Plan contractor hiring in Costa Rica

Engage the Costa Rica-resident contractor as a registered individual who controls the work, bears its business risk, and invoices under a services agreement. Income earned from services performed in Costa Rica remains Costa Rican-source income even when the customer and funds originate abroad, so the contractor owns the local income-tax position. The contractor also manages registration in the Registro Único Tributario and, when compulsory coverage applies, affiliation with the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social within eight business days after starting the activity. Keep delivery, scheduling, tools, staffing, and commercial risk in the contractor's hands.

Sources: Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta, artículos 1 y 2, CCSS, reglamento del aseguramiento contributivo de trabajadores independientes, Dirección General de Tributación, resolución MH-DGT-RES-0037-2025, Código de Trabajo, artículos 18 y 434

If the line is crossed

If the arrangement is employment, the foreign buyer can be treated as the employer for Costa Rican labor and social-insurance purposes. Costa Rican courts have international jurisdiction over an employment contract made abroad for indefinite or permanent execution in Costa Rica, and national law applies to the relationship where it is more favorable to the worker. Minimum labor guarantees then enter the contract and a waiver of Code rights is void. The employer must also handle the worker's CCSS contribution and is personally liable if the amount is not delivered to the Fund. The exact exposure depends on pay, tenure, benefits, contributions, and the claim, so investigate working facts and correct the operating model as soon as dependency appears rather than relying on the contractor label.

Sources: Código de Trabajo, artículos 11, 21 y 434, Ley Constitutiva de la CCSS, artículo 30

Constancia de inscripción en el Registro Único Tributario

RUT registration certificate

This certificate proves the contractor's registered taxpayer identity and the obligations attached to the economic activity. It is a public document generated in TRIBU-CR when the contractor registers or changes data, and the contractor can generate a replacement when needed. The tax authority also provides electronic verification, so the payer can compare the certificate with the legal name, identity, and activity code later shown on the invoice. Registration status alone does not prove that every return and tax amount is current. Refresh the check when the service changes materially, the contractor changes identity or address, or invoice validation reports an activity mismatch.

Issued by: Dirección General de Tributación through TRIBU-CR, generated by the contractor.

Timing: Collect at onboarding and refresh after a registered activity or identity change.

Sources: Dirección General de Tributación, resolución MH-DGT-RES-0037-2025, artículo 19, Dirección General de Tributación, versión 4.4, código de actividad del emisor

Factura Electrónica de Exportación

Electronic export invoice

This is the resident contractor's tax document for a paid service supplied from Costa Rica to a non-domiciled customer for use or consumption abroad. The contractor creates the version 4.4 electronic file, submits it to the tax authority, and gives the buyer a legible representation. Keep the authority's acceptance message with the invoice because every electronic document needs that message as validation support and a rejected document has no tax validity. The readable representation is useful for accounts payable, while the validated electronic file establishes that the local tax control completed successfully. If the customer uses the service in Costa Rica, the export form and exempt treatment require reassessment.

Issued by: The Costa Rica-resident contractor, with validation by the Dirección General de Tributación.

Timing: Issue and deliver the tax document at the service transaction; agree the commercial payment deadline separately.

Sources: Dirección General de Tributación, resolución MH-DGT-RES-0027-2024, Ley del IVA, artículos 3 y 7, Reglamento de la Ley del IVA, service export definition and exemption

A cross-border service is an exempt export only when it is supplied for consideration from Costa Rica to a non-domiciled recipient that uses or consumes it outside Costa Rica. The customer's foreign address answers only the recipient part of that test. Before the first invoice, write down what the deliverable is, which foreign operation or users will consume it, where the result is deployed, and whether any Costa Rican team or activity receives the benefit. When those facts support outside use, the contractor issues a Factura Electrónica de Exportación and records the service as exempt from IVA. If use moves into Costa Rica during the engagement, revisit the invoice treatment before accepting the next document rather than allowing the original customer profile to decide every period.

Sources: Reglamento de la Ley del IVA, artículos 2 y 11, Ley del IVA, artículo 8

What an invoice has to show

• The issuer's registered economic-activity code and a valid CAByS service code

  The invoice must identify the contractor's registered economic activity and use a valid CAByS code to describe each service line. These fields connect the tax record to the work being billed. Ask the contractor to select the current activity and service codes through their invoicing system, then compare the plain-language description with the statement of work. Where one contractor supplies several distinct services, check the lines individually instead of accepting one broad description for the entire amount.

  Sources: Dirección General de Tributación, versión 4.4 de comprobantes electrónicos

• The foreign recipient's legal name and non-domiciled identification

  These fields identify the exact foreign business receiving the exported service. The export schema permits the Extranjero No Domiciliado recipient type and accepts a foreign identifier of up to the schema limit without requiring the customer to be registered in Costa Rica. Give the contractor the same legal identity used in the services agreement and payer records. A group nickname or abbreviated trading name can break the audit trail between the contract, the outside-use facts, and the invoice even when the file passes format validation.

  Sources: Dirección General de Tributación, versión 4.4, identificación del receptor

• Document type 09, the numeric key, consecutive number, and issue timestamp

  The export invoice carries document type 09, its numeric key, consecutive number, and issue timestamp. These control fields identify the document and place it in the contractor's electronic sequence. Accounts payable should retain them with the accepted electronic record and use them when asking the contractor to correct a billing error. Keep the original and its linked correction together so a replacement document does not become a second payment request for the same service.

  Sources: Dirección General de Tributación, versión 4.4, encabezado y tipos de comprobante

• Invoice currency, its exchange value against colones, and the exempt-service total

  These summary fields connect the commercial amount to Costa Rican reporting and show the export's IVA treatment. Every electronic document states a currency. A colón invoice uses an exchange value of one, a USD invoice uses the Central Bank's reference selling value, and another currency is expressed against colones. When the outside-use test is satisfied, the service lines flow into TotalServExentos and the invoice does not calculate IVA on that exempt amount. Reject an invoice that describes an export while placing the same service in a taxed, exonerated, or non-subject summary category.

  Sources: Dirección General de Tributación, versión 4.4, resumen de la factura, Ley del IVA, artículo 8

The contractor issues the electronic export invoice when the foreign-recipient and outside-use conditions are documented; otherwise, ask them to reassess the applicable invoice and IVA treatment. The contract fixes the commercial due date. The general IVA timing rule uses the earlier of invoicing or performance, with advance amounts recognized when collected, so delaying invoice processing does not move the contractor's tax timing. Put the billing cadence, acceptance steps, due date, correction process, and invoice currency in the services agreement. The buyer should check that the document has the authority's acceptance message and matches the delivered period before releasing the amount.

Sources: Ley del IVA, artículo 3, Código de Comercio, artículos 418 y 419, Dirección General de Tributación, resolución MH-DGT-RES-0027-2024, artículos 9 y 11, Reglamento de la Ley del IVA, service export definition and exemption

When invoices are settled

If Costa Rican commercial law governs, the agreed date is the settlement deadline and the statutory default fills only a missing term. An obligation with no stated due date is immediately demandable unless the nature of the transaction or established custom requires time. Default begins on the day after an agreed or legally fixed maturity date. When no term exists, default begins on the day after the creditor makes a judicial or extrajudicial demand. There is no general number of days in this rule for an ordinary cross-border services invoice. State the date or a precise calculation from invoice acceptance, and state the governing law, so neither side has to rely on demand as the event that starts default.

Sources: Código de Comercio, artículo 418

The currency on the invoice

The parties may agree a foreign invoice currency for this cross-border service when Costa Rican law governs the obligation. The Central Bank organic law recognizes foreign-currency contracts as valid and enforceable, and its cross-border exception requires the agreed foreign currency for obligations payable from abroad into Costa Rica or in the reverse direction. The electronic invoice then records that currency and its required value against colones; this reporting field does not rewrite the commercial denomination. Put the currency in the agreement and use the same denomination on the invoice. If the invoice uses USD, version 4.4 calls for the Central Bank's reference selling value, while another foreign currency is expressed against colones.

Sources: Ley Orgánica del Banco Central de Costa Rica, artículos 48 y 49, Dirección General de Tributación, versión 4.4, código y tipo de moneda

Treating a foreign customer address as proof of an exempt service export

A foreign address proves only that the recipient may be non-domiciled; it does not establish where the service is used or consumed. The export definition requires both facts. A deliverable used by a Costa Rican team, operation, or market can fail the outside-use condition even when the contracting entity sits abroad. Record the customer operation receiving the work, intended users, deployment location, and any Costa Rican benefit in the statement of work or acceptance record. Recheck those facts when the project scope changes. If outside use cannot be supported, ask the contractor to reassess the IVA treatment before issuing or replacing the invoice.

Sources: Reglamento de la Ley del IVA, definición de exportación y artículo 11

Accepting a readable invoice while ignoring validation and RUT status

A readable invoice can still lack tax validity because the underlying electronic file needs the tax authority's acceptance message. A rejection makes the document invalid, and a contractor in baja temporal RUT status cannot issue through the Finance Ministry system while files from a private system are rejected. That status can follow three or more consecutive missed self-assessment filings for the same tax. Require the accepted electronic record with the readable representation, verify the issuer's RUT certificate, and match the registered activity to the invoice. When validation fails, hold the document for correction rather than changing the commercial amount or creating an internal substitute.

Sources: Dirección General de Tributación, resolución MH-DGT-RES-0027-2024, artículos 9 y 11, Dirección General de Tributación, resolución MH-DGT-RES-0037-2025, artículo 17

Managing the contractor through the same controls used for employees

Fixed hours, fixed periodic remuneration, assigned facilities, mandatory availability, detailed instructions, and integration into internal reporting lines create the factual pattern of subordination. The contractor's invoices, professional title, or work for another customer do not settle the question. Costa Rica's labor chamber examines the full reality, and the weight of each indicator depends on the particular engagement. Contract for a defined result, let the contractor organize performance, allow refusal of additional assignments, keep tools and commercial risk with the contractor, and use delivery reviews rather than staff supervision. Escalate the classification review when the business starts controlling time, method, or continuing availability.

Sources: Código de Trabajo, artículo 18, Ministerio de Trabajo, employment and professional services guidance