An investor underwriting a two-bedroom condo near Marina Pez Vela pulls twelve months of Airbnb payout statements from the current owner's property manager. The numbers look clean. Occupancy holds up through the dry season, softens in the wettest months, and the manager's email says, in effect, don't worry about the tax side, we handle it. That sentence is the one worth stopping on, because by the end of 2026 the platform itself starts handling something the manager may or may not have been handling at all, and the gap between those two versions of "handled" is about to become visible to the Costa Rican tax authority for the first time.
The tax in question isn't new. It's the collection method that's changing, and that shift matters more to a buyer's numbers than the rate ever did.
The Rate Has Been Law Since 2019
Costa Rica's Real Estate Capital Gains Tax regime has applied to rental income, short-term and long-term alike, since July 2019. For most individual owners without employees, the default calculation assumes 15 percent of rental income goes to expenses, taxes the remaining 85 percent at 15 percent, and lands on an effective rate of 12.75 percent. Owners have been supposed to file this monthly on their own, self-reporting income and remitting the tax to Hacienda, the country's tax authority. Compliance has been described as spotty, particularly among owners who listed on platforms without ever registering as taxpayers in the first place.
That's the part a lot of online alarm about a "new Airbnb tax" gets wrong. The rate has existed for seven years. What's arriving is enforcement.
What Actually Changes by the End of 2026
Costa Rica's General Directorate of Taxation, the DGT, announced that starting at the end of 2026, digital platforms including Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com will withhold 12.75 percent directly from host payouts and remit it to the tax authority before the money reaches the owner. The Tico Times reported that the DGT's director urged hosts to register as taxpayers ahead of that date to avoid fines once enforcement begins. The mechanism traces back to Costa Rica's participation in the OECD's global tax transparency framework, which requires platforms to share host-level data, including names, income, and property details, with participating governments.
In practical terms, the government stops waiting for owners to voluntarily declare rental income and starts taking its share at the source, the same way an employer withholds payroll tax before an employee ever sees the check.
Why Gross Beats Net
Here's the mechanism that should change how a buyer models returns, not just how they read the news. The 12.75 percent is calculated on gross rental revenue, not net profit. A guest pays for four nights, the platform withholds 12.75 percent of that total before it ever reaches the owner, regardless of what the owner spent that month on cleaning, repairs, property management fees, or a plumber who had to come out twice.
For a listing running near capacity through Manuel Antonio and Quepos's stronger booking months, that's a manageable line item baked into pricing. The number that should worry a buyer more is what happens in the shoulder months, when green-season rain thins out nightly bookings and the corridor's usual seasonal swings take hold. A property that nets close to zero in October still owes 12.75 percent of whatever it grossed that month. A buyer modeling five-year returns off a single strong high-season quarter, rather than a full trailing twelve months, is modeling a number the platform withholding won't respect.
Two Registries, Not One
The other detail that trips up buyers is that "registered" can mean two entirely different things in Costa Rica, and a seller or manager who says the property is compliant may only mean one of them.
Under Law 9742, the framework governing non-traditional lodging through digital platforms, short-term rental operators are supposed to register with the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, known as ICT, in what's called the Non-Traditional Rental Registry. That's a tourism registration. Separately, the owner (or the entity holding the property) is supposed to register as a taxpayer with Hacienda for short-term rental activity, using form D-140, and file the actual 12.75 percent tax. Being registered with ICT says nothing about whether the DGT filings are current, and vice versa. Both are required. Neither one automatically confirms the other exists.
Depending on the canton, the activity may also require a municipal business license, called a patente, on top of both of those registrations.
| Rental type | Guest stay | VAT (IVA) | Platform withholding starting late 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short-term / tourist | Under 30 days | 13%, generally charged to guest | Yes, 12.75% of gross withheld at payout |
| Long-term / residential | 30 days or more | Exempt below roughly ₡693,000 (about $1,300/month) | No automatic withholding; owner files under standard rules |
That 30-day line is doing a lot of work in Costa Rica's tax code. A unit marketed as a flexible monthly rental for digital nomads sits in a completely different tax category than the same unit booked for a five-night stay, even if it's the identical condo with the identical owner.
What This Means at the Closing Table
None of this is a reason to avoid buying a rental property in Manuel Antonio or Quepos. It's a reason to ask sharper questions before the purchase agreement is signed, because an unregistered or under-filed rental history doesn't disappear at closing. It becomes the new owner's exposure the moment the platform starts reporting host data to Hacienda under the new owner's name.
Before making an offer on any property marketed with rental income, it's worth requesting:
- The full trailing twelve months of platform statements, not a curated high-season stretch, so the shoulder-month numbers are visible
- Confirmation of whether the current owner or the property manager has been filing the D-140 taxpayer registration, and who has been remitting the monthly 12.75 percent
- The property's ICT registration number under the Non-Traditional Rental Registry, if one exists
- Whether the HOA or condominium documents set a minimum night requirement, since some associations require rentals to run through a specific management entity or restrict short stays outright
- A return model run twice, once under the current self-reporting system and once assuming full platform withholding on gross revenue, so the shoulder-season math is stress-tested before it's a surprise
A property that's beautifully marketed but thin on paperwork isn't necessarily a bad investment. It's an investment that needs its numbers rebuilt from statements instead of from a listing sheet, and that work is easier to do before closing than after.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 12.75% withholding apply if I rent my Manuel Antonio condo on a monthly basis instead of nightly? No. The withholding tied to platform bookings applies to short-term stays under 30 days. A lease of 30 days or more is treated as a residential rental under different rules, and platform withholding doesn't apply the same way.
Is the 13% VAT the same thing as the 12.75% tax? No, they're separate. The 13% IVA is a value-added tax generally charged to the guest on short-term bookings. The 12.75% is an income tax on the owner's rental revenue. Airbnb has applied and remitted the 13% VAT on its service fees since 2022; the 12.75% withholding on host payouts is the piece taking effect at the end of 2026.
If the seller never registered as a taxpayer, is that my problem after I buy? The property's rental history and its owner's filing status are worth resolving before closing, not after, since the new withholding and reporting mechanism ties host data to whoever is operating the listing going forward. A clean handoff means confirming registration status changes hands correctly, not assuming it carries over automatically.
Rental income can still make the math work on a property in this corridor. It just has to be math built on the property's actual filing history, not on what the listing photos suggest a good season looks like. If you're evaluating a rental property in Manuel Antonio or Quepos and want a second set of eyes on what the numbers actually show before you make an offer, Blue Zone Realty International is glad to walk through it with you. Schedule a private consultation.
