Moving to Costa Rica, to bring or not to bring your furniture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) March 3, 2010 -- This is one of the most controversial decisions when moving or relocating to a foreign country as we don´t know what quality and price of goods we will find. Some important facts to take into consideration for the Costa Rican case are:

- Most furniture pays an import duty of 35% when imported brand new . Even when USA has signed a free trade agreement with Costa Rica, most items purchased in USA are made in China and other south east countries that do not apply to the agreement.

- When importing your used furniture (from your previous home) you will still have to pay duties on the import and the criteria are:

The importer must have entered the country within 90 days prior to clearing Customs.
The items must be for personal use and can not be intended for resale.
The items must be used. ( Used means more then 6 months old)
The importer has to be an adult.
If the shipment meets these criteria, the following items are exempt of duties:

Personal effects such as clothes, shoes, purses.
Personal pictures, videos and CD.
Hand tools for household use.
Portable gym equipment.

All other items pay the same percentage of duties as new items. This does not mean they pay the same amount in duties. It means that they will pay

Books are exempt of duties no matter how they are shipped.
As long as the items are used and you meet the criteria you can declare the value of the items without having to provide proof of the value.

Duties will be based on the CIF value of the goods. CIF=Cost+Insurance+Freight. Because of this, the amount you pay in freight will affect the duties. Most of the times its better to ship more because the more you ship the lower the shipping costs per weight of volume and therefore the lower proportional duties you are going to pay.

If you insure the shipment and the insured amount is printed on the Bill of Lading, you will have to pay duties on the insured amount. Ask your mover about how and where this information may be available and who can see it.

On the the other end you have the choice of buying all your furniture in Costa Rica and there are some good news as most Costa Rican furniture, produced in Costa Rica is of very high quality and of reasonable price.

For instance the Costa Rican made furniture is mainly of reforested wood, manufactured by Costa Ricans under very high standards. Furthermore, if you want to imitate that piece that you had once in your living room you will have no problem as many of the manufacturers are custom makers.

If you are still abroad and you are planning on moving to Costa Rica in a few months you can start your process of purchasing with time as some companies offer an wide array of products through online catalogues. That is the case of
http://www.pacifichomefurnishing.com/ where you will find an extensive catalogue of imported and locally manufactured products.

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