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 Phillip Fry
Certified Tax Consultant
To schedule your
initial tax
consultation please
Phillip
email at
incometaxplanning@yahoo.com,
or call him at
(63-906)
510-4000
outside of Philippines
( 63-919)
375-0302
outside of Philippines.
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Hotel Tax May Go, $15
To Be Added To All Airfares To Costa Rica
http://insidecostarica.com,
September 18, 2008
Good news for visitors staying at
hotels in Costa Rica, as the 3% hotel tax could be soon eliminated, but the
bad news is that the government is considering making up the shortfall by
added a us$15 flat fee on all airfares to Costa Rica, if the legislation
currently before the Legislative Assembly is passed.
Currently, guests at hotels in Costa Rica pay a 16% tax on their room (13%
sales tax and 3% hotel tax). The hotel tax on a us$100 a night hotel room
would be us$3, or us$21 for a seven night stay. Paying the lower air tax of
us$15 is cheaper that the hotel tax.,
However, budget travellers would not see the same benefit as the cost for a
stay at a hostel can range from us$10 to us$20 a night. Using a us$15 per
night average, the total tax paid on a seven night stay is only us$3.15.
The objective of the legislation, according to its promoter, Maureen
Ballestero, is to boost revenue for the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT)
- Costa Rican tourism board.
Although the 3% hotel tax collected by the government is sent to the ICT,
more and more visitors are now staying at condos or vacation homes either
owned or rented for their stay, which are not subject to the hotel tax.
Ballestero said that in some cases hotel operators are charging the hotel
tax but not reporting. "There are more hotels and more visitors, but revenue
from the 3% hotel tax has remained the same", said Ballestero.
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