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What's New?

in Costa Rica

How I Registered a Tourist Activity

in Costa Rica for someone from the USA – legally, quickly and without physical presence
How I registered a complete tourist and tax activity in Costa Rica for a foreigner with property, without physical presence and headaches (but with lots of coffee).

Complete Tax and Tourist Registration

What this means for someone renting without being registered:

Fines can range from 1 to 5 basic salaries (approximately 800–5,000 USD), plus doubling of the penalties every six months if the problem persists

Platforms can block the account or remind you of payments if you do not have an active NITE and have not separately highlighted taxes according to Costa Rican tax requirements.

The Hacienda can conduct retroactive audits up to 4 years, or even 10 years if there are serious omissions.

In addition: Starting in 2026, digital platforms like Airbnb are required to report to the authorities who is renting, how much they earn, and the associated bank account.

From July 1, 2025, the “let it go” in Costa Rica’s BNB tourism is over. A new law requires that any unit rented through Airbnb, Booking, Vrbo, etc. be registered with the National Tourism Registry (ICT) and pay official taxes. Those who do not, risk serious sanctions.

The government estimates that there were approximately 44,000 short-term rental hosts in CR, but only about 5,000 of them were already registered and paying taxes — a compliance rate of only ~11%

The context, in brief

How I Registered a Tourist Activity

A gentleman from the US owns a property in Costa Rica. He doesn’t live here, he doesn’t come here very often, but he wants to be legal so he can register his tourist activity and invoice. Sounds simple? Theoretically yes. Practically? You start drinking coffee on an empty stomach if you don’t know where to get it. So far I’ve helped people who were physically in Costa Rica, that’s a challenge…

Everything, remotely. Without setting foot in Costa Rica. In 15 days he had NITE, activity registered in ATV, approved at ICT, and can issue invoices. Without needing a lawyer, but with informal legal assistance from our friend lawyer Fauricio Jimenez from Bufete Jiménez Legal (who was pure gold – ¡gracias!).

about
The stages – or how to slalom through bureaucrats without getting hit

"Foreigner's tax passport"

NITE - This is the part that scares people.
🔹 What is NITE?

Well, if you are a foreigner and do not have a Costa Rican cédula (DIMEX), but you want to pay taxes like an honest person (rara avis, I know), you need this number. Without it, you cannot register in the ATV, but neither in the ICT…..

What I did:

  • Copy of the owner’s passport
  • Updated extract from the property registry (attention: not “what I had by email from 3 years ago”)
  • Application written in Spanish, with all personal data, description of the activity and connection to the property

Thanks to lawyer Fauricio Jimenez, who told me exactly what to write and what NOT to write, the application was accepted without any hassle.

How long did it take? Yes, a few days, but in Tico rhythm it’s almost a world record.

ATV

The Surprisingly Simple Part

After the NITE was released, the ATV registration was really nice. Yes, you read that right.

I created the account, chose the activity code 551001 – Servicios de alojamiento en hoteles, and linked it nicely to NITE. Everything went logically, because the documents were already in the system.

Nobody called me, nobody made me send the form 5 times because “on the fact that there’s a comma missing or I don’t know what”. I finished it in about an hour.

Costa Rican Tourism Institute - ICT

The Ministry of Tourism that... really Responds

To my surprise, once you have:

  • NITE active,
  • registered property,
  • and all the data ready,

… registering with the Tourist Registry was easy.

Everything online, another form, the same documents attached and, surprise, fast approved. I didn’t have to call, send a follow-up on WhatsApp, or ask on Facebook what was happening with the file.

It’s rare for the planets to align so beautifully in Costa Rica. Well, it did.
playa del coco
please read carefully

What you Need to know if you Want to take the Steps yourself

  • It does NOT work if you do not have a property in CR. That was the key. The owner had the property in his name, the document was up-to-date, and it was not rented from anyone. Otherwise, you run into other complications and you need powers of attorney, a notary, presence, and… good luck.
  • Without legal knowledge, it is easy to hit the wall. I was lucky with lawyer Fauricio Jimenez who guided me in writing the application for Hacienda. Anyone who does it on their own risks writing “quiero un NITE porque me gusta Costa Rica” and having their file rejected.
  • Once you have the NITE, things move quickly. ATV, ICT, everything went smoothly. But the NITE is the key that opens the door.

Conclusion – it is possible!

In 15 days, no flights, no nerves and no "free consultations for $300"

I registered a fully functional tourism business for someone in the US. Now he can invoice, work legally, and sleep soundly knowing that Hacienda won’t call him on a Sunday.

It’s possible. But you have to know what you’re doing and have a bit of logic, a little help, and, if possible, more coffee than patience.

12.fw

💡 Note for dreamers, “quick investors” and those who “only put on Booking and AirBNB”:

If you rent without being registered according to the law (i.e. without NITE, without ATV, without ICT and without legal fiscal invoicing), you expose yourself to serious sanctions. Fines of thousands of dollars, blocking of activity, withdrawal of ads from platforms and checks from Hacienda that don’t come to drink coffee.

Being legal in Costa Rica is not impossible and it doesn’t require a master’s degree in tax law. It just requires a little respect for the rules of the place where you want to make money.

P.S. The author of this article graduated from ASE, specializing in Finance-Banking, in 1998, and has no patience with those who believe that legal registration in Costa Rica is done on… WhatsApp…