Buying a Costa Rica Rental or Business? The New SINPE Móvil Rule

October 21, 2026

If you are buying a rental property or a small business in Costa Rica, a decree published on 16 October changes how a seller’s income can be checked, and how yours will be after you take over. Anyone registered for tax who collects business payments on a SINPE Móvil phone number (the national phone-to-phone payment system) must record that number in the tax registry, with a fine for failing to do so. For buyers of rentals, shops, tour operations and similar businesses, the payment trail becomes easier for the tax authority to match against invoices, and easier for you to verify before you pay. This piece is written mainly for expat buyers and for property owners who collect rent or sales by phone.

Key takeaways

The rule is a registration duty, not a new tax: it adds no fee on SINPE Móvil and does not change what is owed.
The penalty for not registering is steep for a small operator: at least ₡1,386,600 under the reported formula, which is 3 base salaries.
Mechanics and dates are still pending, so buyers should verify a seller’s payment records now rather than wait for the registry rules.

What happened

Executive Decree 45953-H was published on 16 October 2026 and adds a requirement to the tax procedure regulation (GlobaLex; Tico Times).
It covers taxpayers who use a phone number linked to a bank account to receive payments for an economic activity. The number goes into the Single Tax Registry (RUT). Personal phones are not covered unless used to collect business payments, according to the Tico Times.
Hacienda (the finance ministry) has up to three months to update the registry and issue a general resolution with instructions. Taxpayers already registered then get 12 months from the date that resolution takes effect. Sources differ on whether the three months run from publication (GlobaLex) or from the decree taking effect (La Nación), so there is no fixed calendar deadline yet.
The penalty comes from Article 83 of the Tax Code: 2% of the previous year’s gross income, with a floor of 3 and a ceiling of 100 base salaries, or 10 base salaries if income cannot be determined. The 2026 base salary is ₡462,200, unchanged since 2021 (EY).
Registered numbers will be checked against electronic invoices, which must state when a sale was paid by SINPE Móvil. The decree cites 4.8 million active subscriptions in May 2026 and ₡12.5 trillion moved in 2025.
The public accountants’ association calls the Article 83 fine excessive for a registration failure and argues a smaller Article 78 penalty should apply (CRHoy).

Chart: Reported fine tiers for not registering, millions of colones (2026 base salary)

Fine tier	Base salaries	Colones
Floor	3	₡1,386,600
Income cannot be determined	10	₡4,622,000
Ceiling	100	₡46,220,000

Source: Tax Code art. 83 as reported by Tico Times (20 Oct 2026) and GlobaLex; base salary ₡462,200 per EY (6 Jan 2026). Amounts are our multiplication of the base salary. The accountants’ association rounds the floor to about ₡1.3 million.

What This Means If You Are Buying

The assets most affected are rentals (long-term and short-term), shops, restaurants, tour operators and other small businesses that take payments by phone. The registration duty and the fine sit with the taxpayer who holds the RUT registration, so the first question is who that is: an individual seller, a company, or you after closing. If you buy shares in a company, its past filing gaps stay with the company, which is a question for your Costa Rican attorney or notary, not something we can settle here.

The practical point for underwriting is that the fine has a floor. Two percent of gross income only exceeds the 3-salary floor once income passes about ₡69.3 million a year, so a small landlord or shopkeeper is more likely to face the floor than the percentage. A seller who has been collecting rent on a personal number will also have a messier history than one with a dedicated business line, because registering a number ties it to the business.

Step	Timing as reported	Source
Decree published	16 October 2026	GlobaLex, Tico Times
Hacienda issues registry rules (general resolution)	Within three months; start date differs by source	GlobaLex, La Nación
Existing taxpayers must register numbers	12 months after the resolution takes effect	La Nación, Tico Times
Comment period on the draft resolution	Open until 28 October 2026	CRHoy only
Registration fee	None reported	Not stated in any source we found

Sources as named; compiled 21 October 2026. Dates may move once the general resolution is published.

What Could Go Wrong

The seller used one phone number for personal and business payments, so the bank history does not separate rent or sales from family transfers.
Payments flowing through the phone exceed the income declared, which would surface once numbers are matched to invoices.
The procedure is unwritten: the general resolution is pending, so forms, deadlines and edge cases such as several lines per business are unknown.
The fine itself is contested. The accountants’ association wants an Article 78 penalty, described as half a base salary per month of delay with a cap of 3 base salaries; the final treatment could change.
We found no authoritative guidance written specifically for landlords or short-term-rental hosts. The Tico Times lists landlords among those affected, but the decree as reported by other outlets does not name them.

The upside case: if the resolution is clear and the penalty is made proportional, operators with a clean, registered payment trail will be easier to value, finance and sell. We would see that confirmed by a published resolution with a simple online procedure and a lighter penalty for first-time late registration. The same accountants’ group notes that Hacienda may struggle to identify unregistered recipients, which is a reminder that enforcement capacity, not just the rule, will decide how much this matters.

Your Next Steps

Expat buyers: ask the seller which phone numbers collect payments, whether they are in the RUT, and request 12 months of payment records you can match to invoices before you make an offer.
Business buyers: ask your attorney whether you are buying assets or shares, who carries any past registration fine, and add a closing condition that the seller’s numbers are registered or corrected.
Property owners and landlords: check whether you collect rent or deposits on a personal number; our read, not a forecast, is that a dedicated line will keep your records simpler once the rules are final.
Local investors: ask your accountant whether the rule applies to income from any property you let and whether Article 78 or 83 is likely to be used.

What to watch next: Hacienda’s general resolution, due within three months of the decree, and the 28 October close of the comment period reported by CRHoy.

Run Your Own Numbers

Use this to test a rental or small business you own or are considering. A buyer can fill it in from the seller’s records, a lender can use it to see how traceable the cash flow is, and an allocator can apply it to any operator whose revenue arrives by phone.

Input	Your assumption	Effect
Gross annual income received by phone (₡)
Number of phone lines used for business
Share of payments that match an electronic invoice
2% of gross income vs the ₡1,386,600 floor

Illustration only, not a forecast. Take a hypothetical landlord with ₡30,000,000 of gross annual income. Two percent is ₡600,000, which is below the ₡1,386,600 floor, so the floor would apply: about 4.6% of income (1,386,600 ÷ 30,000,000 = 0.0462). The floor stops binding at ₡69,330,000 of income (1,386,600 ÷ 0.02).

Questions to take to a sponsor, advisor or counterparty

Which phone numbers receive payments for this asset, and are they registered in the RUT under the entity being sold?
Can the seller reconcile 12 months of phone payments to electronic invoices and declared income?
Who bears any fine for past or late registration, and is that written into the purchase contract?

Resumen en español

El Decreto 45953-H, publicado el 16 de octubre de 2026, obliga a quienes cobran con SINPE Móvil por una actividad económica a registrar ese número en el RUT; no crea un impuesto nuevo.
La multa reportada es el 2 % de los ingresos brutos del año anterior, con un mínimo de 3 y un máximo de 100 salarios base (₡1 386 600 a ₡46 220 000, con salario base de ₡462 200).
Quien compre un alquiler o un negocio debe verificar los pagos del vendedor; a vigilar: la resolución general de Hacienda, en un plazo máximo de tres meses.

Data as of 21 October 2026. Figures marked preliminary will be revised. This is general market commentary, not investment advice. Consult a Costa Rican attorney or notary for your own transaction.

Sources

Need this analysis for a specific deal?

We research the market, the asset and the rules behind your decision, sourced and dated, in English or Spanish.

Commission a research brief

Get the Next One in Your Inbox

No noise, no sales pitch — just the research, when it’s published.

Next step: check your inbox (and spam folder) for our confirmation email and click the link to start receiving the research.