Costa Rica
Costa Rica: 5 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment, and what it is known for.
Forming a company
Company types in Costa Rica
The 5 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
What it is known for
Where Costa Rica is in the world’s top 10 on a measure anyone can check, the best rank first. Only the top is shown; a low rank is never stated.
- World’s3rdWorld-leading exports Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, mangoesDates, figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes and mangosteens, fresh or driedUS$1.7 bn · 8.4% of world exports of 190 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
A rank is among everything the source reports for that year, so it moves when the source adds or drops economies. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names Costa Rica. A listing means a company formed here may apply, not that it will be accepted.
Not in our records No provider's country list has been read for Costa Rica.
EU listings
Two lists a bank checks when it opens an account for a company or its owner.
- EU high-risk third countries (AML)
- Not listed
- EU non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
- Not listedOfficial EUR-Lex, 52026XG01465, Annex I as of 2026-02-17
Official sites
The authorities’ own sites for Costa Rica: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Costa Rica belongs to, as each arrangement’s own texts state them: since when, and what each covers. What a membership means for a business is for you to judge.
- Dominican Republic–Central America FTA
- Free trade area · since 1 January 2009
Covers goods, services, investment, public procurement.
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This Agreement shall enter into force on January 1, 2005, provided that the United States and one or more other signatories notify the Depositary in writing by that date
- Central American Economic Integration (SIECA)
- Customs union · since 23 September 1963
Covers goods, a common external tariff.
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entró en vigencia el 4 de junio de 1961 para Guatemala, El Salvador y Nicaragua; el 27 de abril de 1962 para Honduras y el 23 de setiembre de 1963 para Costa Rica.
- Pacific Alliance
- Observer
Named in the Framework Agreement art. 17 as an observer State at entry into force; the current observer list was not retrieved.
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La República de Colombia, la República de Chile, los Estados Unidos Mexicanos y la República del Perú, en adelante denominadas “las Partes”
- Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
- Acceding
Substantial conclusion of accession negotiations announced 6 May 2026 by the Parties; the Accession Working Group is still preparing and verifying the legal instrument of accession. No accession protocol read as signed or in force.
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The AWG will continue working with Costa Rica to prepare and verify the legal instrument of accession,
Regional and customs arrangements only, 36 of them; bilateral trade agreements are not yet in our records.
Tax
Company tax
Tax, and what the company owes the registry each year.
- Corporate income tax
- 30%
- Distributions
- Not in our records
- Audit
- Not in our records
- Small-company relief
- Not in our records
- Annual obligations
- Not in our records
- Annual registry fee
- Not in our records
VAT
The tax on what the company sells in Costa Rica, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- Standard rate
- 13%
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La tarifa del impuesto es del trece por ciento (13%) para todas las operaciones sujetas al pago del impuesto
- Other rates
- 4% Air tickets to or from Costa Rica (tax on 10% of the value for international flights); private health services
- 2% Authorised medicines and their inputs and machinery; private education (except exempt higher education); personal insurance premiums; purchases and sales by state higher-education bodies and other listed state institutions
- 1% Basic-basket goods (as set by executive decree) and agricultural goods in the basket, with the machinery, inputs and services needed to produce them
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Del cuatro por ciento (4%) para los siguientes bienes o servicios: a. La compra de boletos o pasajes aéreos
- Registration threshold
- No threshold: from the first taxable supply
no turnover threshold: art. 5 requires every taxpayer under art. 4 to register on starting taxable activities, and registers non-registrants ex officio
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Al iniciar sus actividades gravadas, las personas o las entidades a las que se refiere el artículo anterior deben inscribirse en el registro de contribuyentes que deberá llevar la Administración Tributaria.
- A foreign company
- See the note
Under art. 4 of the VAT Act the recipient pays the tax on services and intangibles bought from a supplier not domiciled in Costa Rica when the recipient is a taxpayer, and art. 30 provides collection through intermediaries and card issuers on consumer purchases; the Act states no registration, threshold or representative rule for a non-resident supplier.
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En el caso de la compra de servicios o de bienes intangibles, cuyo prestador no se encuentre domiciliado en el territorio de la República, el contribuyente será el destinatario del servicio o el bien intangible
- Returns filed
- Monthly
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deben liquidar el impuesto a más tardar el decimoquinto día natural de cada mes, mediante declaración jurada de las ventas de bienes o prestación de servicios correspondientes al mes anterior.
- Tax authority
- Ministerio de Hacienda (Dirección General de Tributación), Costa Rica
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Costa Rica, tax year 2026, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- Set each year by decree · each year
Read in a browser on the Oficina Virtual Tributaria 'Calendario fiscal' (JavaScript-drawn, filtered by tax; the calendar covers 2026 only). Filter 102 (ISU - PJ): the only 2026 entry is 16 March, listed under both Declaraciones and Pagos. 15 March 2026 was a Sunday, so the date shown is the next working day; the portal does not state the rule. This is the date for a December year-end; other year-ends not shown.
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Pagos 16 Marzo Impuesto sobre las utilidades ISU - PJ Declaraciones 16 Marzo Impuesto sobre las utilidades ISU - PJ
- Corporate tax, final payment
- Set each year by decree · each year
Read in a browser on the Oficina Virtual Tributaria 'Calendario fiscal' (JavaScript-drawn, filtered by tax; the calendar covers 2026 only). Same entry as the return: payment is listed on 16 March together with the declaration.
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Pagos 16 Marzo Impuesto sobre las utilidades ISU - PJ Declaraciones 16 Marzo Impuesto sobre las utilidades ISU - PJ
- Corporate tax, instalments
- 31 March · each quarter
Income Tax Law 7092 art. 22(b): 75% of the advance amount is paid in three equal instalments, each by the last working day of March, June and September (rule stores the first, 31 March, with the shift to the previous working day; the other two follow in June and September). The advance amount is the higher of the previous year's assessed tax and the three-year average (art. 22(a)); the balance is paid with the return (art. 22(c)). Agricultural-only companies may pay in one instalment with the return. Read 25 Oct 2026 on SCIJ; the portal calendar shows none of these dates.
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Los contribuyentes a que se refiere el artículo 2 de esta Ley están obligados a efectuar pagos parciales a cuenta del impuesto de cada período fiscal
- Personal income-tax return
- Set each year by decree · each year
Read in a browser on the Oficina Virtual Tributaria 'Calendario fiscal' (JavaScript-drawn, filtered by tax; the calendar covers 2026 only). Filter 101 (ISU - PF): the only 2026 entry is 16 March. Covers individuals liable to ISU (lucrative activity); salaried employees under withholding were not located in the calendar.
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Pagos 16 Marzo Impuesto sobre las utilidades ISU - PF Declaraciones 16 Marzo Impuesto sobre las utilidades ISU - PF
- Personal income tax, final payment
- Set each year by decree · each year
Read in a browser on the Oficina Virtual Tributaria 'Calendario fiscal' (JavaScript-drawn, filtered by tax; the calendar covers 2026 only). Payment listed on 16 March together with the declaration.
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Pagos 16 Marzo Impuesto sobre las utilidades ISU - PF Declaraciones 16 Marzo Impuesto sobre las utilidades ISU - PF
- Personal income tax, instalments
- 31 March · each quarter
Income Tax Law 7092 art. 22(b): 75% of the advance amount is paid in three equal instalments, each by the last working day of March, June and September (rule stores the first, 31 March, with the shift to the previous working day; the other two follow in June and September). The advance amount is the higher of the previous year's assessed tax and the three-year average (art. 22(a)); the balance is paid with the return (art. 22(c)). Agricultural-only companies may pay in one instalment with the return. Read 25 Oct 2026 on SCIJ; the portal calendar shows none of these dates.
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Los contribuyentes a que se refiere el artículo 2 de esta Ley están obligados a efectuar pagos parciales a cuenta del impuesto de cada período fiscal
- VAT return
- Set each year by decree · each month
Read in a browser on the Oficina Virtual Tributaria 'Calendario fiscal' (JavaScript-drawn, filtered by tax; the calendar covers 2026 only). Filter 150 (Impuesto al valor agregado), October 2026: declaration and payment on 15 October. Only October was read, so the monthly rule (15th of the following month) is NOT recorded; verify other months.
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Pagos 15 Octubre Impuesto al valor agregado Declaraciones 15 Octubre Impuesto al valor agregado
- Payroll withholding
- Day 15 of the following month · each month
Income Tax Law 7092 art. 31 quinquies: withholding agents under any title of the Law deposit what they withheld within the first fifteen calendar days of the month after the payment, and file a monthly sworn return by the same date. Recorded as the 15th of the following month. The article does not say what happens when the 15th is not a working day. Read 25 Oct 2026 on SCIJ.
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Quienes actúen como agentes de retención, retenedores y obligados a enterar lo correspondiente a rentas en especie de los impuestos establecidos en los diferentes títulos de esta ley, deberán:
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Costa Rica yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Costa Rica exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Costa Rica’s own trade; it does not compare places.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical, dental or veterinary sciences, including scintigraphic apparatus, other electromedical apparatus and sight-testing instruments HS 9018 | 25.3% | 27.9% | 29.4% | US$7.1 bn |
| Electronic integrated circuits HS 8542 | 5.4% | 5.8% | 9.0% | US$2.2 bn |
| Orthopaedic appliances, including crutches, surgical belts and trusses; splints and other fracture appliances; artificial parts of the body; hearing aids and other appliances which are worn or carried, or implanted in the body, to compensate for a defect or disability HS 9021 | 8.1% | 9.4% | 8.8% | US$2.1 bn |
| Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes and mangosteens, fresh or dried HS 0804 | 6.8% | 6.7% | 6.9% | US$1.7 bn |
| Bananas, including plantains, fresh or dried HS 0803 | 7.3% | 7.2% | 6.0% | US$1.4 bn |
| Food preparations not elsewhere specified or included HS 2106 | 3.8% | 3.7% | 3.7% | US$887 m |
| Coffee, whether or not roasted or decaffeinated; coffee husks and skins; coffee substitutes containing coffee in any proportion HS 0901 | 2.6% | 2.1% | 1.9% | US$448 m |
| Insulated (including enamelled or anodised) wire, cable (including coaxial cable) and other insulated electric conductors, whether or not fitted with connectors; optical fibre cables, made up of individually sheathed fibres, whether or not assembled with electric conductors or fitted with connectors HS 8544 | 1.5% | 1.4% | 1.4% | US$350 m |
| Fruit or nut juices (including grape must and coconut water) and vegetable juices, unfermented and not containing added spirit, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter HS 2009 | 1.4% | 1.1% | 1.1% | US$262 m |
| Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, relays, fuses, surge suppressors, plugs, sockets, lamp holders and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage not exceeding 1000 V; connectors for optical fibres, optical fibre bundles or cables HS 8536 | 1.3% | 1.1% | 0.96% | US$232 m |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$24.1 bn. The ten largest headings are shown.