Costa Rica taxes in 2026

Costa Rica tax rates in 2026: the short version

Costa Rica taxes only what is earned on its territory. A salary from a foreign employer, a pension from another country and dividends from a foreign broker are not taxed here, whether you are resident or not. Inside the country, though, taxes are fairly European: 30% on company profit, 13% value added tax and 26.83% employer contributions on top of salary.

The brackets for individuals and small companies are updated every year by a Finance Ministry decree. For 2026 they were set by Decree 45333 following negative inflation in 2025, so the salary threshold even fell slightly, from 922,000 to 918,000 colones a month, about $2,100. Amounts are in US dollars, with colones in brackets, converted at the Central Bank of Costa Rica selling rate of 7 October 2026, 457.80 colones per US dollar, and rounded up.

Compare taxes in 146 countries: relocation taxes 2026

Costa Rica tax residency requirements: 183 days and certificate

You are a Costa Rican tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in the country in a tax year, in one stretch or with breaks. The tax year is the calendar year. But because of the territorial principle, status barely changes how much tax you pay: foreign salary, dividends and pensions are not taxed for residents or non-residents.

So why bother with residency? For the paperwork. The Finance Ministry issues a tax residency certificate, and you need it so that your former country stops treating you as its resident and taxing your worldwide income. The certificate is issued only to people registered with the tax administration or whose local income has tax withheld, and only if they owe nothing. The calculator below shows whether you reach 184 days.

Where the territorial principle ends. Income is local according to where the work is done or the asset is located, not the country of the bank. If you advise clients in Costa Rica, the income is local even when the money arrives in a foreign account. Remote work for a foreign company physically performed in Costa Rica is, as a general rule, local too. The digital nomad law exempts it, but only for holders of that visa.

Documents for foreign income. Keep contracts with foreign clients or employers, foreign bank statements and pension documents for years. Costa Rica takes part in the automatic exchange of account information, and local banks ask about the origin of money on large deposits.

Mistakes here are expensive: without tax registration there is no certificate, and any debt, even the annual tax on a forgotten company, blocks it. Murblz specialists count the days, register you with the tax administration, obtain the certificate and apply double tax treaties where they exist.

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How the days are counted. Any day of presence counts, in one stretch or with breaks, but the period is always the calendar year. If you move in October, you will not become resident in your first year and can only get a certificate for the following one.

How much income tax is paid on salary in Costa Rica

Salary tax is progressive and calculated monthly: each rate applies only to its own slice of the salary. Up to $2,100 (918,000 colones) a month, there is no tax at all, and 25% starts only from $11,000 (4,727,000 colones).

Tax credits reduce the tax already calculated: $4 (1,710 colones) a month per child and $6 (2,590 colones) for a spouse. These amounts are token, under $10, so they barely affect a family budget. The employer withholds the tax and pays it over within the first 15 days of the following month.

Worked example. Two salaries: $4,400 (2,000,000 colones) and $11,000 (5,000,000 colones) a month.

The conclusion is surprising for a country with a tax-haven reputation: on a high salary the state takes over 40% of the employee's full cost, almost as in Europe. The haven applies only to income from abroad.

Thirteenth salary. In December employees receive a mandatory thirteenth salary equal to the year's average monthly pay. Up to one twelfth of annual earnings it is subject neither to income tax nor to contributions.

How much social security costs in Costa Rica

Social security is run by the Costa Rican Social Security Fund, which also runs the public health system. So contributions here are not only about a pension: without them there is no access to the fund's hospitals, and a foreigner with a residence permit needs to be registered with the fund to renew the residence card.

From 1 January 2026 the pension rates rose by 0.16 points for both employee and employer: a scheduled increase every three years. The current rates apply until the end of 2028, and the next step is planned for 2029.

If you are not employed. Entrepreneurs and professionals pay contributions as independent workers, on a scale based on declared income. Retirees and people living on passive income with a residence permit join the fund as voluntary members, and the fund also sets their rate from declared income. In return they get access to public healthcare on a par with citizens.

What it means in money. On a salary of $2,200 (1,000,000 colones), the employee pays $240 (108,300 colones) to the fund and the employer pays another $590 (268,300 colones) on top. So when agreeing a salary with a local company, it is worth clarifying straight away which figure you mean: before tax and contributions or take-home.

Corporate income tax and dividends

The standard corporate income tax rate is 30%, and only Costa Rican-source profit is taxed. Small companies with gross annual income of no more than $270,000 (119,174,000 colones) have their own progressive scale.

Worked example. In colones: a small company with gross income below the threshold earns 15,000,000 of net profit, about $33,000. On the scale the tax is 1,735,150, or 11.6%, while the standard rate would give 4,500,000. If the remaining profit is paid to the owner, another 15% is withheld from the dividend, about 1,989,730, and the owner receives about $25,000 (11,275,120 colones).

The threshold is measured by gross income, not profit: once a company crosses $270,000 (119,174,000 colones) of turnover, 30% applies to all of its profit at once. Small businesses registered with the Ministry of Economy or the Ministry of Agriculture get additional relief.

Dividends. 15% is withheld from dividends a company pays to its owner. The company itself withholds and pays the tax, so the recipient does not need to declare it separately.

Annual tax on companies. Every company in the National Registry pays it, even a dormant one, by 31 January. The amount is tied to the base salary, which is $1,100 (462,200 colones) in 2026.

Non-payment blocks access to certificates and registry filings, and debts over several years can lead to the company being dissolved. That is why, before buying property through an existing company, we check its tax history.

Companies in multinational groups. Since the 2023 reform, foreign passive income can be taxed for companies belonging to multinational groups if they lack sufficient activity in Costa Rica. This rule does not affect an ordinary owner of a local company.

VAT in Costa Rica: 13% and reduced rates

Value added tax replaced the sales tax in 2019 and covers almost all goods and services. The standard rate is 13%, with reduced rates for some essential spending.

Renting a home. If the monthly rent exceeds 1.5 base salaries, that is $1,600 (693,300 colones), 13% value added tax is charged on the whole amount. The tenant pays it, and the landlord must be registered for the tax.

How compliance works. There is no threshold below which you can skip registration: anyone selling goods or services registers with the tax administration and issues electronic invoices. Value added tax returns are filed monthly, by the 15th of the following month. Small traders with low turnover can use a simplified regime and report quarterly.

Digital services from abroad. Value added tax also applies to digital services from foreign companies used in Costa Rica: streaming, apps, online subscriptions. The tax is added to the price through the bank card or charged by the platform itself, so a subscription here costs 13% more.

For business. Input value added tax on purchases for the business is credited in the return, and a service exporter working for foreign clients charges the zero rate and can recover input tax. This makes Costa Rica a convenient base for service companies, provided all documents follow the electronic invoicing rules.

Self-employed, remote workers and retirees: the regimes that exist

Costa Rica has no special tax regimes for newcomers like those in Europe: the territorial principle itself works as the benefit. But some groups have their own rules.

Self-employed and entrepreneurs. Their scale is annual, and in 2026 the tax-free band rose sharply, from $9,000 (4,094,000 colones) to $14,000 (6,244,000 colones).

An entrepreneur registers with the tax administration, issues electronic invoices, deducts documented expenses and files an annual return. The credit is $45 (20,520 colones) a year per child and $70 (31,080 colones) for a spouse. Social security contributions are paid by the entrepreneur directly.

Digital nomads. Under the digital nomad law, a remote worker earning at least $3,000 a month, or $4,000 with family, can live in the country for up to a year with a one-year extension and pays no tax on income from foreign employers and clients. Details are on the Costa Rica digital nomad visa page.

Retirees, people on passive income and investors. Their foreign pension and investment income is not taxed under the general rule. The extra benefits of Law 9996 - exemption from import duties on household goods and two vehicles and a 20% discount on the transfer tax on purchased property - could be requested for five years from July 2021, and that window closed in July 2026. Residence conditions are covered on the Costa Rica investor residency and retiring in Costa Rica pages.

Property, rent, capital gains, inheritance and crypto

Costa Rica has no wealth tax, and property is taxed moderately: 0.25% a year of the registered value. Transactions and owning homes worth more than $320,000 (143 million colones) cost more.

Worked example. A $400,000 house: about $6,000 of transfer tax on purchase and about $1,000 a year of municipal tax if the house is registered at its full price. Such a house crosses the luxury tax threshold, so that tax is added too: at the lowest rate of the scale it is roughly another $1,000 a year.

Rent. Rental tax is declared and paid monthly, by the 15th of the month after the rent is received. You do not need receipts for expenses: the 15% deduction is automatic. An owner who rents out several properties as a business can switch to the general regime and deduct actual expenses.

Capital gains. For assets bought before 1 July 2019 you can choose between 15% of the gain and 2.25% of the full sale price. The second option pays off when the price has risen by more than 15%. Foreign shares and holdings of individuals are not taxed here at all.

Crypto. There is no separate law on taxing cryptocurrency; income from it is taxed under the general territorial rules. How the tax administration treats your transactions depends on where and through whom they are made - ask an expert.

What non-residents pay: tax on remittances abroad

A non-resident pays tax only on Costa Rican income, and the payer almost always withholds it. The rates are set by the income tax law and are flat, with no scale or deductions.

The withheld tax is paid over by the 15th of the following month, and it is final: the non-resident does not file a return. But there are no deductions either, so a foreign consultant who regularly works with Costa Rican clients does well to price the 25% in from the start.

A non-resident selling property in Costa Rica pays capital gains tax under the same rules as a resident: 15% of the gain, or 2.25% of the price for property bought before July 2019.

Example. A Costa Rican company pays a foreign consultant $10,000 for a project. It withholds 25%, that is $2,500, and pays it to the budget, while the consultant receives $7,500. If the consultant lives in Spain, Germany, Mexico or the Emirates, a treaty may reduce the tax, but only with proven residence.

Double tax treaties

Costa Rica's treaty network is one of the most modest in the region: only four treaties are in force - with Spain, Germany, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.

For most people moving here this is not a problem: foreign income is not taxed in Costa Rica anyway, so it is not taxed twice. The real issue is different: your former country of residence may keep taxing your worldwide income until you prove you have moved. That is what the tax residency certificate is for.

Without a treaty, Costa Rican withholding tax applies at the full rate from the table above, and whether it can be credited in another country depends on that country's own rules.

Rates for other countries are collected in the general tax table by country, and the choice between the two most popular countries in the region is covered in Panama vs Costa Rica.

Information exchange. Costa Rica has far more information exchange agreements than double tax treaties: the country takes part in the automatic exchange of account information under the standard of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Banks report accounts of foreign tax residents to the tax administration, which passes the data to the owner's country of residence.

Filing, deadlines and penalties: what it means if you move

The fine for a late return is half a base salary, $510 (231,100 colones). Late payment adds a surcharge of 1% a month, capped at 20%, plus interest. Returns are now filed through the tax administration's new digital system, so it is worth checking your registration details in advance.

What all this means in practice:

• Living on foreign income. No tax in Costa Rica, but you need a residency certificate so that your former country stops treating you as its resident.
• Working remotely. Without a nomad visa, remote work from Costa Rica is formally local income; with the visa it is exempt.
• Starting a business. Small companies pay 5-20%, larger ones 30%, plus 15% on dividends and the annual company tax.
• Buying a home. 1.5% on purchase, 0.25% a year, the luxury tax for expensive homes and 12.75% of the rent if you let it out.

Where to start the move is covered on the Costa Rica investor residency, digital nomad visa and birth in Costa Rica and citizenship by birth pages. Company registration is described on the company in Costa Rica page, a local bank account on the account in Costa Rica page, living costs in cost of living in Costa Rica and the road to a passport in Costa Rican citizenship.

Who Costa Rica does not suit. People building a business with profit inside the country and hiring local staff. Corporate tax of 30%, another 15% on dividends and 26.83% contributions on top of salaries add up to a burden comparable to the large European countries. Such entrepreneurs should work out in advance where to hold the company and how to pay themselves: it is a structuring question to settle before the move, not after.

Features of the Costa Rican tax system

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