This Monday, January 15 is the deadline for owners of luxury houses in Costa Rica to pay the “Impuesto Solidario” (Solidarity Tax) without fines.

Best known as the luxury home tax, this tax is to be paid by people who own residential properties in Costa Rica with a total value of ¢129 million colones (approximately $229,600.00 USD) or higher. The value of a property is determined by considering the value of the main construction plus the value of all permanent installations (pool, fence, etc.) if this value exceeds the amount mentioned above then the cost of the land must be calculated and added to the value.

This tax must be declared every three years, but the payment must be done every year; the Solidarity Tax was created in 2009 and therefore this year there’s no need to declare an updated value, except in the case of those who have acquired real estate in the past year with a value of over $229,600.00.

The objective of this tax, and hence its name, is for the funds collected to be used to build houses for families in conditions of poverty.

The amount to be paid for this tax goes from a minimum of 0.25% for properties of up to ¢323 million (approximately $574,940.00 USD) and in increments of 0.05% with a max of 0.55% for properties which value exceeds an approximate $3,458,540.00 USD (¢1,943,000,000.00).

Tax can be paid online through the different bank platforms.