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A new business's first year in Costa Rica, month by month

The obligations do not all arrive together: they arrive spread out, and the ones that fine you hardest are the ones nobody is expecting. Here is the whole calendar.

8 min readTicuenta
In one sentence: some things are done once, on opening; some every month — VAT, payroll, information returns; and some once a year on a fixed date. January, March, April and December are the heavy months.

On opening: what is done once

ProcedureWith whomDeadline
Beneficial owners of a new companyCentral Bank20 business days from registration
Register the economic activityTax authority, TRIBU-CRBefore the first invoice
Signing certificate and API credentialsTax authority, TRIBU-CRBefore the first invoice
Register as an employerSocial security8 business days from starting the activity
Workplace risk insuranceThe state insurerWith the first employee
Land use, health permit and municipal licenceMunicipality and Health MinistryBefore opening premises

Every month

ObligationWhen
Social security payrollFirst 3 business days
Employer and employee contributionsBefore the 15th
VAT · form 15015th calendar day, even if the month had no sales
Customers and suppliers information return · 270Monthly
Withholdings at sourceMonthly, if they apply to you
Answering the purchases you receivedIn time, or the expense is no use
The 270 is the surprise. The old D-151 was annual. Its replacement is monthly. If your accountant quoted the work on the old logic, there is a conversation pending there. What changed with TRIBU-CR.

The year, month by month

MonthWhat falls due
JanuaryCorporate tax, before the 31st. Also the education and culture stamp
MarchIncome tax return for the previous year, by the 15th
AprilBeneficial owners, ordinary declaration. And the platforms report their hosts
JuneFirst advance income tax instalment
SeptemberSecond instalment
DecemberThird instalment. Christmas bonus paid before the 20th. And the fiscal year closes on the 31st

The traps of the first year

  • Thinking a quiet month is not filed

    VAT is filed every month, with or without sales. The rental income return is the exception, not the rule.

  • Invoicing before having the credentials

    Without the signing certificate there is no electronic document, and a sale without one is a sale you have to regularise afterwards.

  • The corporate tax in the first January

    It does not prorate: a company registered in December owes the full year by 31 January. How much.

  • Missing the small-business registration

    The exemption counts from registering as a taxpayer. Registering as a small business a year later loses a year of it, and it does not come back. The benefit and its years.

From Ticuenta

The dates, in view before they arrive

The monthly ones and the fixed annual ones, in the same place — which is the whole problem of a first year.

See how it works

About this article. The deadlines come from each obligation's own rule: the corporate tax from Law 9428, VAT from article 27 of the VAT Act, the Christmas bonus from Law 2412, and the beneficial owners regime from its own resolution.

Verified as of 24 September 2026. Rules change. This is information, not tax advice.

Sources: Current legal texts (Sinalevi) Ministry of Finance

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