Costa Rica’s IVA tax (Impuesto al Valor Agregado) is a value-added tax charged at a standard rate of 13% on most goods and services, with reduced rates for a short list of essentials and outright exemptions for a few categories like long-term housing rentals. It replaced the older sales tax in 2019 under Ley 9635 and now covers services as well as goods. The tax is built into the price you pay, and if you sell anything taxable in Costa Rica, you are responsible for collecting it and sending it to the government every month.
The Standard Rate and the Reduced Rates
The 13% rate applies to the vast majority of what you buy or sell in Costa Rica: restaurant meals, professional fees, retail goods, construction materials, and so on. A handful of categories carry lower rates aimed at keeping essentials affordable:
- 4% on private health services and domestic flights.
- 2% on medicines, private insurance premiums, and private education.
- 1% on the staple food basket (canasta básica).
- 0.5% on organic agricultural products and agricultural supplies.
Construction materials are a common point of confusion. They are not on the reduced list. They are taxed at the full 13%.
Mechanically, every business in the chain charges IVA on its sales and subtracts the IVA it paid on its own purchases, remitting only the difference. Each business is taxed on the value it adds; the final buyer absorbs the full tax with no credit to claim.
Zero-Rated Versus Exempt
These two labels sound similar and are not. A zero-rated sale is taxable at 0%: the seller charges the buyer nothing but can still recover the IVA paid on its inputs. An exempt sale sits outside IVA entirely, and the seller recovers nothing. For a business, this directly affects cash flow.
Zero-rated items include exports, books, government-regulated education services, residential electricity and water supply, and land-based public transportation. Exporters, in particular, charge 0% to foreign buyers while recovering IVA on their local costs.
Exempt categories include certain financial transactions, medical services delivered through public institutions, and residential rentals lasting more than 30 consecutive days. A standard 12-month lease carries no IVA.
Who Has to Register
Costa Rica does not set a revenue threshold that lets small sellers skip registration. If you make taxable sales, you register as a taxpayer and start collecting, regardless of volume. Casual sellers and small landlords often assume otherwise and get caught.
Registration and all ongoing filings run through the TRIBU-CR platform, which replaced the older ATV system in August 2025. You need your cédula, or for foreigners a DIMEX or NITE number, plus an email address and phone number for verification. Everything after that — returns, payments, profile changes — happens inside the same platform.
Monthly Filing and Payment
IVA is filed monthly on the D-104 form. The deadline is the 15th calendar day of the month after the collection period, so March activity is due by April 15. If the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday the deadline typically rolls to the next business day, but relying on that cushion is a bad habit. A late filing triggers a penalty even if you owe nothing.
Payment is due with the return. You tally the IVA collected from customers, subtract the IVA paid on deductible business purchases, and remit the balance. When input credits exceed output tax for the month, the excess carries forward against future periods rather than coming back as a cash refund.
Electronic Invoicing Comes With Registration
Every registered taxpayer must issue electronic invoices (facturas electrónicas). The requirement has applied across all sectors since 2018, and the Dirección General de Tributación uses the data to cross-check reported sales against actual transactions in near-real time.1PGRWEB. Ley de Impuesto al Valor Agregado (IVA)
The current mandatory standard is Version 4.4, in force since September 2025. Invoices must be issued in XML, digitally signed with a certificate from the Banco Central de Costa Rica, and carry a unique 50-digit access key. Version 4.4 tightened the data requirements: items in a bundle have to appear as separate lines with their own CAByS codes, discounts have to use standardized codes rather than free text, the buyer’s economic activity code is required, and payments made through SINPE Móvil must be identified as such. Sector-specific fields apply too, including registration numbers for medicines and VINs for vehicle sales. The system also supports debit and credit notes, electronic receipts (tiquetes electrónicos), purchase invoices, and export invoices.
Penalties for Filing or Paying Late
Missing a filing deadline costs 50% of the salario base, the benchmark figure Costa Rican courts set annually and use for fines across the legal system. The fine applies whether you owe tax or not, so a late zero-balance return still gets hit. Because the salario base is reset each year, the colón amount shifts with it.
Late payments accrue interest at a rate the DGT sets based on average lending rates at state-owned banks. For 2026 that rate is 8.52%, calculated daily on the unpaid balance. Interest and the filing penalty run in parallel. Repeated failures to provide information, resistance to audits, and other non-cooperation carry additional penalties.
Short-Term Rentals Are Taxable; Long-Term Rentals Are Not
If you rent to vacationers for stays under 30 days, you charge the full 13% on the rental price, whether you book through an international platform or directly. The duty to collect starts with your first taxable rental; there is no revenue floor to clear first.
Rentals of 30 consecutive days or more are exempt, but the exemption only holds if you can document it. Without a written lease and consistent records, auditors can reclassify the income as short-term and assess back taxes plus penalties. Keep lease agreements, check-in and check-out dates, and payment schedules on file.
Digital Services From Foreign Providers
Foreign companies selling digital services to consumers in Costa Rica — streaming subscriptions, software licenses, cloud storage, online advertising — are required to collect and remit IVA at 13%. You should see the tax on your bill from non-resident providers. If the purchase relates to your own taxable business activity, you can claim the input credit, supported by the provider’s receipt or a bank statement showing the charge.
No Tourist Refund Program
Costa Rica does not refund IVA to departing visitors. There are no airport kiosks and no post-trip forms. IVA paid on hotels, meals, and souvenirs during a visit is final. Advice to the contrary is outdated or wrong as of 2026.