Costa Rica — Taxes

Territorial tax, and a clean estate picture Costa Rica taxes on a territorial basis: income earned outside the country is not taxed. On top of that, there is no inheritance tax and no net wealth tax — a cleaner picture than Uruguay for holding and passing on assets.

Local income and consumption Costa Rican-source income is taxed progressively, with a top personal rate around 25%; corporate income tax runs up to 30%, and VAT is 13%. These apply only to what is earned or consumed inside Costa Rica.

Not a zero-tax haven, a territorial base The value here is that foreign income and worldwide assets sit outside the Costa Rican net, not that nothing is taxed at all. If you earn locally, you pay locally.

Residency, tax residence and a slow passport An investor residence permit does not by itself make you tax-resident, and it does not remove obligations to a country that taxes on citizenship, such as the United States. Costa Rica’s appeal is lifestyle and a territorial base; its citizenship horizon is long, at seven years. Compare it with the faster, lower-tax route of Paraguay and the territorial option of Panama, read our tax hub and residency hub, and see how each figure is checked in our methodology.