QCOSTARICA – The national insurer, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS), is experiencing what can be considered lukewarm payment of the annual circulation permit, the Marchamo.
Three weeks in, the INS reports only some 121,000 Marchamos – 7% of the total circulation – paid as of Tuesday, November 22. The 2023 Marchamo went on sale on November 1.
This represents a collection of almost ¢25 billion colones of the ¢329 billion the INS expects to collect, an amount that includes the compulsory insurance of vehicles and property tax, the single largest items in the majority of cases, among other things.
Though the INS has not commented on the cause of the lukewarm collections, a coupld of factors come into play: the economic conditions with the rising cost of living and the many reports of inflated fiscal values that determines the tax to be paid.
There have been reports of vehicles having a fiscal value than a brand new vehicle of the same make and model.
Sidney Viales, from INS Compulsory Insurance, said that the INS has received some 4.7 million consultations of the amount to be paid for the Marchamo.
Viales also warned of scammers taking advantage, offering payments of Marchamo at lower (adjusted) amounts or the promise of lowering the fiscal value
Viales warned that there are scammers who are taking advantage of vehicle owners.
The Aguinaldo or Christmas Bonus, an amount equivalent, for simplicity’s sake, to one month’s salary received between December 1 the previous year and November 30 the current year, will start to be paid from December 1.
The law requires ALL employers to pay the Aguinaldo to ALL salaried employees, not later than December 20.
Vehicle owners have until December 31 to pay the Marchamo, after which face sanctions such as traffic fines and/or confiscation of license plates and/or vehicle, in addition to surcharges on the amounts owed.