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VAT apportionment in Costa Rica: when it applies and how it is calculated

The topic people fear most, and underneath it is three rules. The first question is not how the proportion is calculated: it is whether it applies to you at all.

7 min readTicuenta
In one sentence: apportionment appears when you have operations both with and without the right to input credit and there are purchases you cannot assign to either. If you can identify what each purchase is for, there is no proportion to calculate.

First: does it apply to you?

Article 22 of the VAT Act settles it with three rules, in this order:

The purchase is…The credit is…
Identifiable, for operations with the right100 % against the period's output tax
Identifiable, for operations without the rightNone. It is a cost or expense
Not identifiableOnly here does the proportion apply
Which gives the most useful advice on the whole subject. Identify what you can. Every purchase you manage to assign to one side or the other leaves the proportion calculation — and takes part of the risk and the work with it. The proportion is for what genuinely cannot be separated: the rent on the premises, the electricity, the bookkeeping.

How it is calculated

Article 23 defines it as a fraction multiplied by one hundred, with the amount of operations with the right to credit in the numerator, determined for each year.

The case · a business that is 70 % taxable
Operations with the right to credit
₡70,000,000
Operations without the right
₡30,000,000
Proportion
70 %
VAT on the rent of the premises
₡130,000
Creditable
₡91,000 — the rest is a cost

Who it does not apply to

Anyone whose activity is entirely taxable. That includes short-term rental, which is taxed at 13 % across the board: there the credit is full and there is nothing to apportion. The VAT on a rental.

And, in the other direction, anyone whose activity is entirely exempt without the right to credit: there nothing is creditable, and the VAT on purchases is simply a cost. The exception that changes this is export, which is exempt and keeps the credit. How that works.

In practice

  • Separate what you can from the accounting entry, not at year end. A purchase assigned when it is recorded never enters the calculation.
  • The proportion is determined for the year, which means provisional application during the year and adjustment afterwards.
  • Keep the reasoning. What you could not identify, and why, is what sustains the figure if someone asks.
From Ticuenta

Assigned when it is recorded

A purchase that carries its destination from the entry never has to be apportioned. What is left over is genuinely shared — and that is a much smaller list.

See how it works

About this article. The three rules are article 22 of the VAT Act and the formula is its article 23. The example uses round numbers to show the mechanics.

Verified as of 24 September 2026. Tax rules change. This is information, not tax advice — a real apportionment is work for your accountant.

Sources: Current legal texts (Sinalevi) Ministry of Finance

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