The Legislative Assembly approved in a second debate the law that seeks to encourage film investments in the country. This Law declares as public interest the attraction of investments by the international film industry in Costa Rican territory, its promotion, and the generation of productive chains.
The importance of this Law relies on the positioning of Costa Rica as a destination for filming, which would imply a growth in the consumption of goods and services through an increase in foreign capital investment, a rise in the hiring of Costa Rican personnel, an additional incentive for tourism, and the opportunity to develop Costa Rican talent in the entire range of audiovisual production.
The concept of film activities includes short, medium, and full-length films, documentaries, series, and soap operas; reality shows, audiovisual marketing, commercials, and video clips; T.V. series; cartoons, digital animations, and video games.
The Law establishes four specific tax incentives:
- Exemption from income tax on dependent or independent personal work and from withholding for remittances to actors, actresses, directors, producers, technical personnel, and all other individuals necessary for the development of the project, provided that such payments are not made with Costa Rican source funds.
- Exemption for the temporary import of equipment and spare parts for film and audiovisual production.
- Exemption for the importation of tools, clothing, makeup, scenography, and technical material.
- Exoneration of 90% of the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on purchases of Costa Rican goods or services exceeding a cost of $500,000. The remaining 10% will be allocated to the fund administered by the Costa Rican Center for Cinematographic Production of the Ministry of Culture for audiovisual promotion, known as “El Fauno.”
As a non-monetary bonus, immigration procedures are facilitated for foreigners who are required for the development or execution of approved projects.