Shipping Household Goods to Costa Rica After Law 9996

What changed on 14 July 2026

Law 9996, the law to attract investors, rentistas and pensionados, gave new residents in those three categories a set of incentives (article 5). Two of them concerned moving:

• Household goods: a one-time exemption from tariffs and all import taxes on the menaje de casa, defined as new or used items of reasonable nature and quantity for the beneficiary and their immediate family, including furniture, appliances, decoration, kitchen and bathroom items and bed linen (art. 5(a)).
• Vehicles: up to two land, air or sea vehicles for personal or family use, free of import taxes, tariffs and value added tax (art. 5(b)).

Article 12 limited who could opt in: only those who did so during the first five years after the law took effect. The law entered into force on 14 July 2021, so that window closed on 14 July 2026. As of September 2026 no extension had been published. The benefits are granted once residency is approved, so an application that was still pending on that date did not lock them in.

People who were granted the benefits inside the window keep them for ten years from the grant (art. 12). If they sell or transfer exempted household goods within that period, they must pay the exempted taxes (art. 5(a)), and renouncing or losing residency during the law's term triggers the same repayment (art. 7). The investor residency guide covers the other effects of the July 2026 date, including the open question about the investment threshold.

For anyone filing now, plan as if the exemption does not exist. If the Legislative Assembly extends it, treat that as a bonus rather than a basis for a shipping budget.

How customs treats a household move now

Costa Rica's customs service still has a specific way to import household goods: the menaje de casa modality of definitive import. It is a procedure for declaring a household, not a tax exemption for foreigners. The Dirección General de Aduanas policy that governs it (MH-DGA-PRO01-POL-001) mentions an exemption only for Costa Rican citizens returning after at least 24 consecutive months abroad, under a separate law.

The main rules in that policy:

Who may use it. The policy lists, among others, foreigners who obtain residency (once, counted from the date it is granted), foreigners with valid work or study permits, and foreigners who buy a home or rent one for at least six months. Tourists and foreigners in transit may not. That is one practical reason to settle your residency path before you ship: the category you hold, and when it was granted, affects how your goods can be declared. The four paths are compared in moving to Costa Rica.

The inventory. The sworn list must show, at minimum, the date, your identification type and number, your name, a line number, a description, the brand, model and serial number, whether each item is new or used, the quantity, and the unit value in U.S. dollars. You also sign a sworn statement that you meet the policy's requirements. Building this list while you pack, rather than afterward, is the single most useful thing you can do for the customs step.

What the modality allows. The policy's list is broad: household appliances such as a washer, refrigerator, stove and small kitchen appliances; televisions and sound equipment; cutlery, glassware and linens; household furniture; mattresses and bedding; lamps; children's toys; personal exercise machines and musical instruments; a bicycle; pet supplies; home office items such as a printer and computer; and hand tools and small power tools for household use. Personal items such as clothing and toiletries that arrive in the same shipment can go on the same declaration.

Import taxes: what we can and cannot tell you

Without an exemption, the goods pay the import taxes that apply to each item, calculated on its declared customs value. Costa Rica sets those taxes by tariff classification, so a sofa, a television and a set of power tools can each be treated differently.

We have not found an official Costa Rican page that publishes a rate, or a range of rates, for a typical household shipment, so this page does not state percentages. Figures that circulate in expat guides are not sourced to the Ministerio de Hacienda. What we can say is how to get a real number:

1. Build the itemized inventory with values first.
2. Send it to two or three licensed customs brokers and ask for an estimate of the taxes on that inventory, not a general percentage.
3. Ask each broker which items they would leave behind because the tax is high relative to the value.

The customs agent is jointly liable with the importer for the taxes on the declarations they file (Ley General de Aduanas, art. 36), which is one reason a careful broker will ask for detail before quoting.

The customs broker's role

Article 33 of the Ley General de Aduanas defines the agente aduanero as a professional auxiliary to the public customs function, authorized by the Dirección General de Aduanas to provide services to third parties in customs procedures. Three parts of that article matter to someone moving:

• The agent files the customs declaration under oath, and customs may treat the data in it as true, subject to its own checks.
• The agent is your legal representative before customs for the clearance and the acts that follow from it.
• The agent is civilly liable to you for losses caused in carrying out that mandate.

Article 37 makes an agent's intervention necessary in all customs regimes, with listed exceptions where it is optional. Those exceptions include travelers' baggage, courier and postal shipments, and non-commercial imports. For a household goods shipment, though, the customs policy described above requires an authorized agent or agency.

In practice the international mover handles the origin side (packing, export paperwork, ocean or air transport), and a Costa Rican customs broker handles the declaration and clearance on arrival. Some movers work with a broker they already know; ask who it is and get the broker's estimate directly.

Container, air freight or suitcases

There are three general ways to move belongings. The trade-offs below are structural; prices and transit times change constantly, so get current quotes rather than relying on any published figure.

Travelers' baggage is its own customs modality, and the Ley General de Aduanas defines household goods as goods that, without being baggage, are normally used for the comfort or decoration of a home. A suitcase of clothes and a crate of kitchen equipment are therefore treated differently, even on the same flight.

If you plan to bring a dog or cat, that is a separate process under SENASA, the animal health service, described in bringing pets to Costa Rica.

Vehicles

A vehicle cannot go on a household goods declaration: the customs policy expressly excludes cars, motorcycles, yachts and their parts. It is declared on its own.

Since resolution MH-DGA-RES-1897-2024 of the Dirección General de Aduanas (14 November 2024), the customs value of an imported vehicle, new or used, is declared on the price actually paid or payable plus the adjustments required by articles 1 and 8 of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement. That resolution followed Decree 44712-H, which repealed the earlier decrees that assigned vehicles a "tax class" and used a Hacienda reference value as the base for value added tax. Import taxes are calculated on the resulting customs value.

We do not publish vehicle tax rates here because we did not find them on an official Hacienda page in a form we could verify. They are substantial, they depend on the vehicle, and a customs broker can estimate them from the purchase documents before you commit to shipping.

What you cannot ship

Two categories come from the customs policy's own definitions:

• Prohibited goods are those for which entry is never authorized. They are identified in Costa Rica's national tariff system with technical note 73 or by special legislation, and customs holds them and, where applicable, turns them over to the competent authority.
• Restricted goods need express authorization from the relevant government body before they enter, recorded as a technical note in the tariff system. Weapons, their parts and ammunition fall here: including them on a household goods declaration requires that separate authorization.

The household goods modality also cannot be used for construction materials, electrical installation material such as motors, switchgear and cable, professional and technical equipment, machinery and machine tools, instruments for laboratories, clinics, factories or workshops, professional office furniture and prefabricated buildings.

Because the tariff system is the reference, the reliable way to check a specific item is to ask your customs broker to look up its classification before it is packed. Plants, seeds, food and animal products can also be subject to agricultural and health controls; confirm those with the broker as well.

Ship, buy locally, or sell before moving

This table lists considerations, not recommendations. The right answer depends on your inventory, the tax estimate for it, and how you plan to live in Costa Rica.

Many people combine the three: ship a small volume of personal and irreplaceable items, sell or store the bulky furniture, and buy locally once they know where they will live. Renting before buying, as the relocation guide suggests, also means fewer things to move twice.

Where this fits in the move

The customs step comes after the residency decision, not before it. Your category and the date it is granted affect how your goods can be declared, and the documents for residency take months to assemble. The cost guide sets out what residency itself costs; the pensionado and rentista guides cover the two income-based paths. Meridian's program fee is a flat $3,750 per application, with an approved-or-you-don't-pay guarantee. If you are not sure which category you fit, start with the assessment.

Sources and legal basis

1. Ley 9996, Ley para la atracción de inversionistas, rentistas y pensionados, arts. 5, 7 and 12. La Gaceta 135, 14 July 2021. Text published by the Asamblea Legislativa.
2. Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, Presidente firma ley que procura atraer inversionistas, rentistas y pensionados al país (summary of the household goods and vehicle incentives).
3. Ley General de Aduanas, Ley 7557, arts. 33, 36 and 37 and the definition of menaje de casa. Text published by VUCE / PROCOMER, consulted as updated to 20 August 2026.
4. Ministerio de Hacienda, Dirección General de Aduanas, Política General para la Importación en la Modalidad de "Menaje de Casa", MH-DGA-PRO01-POL-001, version 01, October 2020 (customs agent requirement, eligible importers, inventory contents, excluded goods, prohibited and restricted goods).
5. Ministerio de Hacienda, Dirección General de Aduanas, Resolución de alcance general MH-DGA-RES-1897-2024, 14 November 2024 (customs value of imported vehicles; Decree 44712-H).
6. Status of Law 9996 after July 2026: Costa Rica Immigration Experts, September 2026.