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Loose Laws in Costa Rica

A U.S.-bound air passenger was found to be carrying nearly $10,000 in counterfeit $100 bills Wednesday, but he was allowed to leave after police confiscated the funny money. The incident took place at Juan Santamaría airport. The Policía Aeroportuaria of the Fuerza Pública said they found 95 fake bills in the pocket of the 34-year-old [...]

IRS reaches Costa Rica

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service announced last week a new initiative to crack down on citizens who are hiding money offshore. The crackdown extends to those U.S. citizens who have control of overseas corporations, what the IRS calls an entity. Many expats in Costa Rica fall into that category if the total amount in bank [...]

IRS in Costa Rica

IRS Winning friends among local bank officials! The sign of things to come: Banco Cuscatlan now requires citizens or resident aliens of the United States to fill out a W9 form for personal accounts at the firm’s banks in Costa Rica. Why?  Because Citigroup bought Grupo Cuscatlan from Corporación UBC Internacional S.A. for $1.51 billion [...]

Money exchange

Most banks have ATM machines (cajero automatico in Spanish); most are part of the country’s ATH (A Toda Hora) or Red Total networks and can accept international cards.  Check with your home bank for transaction charges and if your PIN needs to be converted for use here.  Most times it does not. Lines of epic [...]