Selling property in Costa Rica is not difficult, but it punishes people who start gathering documents after they have an offer in hand. The paperwork takes weeks to assemble, some of it comes from institutions that move slowly, and a buyer’s attorney conducting due diligence will find whatever you have not found first.
The bigger surprise is usually not the paperwork. It is what the sale costs you, and how much of it comes out at closing rather than later.
Start with the tax
Costa Rica did not tax capital gains before July 2019. It does now, and a great deal of advice still circulating predates that change. The standard rate is 15% on the gain. If you acquired the property before July 1, 2019, you can instead elect a flat 2.25% of the total sale price, which on a long-held property usually works out considerably better.
That election is made once, at the time of sale, and it is worth having your accountant run both numbers before you sign anything. If the property was your primary residence, the gain is generally exempt. That exemption depends on your circumstances rather than on the property, so establish whether you qualify before you plan around it.
If you do not live here, the buyer withholds 2.5%
This is the one that catches foreign owners, and it is recent enough that many sellers have not heard of it. When the seller is not domiciled in Costa Rica, the buyer is required to withhold 2.5% of the total sale price and remit it to the tax authority, declared on form 129 through the TRIBU-CR platform. Not 2.5% of your gain — 2.5% of the sale price. On a $400,000 sale that is $10,000 held back at closing.
Domicile turns broadly on whether you spend at least 183 days a year in the country. If you have been living abroad and coming down seasonally, assume this applies to you. Whether that withholding settles your liability outright or counts as a payment on account you can reconcile afterward is read differently by different tax practices here. Establish which treatment applies to you before you close, not after. The difference determines whether you are owed a refund.
Transfer tax and the rest of the closing costs
A property transfer carries a 1.5% transfer tax, plus registration fees, documentary stamps and legal fees. Together they generally run somewhere around 3.5 to 4% of the price.
Who pays is customary rather than statutory. In practice it is often split, but it is negotiable and it should be settled in writing in the offer rather than assumed. Sellers who leave it vague tend to discover at closing that the buyer assumed otherwise.
Use escrow
Funds should move through an escrow agent registered with SUGEF, the financial regulator. This protects both sides, and it is standard practice in transactions involving foreign buyers or sellers.
A registered escrow agent will also run the compliance checks that a foreign buyer’s bank will eventually ask about. Skipping escrow to save a fee is a false economy that can strand your proceeds.
The documents you will need to produce
What a buyer’s legal team asks for varies with how the offer is written and what their due diligence turns up. Assume they will want all of the following, and start collecting early.
- Proof of legal water availability. From AyA, from the municipality, or from the ASADA that administers water in your area. If the property runs on a legally registered private well, get documentation confirming the registration.
- Proof of electrical service, including the supplying company and the current contract number.
- Proof the property was built legally. For a house or condominium, the municipality holds the building permits and licences issued for construction.
- Proof property taxes are settled through to the closing date, from the municipality where the property sits.
- Proof all utilities are settled to closing — water, electricity, cable and telephone.
- Proof of solidarity tax assessment, if the property is subject to the luxury home tax. You will need evidence of payment from when the tax took effect in 2009 through to closing.
- Homeowners or condominium association records, where applicable. Rules and regulations, recent meeting minutes, a financial report, and confirmation that maintenance fees and any special assessments are paid up.
- A Certificado Catastral — the certified survey plan of the property.
- A Literal de Inmuebles — the property certification from the National Registry.
- A valid, unexpired passport.
Pull your own Registro Nacional search as well, before a buyer does. Liens, easements and annotations that you have forgotten about or never knew were registered are far easier to resolve on your timeline than during a due diligence period.
Personal name or corporation
You can hold Costa Rican real estate in your own name, through a Costa Rican corporation, through a trust, or through a foreign entity. Most property is held either personally or through a Costa Rican corporation, and the difference matters at closing.
If the property sits in a corporation, you do not need to be present. A detailed special power of attorney together with updated shareholders meeting minutes, both properly recorded in the corporate books, allows someone here to sign for you. Shares in the corporation can also be transferred to the buyer instead of transferring the property itself — but take tax advice before choosing that route, because the treatment of share transfers has drawn attention from the tax authority and the saving is not always what it appears.
If the property is in your own name, expect to attend the closing. The alternative is a special power of attorney signed before a Costa Rican notary. The least expensive way to arrange that is to have your attorney draft it and send it to your nearest Costa Rican consulate, where you make an appointment to sign.
If your property is in the maritime zone
Beachfront property within 200 meters (656 feet) of the high tide line generally is not owned at all. The first 50 meters (164 feet) are public and cannot be transferred. The remaining 150 meters (492 feet) are held under concession from the municipality.
You cannot simply sell a concession. Transferring one requires municipal approval and, depending on the zone, sign-off from the tourism institute. Restrictions on who may hold a concession apply to your buyer as well as to you, which narrows the pool of people who can legally take it on.
If your property is a concession rather than titled land, treat everything above as a starting point and get specific advice early. The timeline is longer and the approvals are not guaranteed.
Before you list
Use a Costa Rican notary or attorney to assemble the documents and handle the transaction. A notary here holds a public function with authority no common-law notary has, and the closing cannot be done without one.
Get your tax position established before you price the property, not after you have an offer. The difference between the 15% rate and the 2.25% election, and whether the primary residence exemption applies to you, can move the net proceeds enough to change whether selling makes sense at all.
Reviewed for 2026. Tax rates, withholding rules and filing platforms have changed repeatedly since 2019 and are worth confirming at the time of sale.
