Costa Rican tax guides, in English
Written for someone dealing with the Costa Rican tax system without Spanish as a first language: the official terms kept as they appear on the forms, and explained.
Renting out a property
Lodging
Airbnb taxes in Costa Rica: the 2026 guide for foreign hosts
The four tax obligations plus the one that is not a tax, with real numbers: 13 % VAT on each stay, the purchase invoice for the fee, and the 25 % remittance tax.
Lodging
Booking.com taxes in Costa Rica: the 2026 guide for hosts
Booking charges no Costa Rican VAT and will not accept the withholding. Both fall on you, and here is what that really costs.
Lodging
Property income or profits: which regime suits your rental
12.75 % of gross with no paperwork, or real expenses with an employee and a five-year commitment. The arithmetic, side by side.
VAT
Do you charge VAT on an Airbnb in Costa Rica?
Yes — and Airbnb does not do it for you. What the platform collects is the VAT on its own fee. The difference, with the arithmetic that costs money.
Lodging
The NITE: the tax ID a foreign host needs in Costa Rica
You can own and rent without being a resident. You cannot invoice without a tax identification number, and this is the one.
Lodging
Law 9742: what “non-traditional lodging” is and what it requires
The obligation that is not a tax one: registering with the Tourism Board before you operate, which is exactly why it gets missed.
Getting started
Registering as a host: activity code 551001
The activity code decides which obligations switch on. These are the three that get confused, and which one is yours.
Documents
What goes on an Airbnb invoice, line by line
Nights, cleaning and extras in; platform commissions out. Invoice or simplified receipt, the exchange rate, and where the VAT sits.
Documents
The platform commission: why you issue the invoice
Airbnb deducts it and Booking bills you, and neither sends a Costa Rican document. The purchase invoice, its VAT and the withholding.
Lodging
Do you need a municipal licence? It depends on the canton
There is no national answer, because the licence is a municipal tax. How to find out yours, and why to ask in writing.
Electronic invoicing
Comparison
The free government invoicer or paid software
What the tax authority's free tool does, what it does not, and the five signs it has become too small — including when to stay with it.
Complete guide
Electronic invoicing 4.4 in Costa Rica: the complete guide
The seven document types, the 50-digit key, the three rules of the issue date and the errors that end in rejection. Field by field.
Getting started
TRIBU-CR: your signing certificate and API credentials
Where the two things any invoicing software needs come from — and the button that revokes the certificate you are already using.
Documents
What CABYS is, and why it decides your VAT rate
The thirteen-digit code the tax authority cross-checks against the rate on your invoice. Where to look it up, and when to validate it.
Documents
The purchase invoice: when the buyer issues it
When your supplier cannot issue a Costa Rican document, you issue it. The four situations it covers and the four it does not.
Documents
How long to keep invoices, and which file counts
Five years, and what counts is the XML — the PDF has no tax effect at all. What exactly to keep, and under what conditions.
Documents
The recipient message: accepting, rejecting or partially accepting
A purchase with no acceptance message supports neither input VAT nor a deductible expense. Article 21, in its exact words.
Documents
A rejected document: what happened and what to do now
It is not corrected: the number is spent and another must be issued referencing it. The six real causes, and why no credit note is made.
VAT and income tax
VAT
Exempt, non-subject and exonerated: three different things
All three end in no VAT charged, but they sit in different boxes and affect your input credit differently.
VAT
The electronic payment receipt: which month you declare VAT in
Sell on credit without it and the tax lands in the month of the invoice, not the month the money came in.
VAT
VAT rates in Costa Rica: 13, 4, 2, 1 and 0.5 %
The general rate and the four reduced ones, each listed individually in article 11 — plus four details that change the arithmetic.
VAT
The monthly VAT return: from D-104 to form 150
The new form splits VAT by rate and not by activity. When it is due, and why a month with no sales is filed anyway.
VAT
Input VAT: when you lose it and how to avoid that
Meals, hotels and travel give no credit however good the invoice; vehicles give half. And three ways to lose the rest by carelessness.
VAT
Invoicing abroad: no VAT, but you keep the credit
Services used outside the country are exempt and, unlike other exemptions, they keep your input VAT. Real money that goes unclaimed.
Income tax
Costa Rican income tax brackets for 2026
The three scales, the credits for children and spouse, and the small-business exemption people lose by registering too late.
Income tax
Deductible expenses: the requirements and the exact limits
Having the invoice is not enough. Four substantive conditions, the numeric limits, and why a simplified receipt invalidates the deduction.
Getting started
Invoicing as an independent professional
No company needed. How to register, the annual income scale, and a 25 % deduction with no receipts that plenty of people never claim.
Companies
Company
S.A. or S.R.L.: how they really differ and which suits you
The difference that matters is who can join the company and how many people it takes to run it — not the prestige of the name.
Company
Setting up a company: steps, timing and cost
What to decide before the notary, how long the Registry takes, and which obligations start the day it is registered.
Company
Costa Rican corporate tax: who pays and how much
Every registered company pays it by 31 January, trading or not. The four rates for 2026, and why three years unpaid is grounds for dissolution.
Company
The dormant company: what it still owes
An inactive company is not an obligation-free company. And letting it lapse moves the debt to the shareholders.
And the software that does it
Bookings in, invoices out, the platform commission documented and the monthly numbers added up. ₡7,500 a month for the Lodging plan, whatever you own.
See how it worksEverything else on this site is in Spanish — more than eighty articles on electronic invoicing, VAT, income tax, payroll and accounting standards. See the Spanish blog.