Household goods, car and pet to Costa Rica: the exemption that is closed, the car you don't take, and a chip for the animal

For five years the move to Costa Rica was cheaper than to almost any other country outside Europe: new residents brought their household goods and two cars into the country free of tax. Those five years ended on 14 July 2026, and that changes the sum of every container.

The household goods: duties and VAT, since July

Law 9996 of 2021 gave pensionados, rentistas and inversionistas a one-off exemption from all import taxes for their household goods. The ICT describes the condition: the benefits could only be applied for in the first five years of the law, and those ended on 14 July 2026. Whoever was granted them earlier keeps them ten years. Whoever comes now falls under the ordinary customs rules.

Those rules are in the customs calculation instruction: on the customs value of what you ship comes the import duty of the tariff heading concerned, the emergency levy of one percent, and on top thirteen percent VAT. Used things are valued low — that is the reason a container with a used household stays affordable — but everything that looks new or is still in the box is taxed as trade.

Have your mover make a detailed inventory with values, have the clearance done by a Costa Rican customs agent, and consider per piece whether it is worth the shipping plus the tax. The containers go via Rotterdam or Antwerp to Puerto Limón on the Caribbean side or Caldera on the Pacific, in five to eight weeks.

The car: a good seventy percent, so no

Costa Rica taxes an imported car more heavily than almost any country Dutch people move to, and the calculation instruction works it out. On the customs value comes the selective consumption tax — in the customs example 48 percent, and the percentage rises with the age of the car — plus one percent emergency levy. On that comes an estimated profit margin of 25 percent, and on that whole the VAT of 13 percent. All together a good seventy percent of the value of the car.

The two cars to be imported free from the law of 2021 closed with the law. So count on selling in the Netherlands and buying in Costa Rica — where cars are expensive for exactly the same reason, so count generously, and count on a used car with four-wheel drive if you're going to live outside the valley.

The driving licence: homologation without exam

As a tourist you drive on your Dutch driving licence. As soon as you have the DIMEX, you have it homologated: a Costa Rican licence based on the Dutch one, without theory or practical exam. The MOPT names the requirements: an official translation of your licence, a valid residence status, the medical — the dictamen médico, at an accredited doctor — your passport or DIMEX, and no outstanding fines. The fees are 5,000 colones plus bank charges.

You make the appointment online in the system of the driver accreditation service, without login details and without prepayment, at one of thirteen offices. The procedure is personal: nobody can do it for you. After the approval you print the card at the Banco de Costa Rica. Keep your Dutch licence valid for the visits to the Netherlands.

The pet: chip, vaccinations, and two clocks

SENASA, the veterinary service, publishes the requirements through the Ministry of Agriculture. A dog or cat from the Netherlands needs:

• a chip, with the number on the certificate;
• a valid rabies vaccination if the animal is older than three months;
• for dogs the vaccinations against distemper, hepatitis, parvo and leptospirosis; for cats against feline rhinotracheitis, calicivirus and panleukopenia;
• a deworming against internal and external parasites within fifteen days before arrival;
• a clinical examination within two weeks before the journey.

Everything goes on one official health certificate from the competent authority — in the Netherlands the NVWA — with per vaccine and treatment the date, the brand, the lot number and the validity. If the animal travels with you as luggage, no import permit is needed; if it goes as freight, it is, through a customs agent. Whoever wants to return to the Netherlands with the animal takes the titre determination from before departure along: you need it again for the return journey.

The two clocks — fifteen days for the deworming, two weeks for the examination — hang on your travel date. Plan the vet on them, not the other way round.