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Visit our new and improved web site.  It will have lots of information about Costa Rica at your finger tips plus a social aspect to it to interact with others in the community.  The social aspect will allow you to gain information from others about Costa Rica.

To fully enjoy all the benefits of the social part of the site please sign up and log in. 

Living in Costa Rica Today

Meat Products Escape New 13% Food Tax

Most cuts of beef, almost 95 percent, will not have the 13 percent sales tax levied upon them. This was agreed by the Finance Ministry after discussions with the livestock sector in the country.

Products such as ground beef, steaks, liver, beef, tongue, palette post, among other popular choices for consumers will remain free of this new tax making them still affordable for the poorer class of the country.
“This decision gives back to the middle class consumer and lowers the possibility of consuming less beef products” said Enaldo Miranda , executive director of the Livestock Development Corporation (CORFOGA).
The cuts that are going to pay taxes like the tenderloin steaks and beef tenderloin, along with their derivatives: T-Bone, Porter House, New York Steak, Delmonico, sirloin, sea meat (breaded or marinated) and tenderized meat .

Enaldo Miranda said, when it published the first decree (which provided the products to be paying the tax), consumption of meat had decreased by more than 40 percent, according to monitoring done in butcher shops and supermarkets.

We try to negotiate with the Ministry of Finance, showing the errors that the decree had produced and in this way facilitated the negotiations. They had a lot of disorder and now we are clear. Now only 4 or 5 percent of meat is taxed while the rest remains untaxed. ” he said.

Conversations between the Ministry of Finance and other sectors such as pigfarmers, beekeeping and fishing, also had positive results.

The natural bee honey and fish for public consumption like the baby shrimp and tilapia were exempt from the tax this week.

For these changes, others were made that allowed tax free products such as bread and milk.

Costa Rica Banks Buckle Down On Foreigners

Foreigners who have a checking or savings account in the country will need to fill out an immigration identification document for foreigners (Dimex) to avoid problems in banks.

Since last January the General Regulation governing legislation against drug trafficking, related activities, money laundering, terrorist financing and organized crime, has placed these stipulations on banking and foreigners.
Foreigners are given a year of time limit for submission of Dimex by foreigners who have bank accounts in the country.

According to the Regulations, when the time limit expired, the bank may suspend the service or restrict the type or amount of services the bank offered, according to “the categorization of risk” customer.

According to Carlos Melegatti, director of Central Bank Financial Services – the use of a single document to identify foreigners permits a “traceability” or monitor any transactions conducted in the banking system. This happens with the Costa Rican, they have a universal identification that is the identification card.

Mario Zamora, Security Minister explained that this was the “link” that was pending to follow any irregular transactions.

The remarks came yesterday during the press conference which announced the mandatory use of Dimex for interbank transfers through the National Electronic Payments System (SINPE) from 1. July.

Now banks seek to apply the update mechanisms of identification for foreigners clients.

Anabelle Ortega, director of the Chamber Banking, explained that for the moment, there is no counting the number of accounts that are owned by foreigners.

The standardization process of the identities of migrants began in 2005 and since 2008 began with the issuance of Dimex.

Kattia Rodríguez, Director of Immigration, said that for the moment about 382,000 people have this document and they are still missing about 65,000 that have applied.

It appears to me that if you received a cedula for residency since 2008 you have the required ID.  To be on the safe side those with bank accounts should ask the bank if their ID is correct for doing business at the bank.

Migration will give special attention to people who have expired identification, the Costa Rican foreign parents of children and individuals who provide domestic and agricultural work.

Spanish Classes For Those Living In Costa Rica

This is a great opportunity for those living in the Central Valley close to Escazú.  Central Vally Spanish School is going to have a class designed for those living in Costa Rica.  They are going to offer "Beginning Conversational Spanish For Everyday Use" which is a 20 hour course for $199 USD.  The classes will be held on Saturday mornings for 5 weeks starting June 9th.

For more information contact them at:  2294-5412 or email them at:  info@centralvalleyspanishschool.com

Paypal Merchant Services in Costa Rica VIA Banco Nacional

After years of wondering if the day would ever come, today Costa Rican e-commerce got the boost it was looking for.

Leading online payment processor, Paypal, today announced their alliance with Banco Nacional (BN).
What this means is that now, online sellers located in Costa Rica, can place a Paypal button on their online store and when the transaction is processed, it will done through Banco National.

In order to utilize this long overdue method of accepting payments online, all you need is a Paypal account and then later link it with their Banco Nacional account.

PayPal is a leading global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. They are owned by Ebay.

Originally, a PayPal account could be funded with an electronic debit from a bank account or by a credit card at the payer’s choice. But some time in 2010 or early 2011, PayPal began to require a verified bank account after the account holder exceeded a predetermined spending limit. After that point, PayPal will attempt to take funds for a purchase from funding sources according to a specified funding hierarchy, regardless of what funding source is listed as “primary” in the account-holder’s profile.

Gas Prices Set To Lower Next Month

The Regulatory Authority for Public Services (Aresep) prepares a ¢47 decrease in the price of gasoline Plus next month.

The price of that fuel will go from ¢735 to ¢688. Meanwhile super will see a price drop from ¢746 to ¢700.
Another product that will decrease will be diesel, but only ¢15 per liter. Today the price is ¢667 and the reduction would pass to ¢652.

The reduction is produced by reducing prices in the international market.

This will be the first reduction in oil prices so far this year.

This is good news for consumers, but then again we will see an increase of 39¢ in petrol super, ¢27 in the plus and a reduction of 8¢ per liter on diesel again here shortly.

100% Tico-Made Social Network Language Tool

This  past March 30th, the MY BABILON social network started to create its own history, as it was brought to Costa Rica as a tool for communication in interaction between people.

This new social network was 3 years in development and allows people to have online conversations in different languages simultaneously.

According to its creator, Mr. Diego Garro, this Social Network is a pioneer in breaking the language barrier, as two people speaking different languages  can be understood in the native language of each implemented by an attachment to each sentence is translated into the language that is configured in the profile of the person immediately.

MY BABILON is a social network 100% free and Costa Rican made with pure technology policy.
According to its creator, this new tool has received in the early hours of “life” more than 43 000 visits. Also can be linked with other tools like Facebook and Twitter.

If you want to be part of this new social network, you only need to register at www.mybabilon.com

It Has Been a While

It has been a while since I made any post here.  I have been busy working on a new web site for Central Valley Spanish School, it is not yet complete.  The project moves on and it will bring Central Valley Spanish School into a new direction and focus on live online Spanish classes.  These classes will be personalized for each student and be interactive with your live teacher in Costa Rica.

For those wishing to enroll now we are accepting students now at a savings.  These prices are reflected in the web site.