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Registering with the Costa Rican tax authority as a host: activity code 551001

Picking the wrong activity code is not an administrative detail: your tax obligations come out of it. These are the three that get confused, and which one belongs to which case.

6 min readTicuenta
In one sentence: for renting out for periods under one month — the typical Airbnb — the code is 551001. Long-term rentals use others, and a hotel uses a different one that is not this.

The codes that get confused

The tax authority itself lists them in its material on non-traditional lodging:

CodeActivityWhen it is yours
551001 Renting residential property for periods under one month — short-stay houses, guest houses, cabinas, campsites An Airbnb or similar
701001 Renting houses and others Long-term rental
702002 Leasing or renting property under a verbal or written contract Ordinary lease
551002 Hotel Not non-traditional lodging
Why it matters this much. The code determines which obligations switch on for you. Registering under long-term rental and then operating by the night leaves your filings pointing at an activity you do not carry out — and that shows up the moment anyone lines your invoices up against your registration.

Where it is done

In TRIBU-CR, the tax authority's virtual office. Registration and later changes are handled in the Registro Único Tributario, the taxpayer register; Airbnb's guide refers to it as the “taxpayer data modification return”.

The codes follow the CIIU classification, and it is worth checking the current list on the tax authority's site before you register: they get updated.

What registering switches on

Registering the activity is not the finish line: it is what turns on your duties. The ones the tax authority's own material lists:

  • Issue electronic documents in version 4.4.
  • File returns — VAT monthly, and whichever income tax applies.
  • File information returns when they apply to you.
  • Keep accounting records and retain the supporting documents.
  • And the duties to modify or deregister, if one day you change or stop the activity.
Deregistering is a duty too. If you stop renting and do not tell them, the obligations keep running. And the returns you do not file keep counting as missed.

If you are not a resident

The process is the same, but you cannot start it without a Costa Rican tax identification number. That is what the NITE is for, and it has to come first.

And this is not the only thing to do

Registering with the tax authority is one obligation among several. Before it comes the Tourism Board registration under Law 9742, and alongside it there may be a municipal licence depending on your canton. The full picture, with numbers, is in the Airbnb tax guide.

From Ticuenta

With the activity registered, the invoicing starts

Your code and your credentials go in once, and from there every booking comes out invoiced with the right VAT.

See how it works

About this article. The codes and the list of duties come from the tax authority's own material on non-traditional lodging; the name of the modification return, from Airbnb's guide for Costa Rica. The CIIU list is updated periodically — check the current one before registering.

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

Sources: Ministry of Finance Current legal texts (Sinalevi)

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