I recently had two identical situations with two different people. They have to pay the transfer costs for vehicles, and were telling me that I charge too much. That their calculations are lower.

Here is the breakdown of how much it costs to transfer a vehicle worth $10,000 USD.

Detailed Description of the fees and taxes.

1. The Bar Association Fee is set up according to Law N° 3245 from December 1963 and Section 102 of Decree N° 36562-JP from January 2011.
2. The National Registry fee was created by section 1 of Law N° 4656 from 1970.
3. The Treasury fee was created by section 272 of the Treasury Code which is law N° 8 from 1885 and the corresponding amendments through the decades.
4. The Red Cross Fee was created by sections 2, 4, and 7 of Law N° 5649 from 1974, and Law N° 7591 from 1996.
5. The National Park fee was created by section 7 of the National Parks Law N°6084 from 1977.
6. The Archives fee was created by section 3 of the National Archive Law N°43 from 1934.
7. The Farm Fee was created by section 13 of Law N° 5792 from 1975.
8. Transfer tax was created by section 13 of Law N° 7088 from 1987.
9. Notary Public Fees. These fees are based on the fee scheduled issued by the Costa Rican Lawyers Bar Association published in 2015 by decree number 39708-JP.

You can estimate that the total cost for the transfer of the vehicle can be roughly 5.41% of the higher of the purchase price or the tax value of the vehicle. However, the fees may change as some of them are based on a sliding scale, while other ones are fixed. But it is safe to say that it will cost 5.41%. You can see on the table above, which fees are fixed and which ones are based on a percentage. Only the notary public fee is based on a sliding scale.

Wrongfully, some people think that they only have to pay the 2.5% transfer tax, while there more to the equation. 

As some of you know, some people have vehicles in corporations, and therefore, the transfer of a corporation is going to have a different cost compared to the transfer of a vehicle. My suggestion is to first consult an attorney in order to get a clear idea of what the process is and the possible cots related to it.

I hope this information to be helpful.

Regards,