rains behave pretty well. The vast majority are gentle to moderate.
Just talking about where I live, near Ciudad Colon, the mornings are generally clear and sunny with the rain arriving anywhere from 1 to 3 in the afternoons.
Do an internet search using the phrase “pejibaye perez zeledon costa rica” and you will find quite a few web sites where you can glean information.
Having made only one trip into that area I am not really familiar with it but I do suggest you do some research. My wife and I spent more than two years looking at Costa Rica alone before we decided to come down to see what it was all about.
[quote=”SeanD”]We would be relocating as ‘Pensioners’ I guess thats what we would be classified as. We collect SS and a pension for income.
#3.We will be visiting Pejivaye where we will be looking at places to rent or maybe one day purchase. Can anyone give me info on this area? What should we expect and how can we prepare?
Thank you for any info, tips and hints…
Sean[/quote]
You would be classified as pensionados. I can’t give you information on anything except the possible climate there.
The altitude is around 1300 feet so the temperature should range about 65 to 90 degrees year around. You will be coming during the 4 month dry season so you might try to schedule another trip around September to November to see if you can deal with the 8 month wet season. The wet season is my preferred time of year.
[url=http://www.panoramio.com/photo/45377224?source=wapi&referrer=kh.google.com]This is Pejivaye[/url]
[quote=”maravilla”]if you have chickens, you have plenty of eggs and can make your own mayo, which is about 1000% better thany anything you can buy and it’s really easy to make.[/quote]
We’re getting there. So far we have been working on getting the staples together.
My response was in reference to another comment by DV on buying mayo.:lol:
[quote=”Versatile”]From those in CR. How accurate is this article?[/quote]
I’d say it’s very accurate.
I think you can find any lifestyle you want somewhere in Costa Rica. As opposed to their choice, our choice was to live a rural farm type life like I had when I was a child in the 1950’s and I have it.We did come with most of our “stuff” which like the carpentry and metal working tools have come in very useful. Our direction is to get to 75% self-sufficiency for our meals with a garden, fruit trees and chickens. we’ve completed a pigsty and next year a pond to raise Tilapia for the table. We do have it all except the mayo which we must buy.
They say you can’t go back home again. Well maybe not in the same place but we found home here 3 1/2 years ago.
[quote=”sprite”] Which is the “taxable part” of social security?[/quote]
Go to [url=http://www.ssa.gov/planners/taxes.htm]Taxes and your Social Security benefits[/url] on the Social Security website.
If you have income other than Social Security you may be liable to pay taxes on the Social Security portion.[quote=”Scott”]S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about the government’s budget deficits and rising debt burden. The move is likely to raise borrowing costs eventually for the American government, companies and consumers.[/quote]
I don’t think anyone knows where this is going with economc issues world-wide. Europe is in worse condition than the U.S., Japan is recovering from a natural disaster and China is trying to contain inflation.
It isn’t a stimulus that’s needed in Washinton, it’s sanity. Jobs can be created but it is going to take massive cuts in discretionary spending that the Dems don’t want and tax increases beyond the Bush tax cuts that the Repubs don’t want.
If sane people aren’t chosen for this budget committee there will be hell to pay. If they fail the $1.2 trillion fallback isn’t nearly enough to correct the budget and start to restore the credit rating.
If the committee is really serious about correcting the economy the turnaround will have to be over $4 trillion. I don’t see it happening.
