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VAT Calculator calculates the VAT amount as well as the price with and without VAT. The VAT % is pre-filled, but you can change it or clear the value. The results are rounded to your desired precision. You can also make a currency conversion.
You can also choose the VAT% by clicking the percentages in the tables below.
Costa Rica | |
| standard | 13% Most goods and services subject to VAT that do not qualify for a reduced rate, exemption or non-taxable treatment. |
| reduced | 4% Airline tickets whose origin or destination is Costa Rica and private healthcare services supplied by authorised health centres or authorised health professionals. For international air transport, VAT is calculated on a taxable base equal to 10% of the ticket price, resulting in an effective burden of 0.4%. 2% Medicines and specified raw materials, inputs, machinery, equipment and reagents required for their production; personal insurance premiums; private education services not covered by a statutory exemption; and specified purchases and sales by state higher-education institutions and related entities. 1% Goods in the taxable basic basket and specified agricultural goods included in it, together with machinery, equipment, services and inputs required in their production chain. Also specified raw materials for animal feed and veterinary products and agricultural and non-sport-fishing inputs defined by the competent authorities. Also, sunscreen products registered with the Ministry of Health that meet the statutory requirements concerning ingredients harmful to coral reefs. 0.5% Organic agricultural or agro-industrial products produced in Costa Rica that are duly registered and certified. Also specified sales, imports or entry of approved equipment, machinery and inputs used in organic production and agro-industrial processing by organised organic producer groups meeting the statutory requirements. |
| exempt with deduction | Exports of goods, specified services supplied by Costa Rican taxpayers and used outside Costa Rica, and various transactions directly related to exports are exempt while retaining input VAT credit under the applicable rules. Certain transactions with entities benefiting from immunity or non-taxable treatment, such as the CCSS and municipalities, also give full input VAT credit. In electronic invoicing, some of these transactions are identified with a 0% rate, but this is not a separate general statutory rate under Article 11. |
| exempt without deduction | Exemptions include, subject to their individual conditions, specified residential lettings, certain residential electricity and water consumption, books, financial and insurance transactions expressly covered by law, specified transport services and private education services covered by the statutory exemption. Input VAT on purchases used exclusively for transactions without an input tax credit entitlement cannot be claimed as a credit. |
| out of scope | Transactions outside VAT include specified transactions of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) and municipalities, transfers of immovable property and registrable movable property subject to transfer tax, specified business reorganisations, employment services, certain free supplies and fuels subject to the single fuel tax. Since 20 April 2026, breast-cancer screening examinations, including mammograms, treatments and complementary studies required for early diagnosis, are also outside VAT. |
| reverse charge | When a Costa Rican VAT taxpayer purchases services or intangible goods from a supplier not domiciled in Costa Rica, the recipient is the taxpayer for that purchase. Cross-border digital services have special collection rules: a foreign supplier or intermediary may register and collect VAT directly; in other prescribed cases, the card issuer or another payment provider acts as the collecting agent. The standard rate on taxable services of this kind is 13%. |
| margin scheme | The special used-goods scheme is voluntary for taxpayers habitually engaged in reselling used goods, and the election must be maintained for at least two calendar years. Under method (b), where the goods were purchased from a person who was not a VAT taxpayer or from a taxpayer not entitled to full input VAT credit, the positive difference between selling and purchase price is the taxable base and VAT is calculated by applying 13% to that difference. A separate special method based on factors determined by the tax administration also exists. |
| simplified taxation regime | The Simplified Taxation Regime is voluntary and is available only for authorised activities when all requirements are met. General requirements include annual purchases not exceeding 186 base salaries, no more than five workers in addition to the taxpayer or legal representative, only one establishment open to the public and fixed assets within the prescribed limit. VAT is calculated using factors established for each activity and is filed quarterly. This is not a general low-turnover VAT exemption. |
Costa Rica has no general turnover threshold below which a business habitually carrying out taxable transactions is automatically outside VAT. Taxpayers must register with the tax administration when starting taxable activities. The simplified taxation regime is a separate voluntary regime for specified activities and is subject to specific requirements.
| Past changes: | |
| 20 Apr 2026 | Breast-cancer screening examinations, including mammograms, treatments and complementary studies required for early diagnosis, become outside the scope of VAT. PGR/SINALEVI – Law 10712 |
| 11 Jun 2024 | Private higher education covered by the statutory exemption becomes VAT-exempt instead of being subject to the reduced 2% rate. PGR/SINALEVI – Law 10479 |
| 1 Sep 2023 | The transitional regime for specified engineering, architecture, surveying and civil-construction services ends. The rate rises from 8% to the standard 13% rate. PGR/SINALEVI – Law 9635, Transitional provision V bis |
| 1 Jul 2023 | The transitional regime for tourism services supplied by providers registered with the ICT ends. The rate rises from 8% to the standard 13% rate. PGR/SINALEVI – Law 9882 |
| 29 Sep 2022 | A reduced 0.5% rate is introduced for specified certified organic agricultural and agro-industrial products and for qualifying equipment, machinery and inputs used in their production and agro-industrial processing. Legislative Assembly – Law 10256 |
| 1 Jul 2019 | VAT enters into force, replacing the former general sales tax and extending taxation to services. The standard rate is 13%, with reduced rates of 4%, 2% and 1%. PGR/SINALEVI – Law 9635 |
Note! The VAT information on this page is general information, not tax advice. The information is not exhaustive. VAT rules include many exceptions and special cases. Check the treatment of your situation in the tax administration's guidelines. The information was checked on 30 Sep 2026.
VAT rounding: the EU, the UK and other European countries
The EU VAT Directive and the Court of Justice of the European Union leave VAT rounding rules to be decided at national level. National rules vary. In the UK, HMRC allows VAT on B2B invoices to be rounded down to the nearest whole penny.
Roundings in VAT calculation: Mathematically impossible prices?
There are a whole range of VAT-inclusive prices that cannot be mathematically arrived at if the tax is calculated from the VAT-free price. One example is 3.99. These prices are also possible, but then the VAT-free price must be interpreted as rounded.
VAT Gap - How much VAT is left uncollected in EU countries?
9.5% of VAT was left uncollected in EU countries. See the list of EU countries and candidate countries.
In Europe there is VAT - in the US sales tax
In Europe, companies belonging to the production chain account for the VAT paid by the consumer to the state in proportion to their value added. The US sales tax, on the other hand, is billed entirely by the company that made the consumer sale. Sales tax is paid to local operators, not to the state.
Many of today's taxes were already in use in Antiquity. Deciding on taxation has moved from autocrats to parliaments and the level of taxation has risen. In earlier times taxes were used to wage wars, today taxes are used to maintain welfare states.
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