PRODUCTION – EXPORT INCENTIVES IN COSTA RICA
(FREE TRADE ZONE SYSTEM BENEFITS)

• 100% Exemption from payment of all taxes and duties on imports of raw materials, manufactured or semi-manufactured products, components and parts, packaging and container materials, machinery and equipment, as well as those of their accessories and spare parts, and on imports of motor vehicles required for production, management and transportation, as well as other merchandises and goods required for their operation.
• 100% Exemption from all taxes associated with the exportation or re-exportation of products.
• 100% Exemption for a term of ten years counted from the start of the operations from payment of taxes on capital and net assets, and from payment of the tax on transfer of real estate.
• 100% Exemption from sales and excise taxes on purchases of goods and services.
• 100% Exemption from all taxes on remittances abroad.
• Exemption from all taxes on profits (Income tax), as well as any other which taxable base is determined on the basis of the gross or net profits, the dividends paid to shareholders or income or sales. The exemption shall be one hundred percent (100%) for a term of up to eight years and fifty percent (50%) for the following four years.
• 100% Exemption from all municipal taxes and licenses for a term of ten years.
• Companies operating under the Free Zone System can freely perform and enter into all kinds of acts and contracts in foreign currency.
• The export processing companies, beneficiaries of the Free Zone System, which after four years of operating under such Regime do reinvest in the country can receive an additional exemption from payment of income taxes, in accordance with the following parameters:

1. If the reinvestment exceeds twenty-five percent (25%) of the original investment, the exemption shall be for one additional year.
2. If the reinvestment exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the original investment, the exemption shall be for two additional years.
3. If the reinvestment exceeds seventy-five percent (75%) of the original investment, the exemption shall be for three additional years.
4. If the reinvestment exceeds one hundred percent (100%) of the original investment, the exemption shall be for four additional years.

• Manufacturing (processing) companies operating under the Free Zone System can introduce into the National Customs Territory up to twenty-five percent (25%) of their total sales (local sales). In the case of service companies the maximum percentage shall be fifty percent (50%). The goods introduced into the national market shall be applied the Customs procedures and taxes typical of any similar importation from a foreign country.