A Costa Rica resident explains how the country doesn't tax foreign income, so U.S. citizens living there keep their American earnings free from Costa Rican taxes. You still owe U.S. taxes, but strategies like depreciation can lower what you pay.
Can I ask you a couple questions? Uh, wow, I knew that already. Um, oh, that's good advice. Where do you live?
I live in Costa Rica.
I heard the taxes— tax stream is pretty good in Costa Rica.
Yeah, so I can get into that, but essentially, like, if you can figure out a way to make money in the US but, you know, make a lot of money here and then live somewhere where there's a tax benefit, then that's a play as well.
So what in Costa Rica— what's the tax benefit of living in Costa Rica?
So essentially, like, you're not taxed on, like, income you make outside of the US. So if you can figure out a way to structure that, which, you know, I won't get into totally, but You basically won't have to pay taxes in Costa Rica.
So if I make money in the United States and I live in Costa Rica, I don't have to pay income taxes on that money in Costa Rica.
But you always got to pay tax in the US. You got to figure out how to get around that with some depreciation or whatever that looks like.
So what's the best advice you would give someone, maybe high income earner or someone who can work remote considering moving to Costa Rica? What would be advice you would give to them to take a look at?
Try to figure out how to be a tax resident of nowhere.
