Closing costs run about 3% to 4% and most of that is fixed by law. The costs that surprise people are the annual ones nobody mentions at closing, and the withholding on the way out.
Closing costs in Costa Rica are unusually predictable, because most of the bill is set by statute rather than negotiated. What catches people out is not the closing — it is the annual obligations that begin the day after, and the tax that lands when they eventually sell.
At closing: roughly 3% to 4%
Three line items make up nearly all of it.
Transfer tax — 1.5%. The impuesto de traspaso, charged on the higher of the agreed sale price or the property's registered fiscal value. Note which way that comparison runs: if a property has been sitting on the municipal books at an old, low valuation and you buy it at market, the tax follows your price. The notary withholds it at closing and remits it to Hacienda before the deed reaches the registry.
Registry stamps and fees — around 0.8% in total. National Registry stamps at about 0.5%, plus agrarian, municipal, fiscal and national archive stamps and a Bar Association charge. Small individually, not small together.
Notary fees — about 1% to 1.25%. In Costa Rica the notary is an attorney, and the role is not clerical: they draft the deed, run the registry filings and are responsible for recording the transfer. This is the one meaningful line you have any say over, and it is also the one where paying the least is a poor strategy.
The transfer tax and the mandatory stamps are fixed by law and cannot be negotiated by anyone, whatever a seller or agent suggests. Custom in most of Guanacaste is that buyer and seller split closing costs, but it is genuinely negotiable and should be settled in the offer rather than discovered at signing.
Every year after: the part nobody mentions
Property tax — 0.25%. Set by Ley 7509 and charged annually by the municipality on the registered value. It is low by North American standards and it is not the problem.
The problem is the obligation attached to it: every owner must file a property declaration with their municipality every five years, restating the property's value. Miss the window and the municipality may reassess the property itself — rarely in your favour — and add penalties. It is a form, it takes very little, and a surprising number of foreign owners have never heard of it because it happens years after the closing that everyone paid attention to.
Luxury home tax, if the house is large enough. The impuesto solidario applies where the construction value alone — the building and its fixed installations, not the land — exceeds a threshold the government restates each year; for 2026 that figure is ₡143 million, set by executive decree. Above it, the tax is charged on the total value of house and land together on a sliding scale running from 0.25% up to 0.55% at the top. It is declared and paid by 15 January, and the deadline is enforced.
Corporate upkeep, if you hold through an S.A. or S.R.L. The legal entity tax each January, the annual beneficial-owner filing to the Central Bank (due in the spring, and required even of a company holding nothing but a house), a resident agent and basic accounting. Budget for it as a real annual cost of the structure, and be aware that a company which falls behind on its filings cannot obtain the certificates it needs to register a sale.
On the way out: capital gains
Costa Rica has taxed capital gains since the 2018 tax reform (Ley 9635) took effect in July 2019 — which means the old line about there being no capital gains tax here has been wrong for years and you will still hear it.
The standard rate is 15% on the gain. If you acquired the property before 1 July 2019, you may elect, once, on the first sale, to pay 2.25% of the gross sale price instead of 15% of the profit — which is usually the better deal on a long-held property that has appreciated. The sale of your primary residence is exempt.
The mechanics changed recently and matter to anyone selling. Where the seller is not domiciled in Costa Rica, the buyer is now the withholding agent and must withhold 2.5% of the transfer value at closing, which stands as the seller's final tax on the transaction; the buyer then reports it through the Hacienda system within a fixed window after the month of sale. This came in through a 2025 resolution that was itself replaced later the same year as the tax administration moved onto its new digital platform, so the form and the filing route are still settling. If you are a non-resident selling, or a buyer purchasing from one, this is the item to raise with your attorney early — it changes the money that actually moves at closing.
What we tell people to budget
For a straightforward titled purchase: 3% to 4% of the price at closing, then the annual property tax plus corporate upkeep if you use a company, plus the luxury tax if the house is over the threshold. Then set the five-year declaration somewhere you will actually see it.
Figures checked September 2026. Rates, thresholds and filing procedures change — the luxury-tax threshold is restated annually and the capital gains withholding rules moved twice in 2025 alone. This is orientation, not tax advice; your attorney and accountant confirm the numbers for your transaction in writing before you sign.
If you want these costs run against a specific property rather than in the abstract, send us the details.
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