Privacy

At this time Costa Rica has signed a Treaty with the United States, but it is has not signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the US. Moreover, Costa Rica is not a participant in the European Union Savings Directive. As such, Costa Rica offers a high level of privacy for EU citizens but a significantly lower level of privacy for American citizens. Nevertheless, American investors are able to maintain a high level of asset security thanks to the lack of a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the US and Costa Rica. Overall, Costa Rica has not shown a strong commitment to maintaining the privacy of its foreign investors as evidence by its willingness to share information with the United States.

Below is a brief description of three major types of agreements that affect the level of privacy a jurisdiction has to offer. Please remember that the factors listed below may affect citizens of different countries differently. While citizens of countries outside the U.S. and the EU are not directly affected by the following, they can use the information below to gain a general understanding of the jurisdiction’s commitment to protecting privacy. For example, it makes sense to assume that a jurisdiction that has not yet signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement has a higher level of commitment to protecting the privacy of offshore investors than one that has. Of course, the level of privacy within the jurisdiction may be affected by other factors not described below; these factors are simply those most likely to have a significant impact on an investor’s offshore experience.