If you get paid through SINPE Móvil for a business, a rental or freelance work in Costa Rica, you will soon have to tell the tax authority which phone number you use. A decree published Oct. 16 makes the rule official, and skipping it can cost you at least $3,000. Executive Decree 45953-H was signed by President Laura Fernández and Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves. It adds the requirement to the regulations that govern how taxes are administered. In July, the Finance Ministry floated the idea as a draft open to public comment. It is now final.
The rule covers anyone registered for taxes who uses a phone number linked to SINPE Móvil to collect payment for an economic activity. That means shops, restaurants, landlords, tour operators, guides, therapists and independent professionals. You record those numbers in the Single Tax Registry, known as the RUT, the same file that holds your registered activity and contact details.
Your personal phone is not covered unless you use it to collect business payments. Splitting a dinner bill or sending money to family does not count. If one number handles both, it becomes tied to your business once you register it, which is why many people may decide to keep a separate line for sales.
You do not need to do anything today. The tax authority has up to three months to add the field to the registry and publish a general resolution with instructions. If you are already registered, you then have 12 months from the date that resolution takes effect.
Missing the deadline is expensive. Failing to register or update the numbers triggers the penalty in Article 83 of the Tax Code, which is 2% of your gross income from the previous tax year. The fine cannot be lower than three base salaries, about ₡1.39 million ($3,057), or higher than 100, about ₡46.2 million ($101,905).
If your income is unknown, the fine is set at 10 base salaries, about ₡4.62 million ($10,190). The base salary used for fines in 2026 is ₡462,200, unchanged since 2021. This is not a tax on SINPE Móvil, and it adds no fee for sending or receiving money. The Finance Ministry has ruled out taxing the service. What changes is visibility.
The registered numbers will be checked against electronic invoices, which already have to state when a sale was paid by SINPE Móvil. The rule does not change what you owe. If you sell a product or service, you already have to issue an electronic invoice and report the income. The registry lets the tax authority compare what comes into your phone with what you declare. According to the decree, the information is covered by tax confidentiality and personal data protection rules.
The money involved explains the push. SINPE Móvil had 4.8 million active phone subscriptions at the end of May, according to the Central Bank, and moved about ₡12.5 trillion ($27.6 billion) in 2025. It has become the most common way to pay in Costa Rica for everything from groceries to dental visits.
Business groups raised concerns about the monitoring plan when it was first proposed. The general resolution, due within three months, will spell out exactly how and where to register.
