Departure Tax
#1
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Join Date: Jul 2009
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Departure Tax
I just had an unpleasant surprise in viewing my credit card statement. The departure tax at Liberia Airport ($26 per person) is collected by a bank and is payable only by cash or Visa credit card. But if you pay by Visa your American bank views it as a cash advance with all of the appropriate fees, interest, etc. Not big money, but my Chase Visa had a $10.00 minimum transaction fee on a $52.00 "cash advance" so as a percentage it was pretty rough. It would have been cheaper to walk less than 20 feet to the ATM, withdraw the cash, and pay the tax in cash.
#4
Join Date: Jan 2004
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It happened to me about 2 years ago at SJO. Learned my lesson really hard as I made 2 separate exit tax purchases! We had our little granddaughter, and I forgot to buy hers, so did a separate credit card transaction. I had no idea at the time that it was going to cost me $20.00. Whew!
#5
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I guess it will just be a lesson learned. I had intentionally exhausted most of my Colones, but I had the US cash in my pocket and could have easily paid it. I just used the Visa for convenience. Next time I'll know better. I'm sure that somewhere there is a sign posted and I just missed it. Maybe someone else will read this and save a couple of $.
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jeanm
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Dec 14th, 2009 08:45 PM