Costa Rica’s rapid rise in the last decade to become a global hub for foreign direct investment is spurring a new wave of investment opportunities in trending sectors, boosted by an expanded tax incentives package.
Costa Rica is already home to more than 275 high-tech multinational companies like Intel, Amazon, HP Enterprise, P&G, Boston Scientific, St. Jude Medical and Abbott. The country has been successful in fostering a competitive business climate, open to global trade. Rated safest country in Latin America, it focuses its young, bilingual workforce on education, ranked number one in Latin America by the World Economic Forum (WEF) which also acknowledged it as number one in innovation, production process sophistication, availability of engineers and quality of researchers in LATAM.
Often concentrated on the Greater Metro Area, FDI now expands to five non-traditional regions of Costa Rica. Investment projects in biotech, clean energy research and components manufacturing, logistics & services, agro processing for food and non-food products, MRO & FBO, and premium goods manufacturing within these regions can take advantage of expanded incentives under Costa Rica's Free Trade Zone.
Eligible companies can enjoy as low as 0% income tax for 12-year renewable periods, as well as non-expiring 0% taxes on custom duties on imports/exports; withholding tax on royalties, fees and dividends; interest income; sales tax on local purchases of goods or services; and stamp duty. Companies also enjoy 0% taxes for a 10-year period on property taxes, property transfer taxes and operating licenses.
Costa Rica's trademark for sustainability allows companies to gain an ROI on the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. Over 90% of the country's energy comes from renewable sources with 99.43% of national electricity coverage and an energy architecture performance that is ranked 11th globally by the WEF.
“The Upsurge of New Investment Opportunities in Rising Cities,” a publication by the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), highlights these incentives in five designated regions and the six trending industry sectors.
