Costa Rica has two taxes on homes. Every property pays the municipal property tax, 0.25% a year of the value registered with your municipality. If your home’s construction value is above â‚¡143 million (about $314,000), the 2026 limit, you also owe the luxury home tax, charged at progressive marginal rates of 0.25% to 0.55% on the property’s full value, land included. The luxury tax is declared on form D-174 in Hacienda’s TRIBU-CR system and must be paid by Jan. 15 every year.
The next payment is due Friday, Jan. 15, 2027. Hacienda resets the exempt amount and the tax brackets by decree each December, so the figures below are the ones that applied to the 2026 payment. This guide will be updated when the 2027 decree is published. Dollar amounts use the Central Bank’s reference selling rate of â‚¡456.04 on Nov. 1, 2026.
| Official name | Impuesto Solidario para el Fortalecimiento de Programas de Vivienda (Law 8683) |
|---|---|
| Who owes it | Owners of homes used as a residence, an occasional home or a vacation home, including concession holders in the maritime zone |
| 2026 exempt amount | Construction value of â‚¡143 million or less (Executive Decree 45358-H) |
| Rates | 0.25% to 0.55%, in seven brackets |
| Taxed value | Land plus construction, and your share of condominium common areas |
| Declaration | Form D-174 every three years, or the year after you buy a qualifying home |
| Payment | Every year by Jan. 15 |
| Where | The OVi virtual office in TRIBU-CR, or at Banco de Costa Rica and BAC branches |
| Deductible? | No, not against income tax |
| Not the same as | The municipal property tax, which every owner pays separately |
The municipal property tax every owner pays
Your municipality charges 0.25% a year on the value of your land and buildings as registered with it on Jan. 1. That value is supposed to be updated at least every five years through a declaration you file with the municipality. If you don’t file, the municipality can set the value itself, usually higher, and can fine you an amount equal to the tax you didn’t pay. A sale price or mortgage higher than the registered value also updates it automatically.
Each municipality sets its own payment schedule, usually annual, twice-yearly or quarterly, and some give a discount for paying the year in advance. If you’re an individual and it’s your only property in Costa Rica, the first 45 base salaries of value, about â‚¡20.8 million ($45,600) in 2026, aren’t taxed. You pay only on the rest, and you have to apply to your municipality for this.
Corporations, trusts and co-owners pay the municipal tax like anyone else. Paying it does nothing about the luxury home tax, and paying the luxury home tax does nothing about this one.
Who owes the luxury home tax
The tax applies to homes used as a regular residence, an occasional home or a recreational home, as of Jan. 1 each year. How often anyone sleeps there doesn’t matter. In Spanish it’s often called the impuesto a las casas de lujo. The registered owner pays, and so do concession holders and permit holders on state land such as the maritime-terrestrial zone along the coast.
Owning the house through a corporation, a limited liability company or a trust doesn’t exempt it. Co-owners file one joint declaration.
Homes with a construction value at or below the exempt amount don’t owe the tax. Neither do properties owned by the central government, municipalities and public institutions, declared historic or architectural heritage, social-interest housing declared by the housing bank BANHVI, church property used for worship, some educational institutions such as INCAE, EARTH and CATIE, nonprofit social welfare organizations, and diplomatic missions.
How the threshold works
This is where owners get caught. The â‚¡143 million test looks only at the value of the construction and its fixed, permanent installations. The land underneath doesn’t count toward deciding whether you owe the tax.
Once you’re over the line, the tax is calculated on the property’s full fiscal value, including the land. In a condominium you add your proportional share of the common areas, and properties next to each other that are used as a single home are declared together. So a modest house on an expensive lot can cross the threshold on the building and then be taxed on a total far larger than the building alone.
Values follow Hacienda’s own parameters, the Manual de Valores Base Unitarios por TipologÃa Constructiva for buildings and its zone valuations for land, not simply the price you paid, though a higher price in your deed can raise the value the following year. If you’re anywhere near the line, hire a certified appraiser or engineer rather than guessing.
The exempt amount moves every year with the consumer price index, and it can go down. For 2026 it fell from â‚¡145 million to â‚¡143 million because prices dropped. A home that sat just under the line one year can be over it the next without anything changing about the house. Year-on-year inflation turned positive again in September 2026, so the 2027 amount may stop falling.
Luxury tax rates and brackets
The rates work like income tax brackets. Each rate applies only to the slice of the value that falls inside its bracket, and the whole value is taxed, not just the part above the exempt amount. These were the brackets for the 2026 payment:
| Up to â‚¡359 million | 0.25% |
|---|---|
| â‚¡359 million to â‚¡720 million | 0.30% |
| â‚¡720 million to â‚¡1.081 billion | 0.35% |
| â‚¡1.081 billion to â‚¡1.443 billion | 0.40% |
| â‚¡1.443 billion to â‚¡1.8 billion | 0.45% |
| â‚¡1.8 billion to â‚¡2.162 billion | 0.50% |
| Above â‚¡2.162 billion | 0.55% |
For example, a home with a total fiscal value of â‚¡500 million pays 0.25% on the first â‚¡359 million (â‚¡897,500) and 0.30% on the remaining â‚¡141 million (â‚¡423,000). The bill is â‚¡1,320,500 for the year, about $2,900.
How to declare and pay
- Work out the value. Use Hacienda’s valuation parameters or a certified appraisal to set the construction value and, if you’re over the threshold, the full value with land.
- File form D-174 when it’s due. The sworn declaration goes in through the OVi virtual office in TRIBU-CR every three years, in the first 15 days of January. If you bought a qualifying home during the year, you file the following January even if your three-year cycle isn’t due.
- Pay every year by Jan. 15. Pay online in OVi by entering an IBAN account, or at a Banco de Costa Rica or BAC branch. Payment is due every year, including the years you don’t file a declaration.
- Keep the receipt. You’ll need it when you sell, and a buyer’s lawyer should ask for it.
The current three-year declaration covers 2025 to 2027 and was filed in January 2025. That makes January 2027 a payment-only month for most owners, unless you bought a qualifying home in 2026. The next general filing window is Jan. 1 to 15, 2028, and Jan. 15 falls on a Saturday that year, so watch for Hacienda’s notice on the exact cutoff.
Older guides refer to form D-179 and the ATV platform. TRIBU-CR replaced ATV, and the form is now D-174. If you declare a value higher than the one Hacienda already has, the higher value becomes your taxable base.
What happens if you miss Jan. 15
Penalties come from the tax code, the Código de Normas y Procedimientos Tributarios. Filing a declaration late carries a fine of half a base salary, ₡231,100 (about $507) in 2026, for each missed declaration period. If you correct it on your own before Hacienda acts, the fine can drop to 20% of that amount. Paying late adds a surcharge of 1% for each month or part of a month, up to 20% of the tax, plus interest at a rate Hacienda resets at least every six months.
If you never file, Hacienda can set the value itself and charge the tax from the year it was owed, with interest and penalties. The same applies if it decides the value you declared was too low.
What to check when you buy or sell
When a property changes hands, the buyer becomes jointly liable for that year’s luxury home tax and any interest. Unpaid municipal property tax is worse, because it stays attached to the property as a lien and the new owner can be held liable for past years. Before you close, ask the seller for their D-174 declarations and payment receipts, and have your lawyer get a certificate showing the municipal tax is paid up. Both checks belong in your closing process, and money held in escrow can cover anything outstanding.
Buying also brings one-time costs, including a 1.5% transfer tax and registry fees, which our closing guide covers. After the sale, registering your title updates the municipal value if the price is higher than the value on record. If the home is over the luxury tax threshold, plan to file a D-174 the following January.
Beachfront owners should also read our guide to the maritime zone and concession property, since concession holders owe the tax too. If you inherit a home, our guide to inheriting property in Costa Rica covers the transfer, and the tax goes with the house.
For the wider picture, see our guides to buying property in Costa Rica and renting versus buying, and how SUGEF registration affects the brokers and lawyers you’ll work with. This guide explains the rules but isn’t tax advice, so confirm your figures with a Costa Rican accountant or with Hacienda.
Reviewed for the 2026 tax period. The exempt amount and brackets for 2027 will be added when Hacienda publishes them in December. This guide incorporates a 2025 column by attorney Jorge Montero B., who can be reached at acmbalaw@gmail.com or by phone and WhatsApp at (506) 8384-2246.
