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Can I join the simplified regime? Requirements and activities 2026

It is not open to everyone: the simplified regime goes by activity and with limits. Here is who can join, which activities allow it and what Law 10512 changed.

6 min readTicuenta
In short: joining is voluntary, only for the activities the decree lists, and with a cap on annual purchases. The 2024 reform (Law 10512) also opened it to micro-businesses in any activity registered with the MEIC —but those do have to issue electronic invoices—.

The activities that allow it

The decree lists twenty-two activities. If yours is not there, you cannot join by the classic route:

  • Trade: retail trade (corner shops, stores, grocers).
  • Food and drink: bars, cantinas and taverns; sodas and restaurants; confectionery and pastry; bakeries.
  • Farm production: small farmers'-market producers; ornamental plant nurseries and terrariums.
  • Crafts and making: footwear, cases and bags; furniture; structural metal products; costume jewellery; crafts and artwork; clay, earthenware, ceramic and porcelain; textiles for people; textiles and accessories for pets; florists.
  • Services: photography studios; screen printing; sublimation printing.
  • Fishing and transport: small- and medium-scale artisanal fishing; remunerated passenger transport (taxi).

Each one has its own tax rate. You can find them all in the rates table.

The limits Hacienda looks at

What is measuredThe cap
Annual purchases (most activities)No more than 186 base salaries
Annual fuel (fishing)No more than 8 base salaries
Vehicles (taxi)A single vehicle

The base salary is set by the Judiciary each year, so the cap in colones changes with it. Hacienda also looks at the capital invested, the number of employees and the wages paid to approve or refuse the registration.

What Law 10512 opened up (2024). Micro-businesses with up to five employees, in any activity, registered and active with the MEIC's SIEC or the MAG's Pympa register, can now join too. But whoever comes in by that door does have to issue electronic invoices: they get the simpler tax, not the simpler paperwork. The difference, in detail.

How you join and how you leave

Registration or transfer is done with Hacienda and takes effect the following period. Leaving is voluntary too: if the business grows and stops meeting the parameters of its activity, you have to move to the standard regime. It is worth reviewing before Hacienda reviews it for you — the wrong regime is corrected with surcharges.

From Ticuenta

If you join the simplified regime, filing is the easy part

Ticuenta takes in your expenses with no cap, keeps the purchase record and builds your D-105 worksheet each quarter. And if you do have to invoice, it issues the v4.4 documents with no long setup.

See how it works

Verified as of 8 October 2026. The regime is in chapter VIII of the VAT Act (reformed by Law 10512) and in Decree 43881-H (with the reform of Decree 45209 of 2025), which sets the activities and the limits. Confirm the current version and your activity's decree. This is information, not tax advice.

Sources: Current legal texts (Sinalevi) Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce

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