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| Originally posted by longlegsinlapaz Paulclark, respectfully, the notario is out of the loop well before manifestation time rolls around. volcano, Seguro Social is the responsibility of a separate agency from Catastro/public works. Each agency is only responsible for what falls within their jurisdiction & one agency or group within an agency will RARELY volunteer anything about the next step in the process within their own agency, let alone a different agency! The gal you talked with could/should have told you that Seguro Social is who cares about true value of construction, as it equates to how much workers were paid to build a higher quality finished product than the local construction standards default. There is a "Tourista" classification which is calculated at a higher rate & results in a higher value, but the builders opt to never use that classification when they apply for the building permit, because it's less profit in their pocket! There are two ways to manifest value.... 1. They use a fixed "magic formula" they've come up with for typical local construction & apply their average rate to your total sq meter of construction. Unfortunately the "magic formula" they use is for a much lower quality of construction that most gringos build to. This becomes a problem when you sell & get hit with Capital Gains on the difference between the understated manifested value & your selling price. It's my understanding that Capital Gains went up the first of this year, along with the other tax increases & that it went up from 27% to 30% from dollar-one of profit. This is the route they always push for....it's easier for the agency to simply plug the "magic formula" in & most locals opt for this as a "quick fix" because they don't sell properties like gringos do, they pass them on within the family, plus Mexicans who pay income taxes are not subject to Capital Gains taxes as well. 2. It is possible to have the property manifested at full construction cost, but it requires an authorized architect to do a re-valuation & file it with the appropriate agencies & it's not cheap. I explained it in detail at: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=43112#pid4763... This can either be done now or at the time of sale. IMO, I'd let it ride until when/if you decide to sell. Because over time your property should naturally increase in value. If you wait until you sell, you'd have it re-valued closer to or higher than the selling price & just have to go through (pay) the process once. Your SS issues need to be addressed directly with Seguro Social. I'd take the contract & other paperwork into SS & tell them you want to verify that your builder did indeed pay SS on your construction as he stated was his responsibility in your contract. If you're lucky, they'll let you off the hook & go after the builder as they did in my case. My theory is that if you go in now, they'll respect the fact that you do know something about their laws & you want to be in legal compliance. If you wait to be audited they'd probably view you as having been complacent in SS & associated taxes not being paid & they'd probably go after you for the unpaid SS, along with fines & interest penalties. There is a SLIM chance SS wouldn't ever get around to auditing your construction project, but personally, I wouldn't be willing to take that risk. My second casa was audited nearly 3 years after completion & 6-8 months after I'd sold it! Because of the situation with my first casa, I'd personally paid SS on casa #2, so I had all the records, including facturas, receipts, etc. & I was found to be in compliance. Hope this helps....I'm curious, how do you know that your builder didn't pay SS? You assuming, or you have some factual information? Kudos to you for wanting to stay legal & in compliance with all the local laws! |
