Costa Rica net salary calculator 2026
On ₡1,000,000 gross a month, an employee in Costa Rica takes home ₡883,500 in 2026: ₡108,300 goes to the CCSS and ₡8,200 to income tax, because the first ₡918,000 is exempt. Each deduction appears on its own line for checking a payslip. Free in your browser.
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Worked example
- Gross monthly salary
- 1,000,000
- CCSS health insurance (SEM 5.50%)
- 55,000
- CCSS pension (IVM 4.33%)
- 43,300
- Banco Popular (1%)
- 10,000
- Worker CCSS share (10.83%)
- 108,300
How much of a Costa Rican gross salary actually reaches the bank account? This calculator takes a gross monthly salary in colones (₡) and returns an employee's 2026 net pay, with each deduction on its own line. The first is the worker's share paid to the CCSS, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, which is the country's social security fund; together with a contribution to Banco Popular it comes to 10.83% of salary. The second is the salary income tax, worked out with the brackets of Decree 45333-H, in force since 1 January 2026. If you have children or a spouse who entitle you to a tax credit, it subtracts those too. Use it to check a payslip, to weigh a job offer in Costa Rica, or to tell a new hire what they will take home. It is an estimate under the general rules: it works from the gross amount you enter and leaves out voluntary deductions, such as loans or a solidarista association (an employee savings fund common in Costa Rican companies), and court-ordered garnishments.
What the CCSS deducts and where it goes
The first deduction is the worker's social security share. In 2026 it is made up of three rates applied to gross monthly salary: 5.50% for SEM (Seguro de Enfermedad y Maternidad), the health and maternity insurance that funds public healthcare; 4.33% for IVM (Invalidez, Vejez y Muerte), the disability, old-age and survivors' pension scheme; and 1.00% for Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal, collected on the same payroll. Altogether, 10.83%.
The 4.33% IVM rate is a temporary step: transitional provision XI of the IVM Regulation sets it from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028, and from 2029 it rises to 4.50%. On a salary of ₡1,000,000, the worker's share is ₡108,300: ₡55,000 for health, ₡43,300 for pensions and ₡10,000 for Banco Popular. The employer pays its own, larger share on top, 26.83% in 2026, plus the occupational-risk insurance policy with the INS, the state insurer.
None of that comes out of your pay, so none of it appears here.
How the 2026 salary tax is calculated
Income tax on salaries is withheld every month, by brackets, under article 33 of Costa Rica's Income Tax Law (Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta), with the amounts set by Decree 45333-H, which took effect on 1 January 2026 and repealed Decree 44772-H. The first ₡918,000 of the month is exempt. The part above ₡918,000 and up to ₡1,347,000 is taxed at 10%; from there to ₡2,364,000, at 15%; from there to ₡4,727,000, at 20%; and anything above ₡4,727,000, at 25%.
Each rate applies only to the slice of salary inside its bracket, never to the whole salary, so moving into a higher bracket can never leave you with less net pay. The calculator applies the brackets to gross salary, the same figure the CCSS share is taken from. Example: on ₡1,000,000 gross, the tax is ₡8,200, which is 10% of the amount above ₡918,000; together with the ₡108,300 CCSS share, net pay is ₡883,500.
On ₡3,000,000 gross, the tax reaches ₡322,650 because the salary runs through three taxed brackets.
Credits for children and a spouse
Article 34 of the same law grants tax credits, and Decree 45333-H sets them for 2026 at ₡1,710 a month per child and ₡2,590 a month for a spouse. They are subtracted from the tax already calculated, not from salary, so they are worth the same in every bracket. Qualifying children are minors, children with an incapacity, and children in higher education up to the age of 25.
If both spouses work and pay the tax, each credit can be claimed by only one of them. A credit only helps when there is tax to reduce: on ₡600,000 with three children no income tax is due, so the credits have nothing to offset. The calculator never takes the tax below zero, and net pay is ₡535,020 after ₡64,980 of CCSS.
What this estimate leaves out, and when to check
The result is the net pay of an ordinary month. It does not include the aguinaldo, the mandatory year-end bonus under Law 2412, paid in the first 20 days of December; articles 7 and 9 of that law exempt it from social security charges and from income tax. Nor does it subtract voluntary deductions such as a solidarista association, loans or savings plans, or child support and court-ordered garnishments.
If the salary is below the CCSS minimum contribution base (since January 2026, ₡346,789 for health insurance and ₡324,590 for pensions), as can happen with part-time work, the actual contribution may be worked out differently: check with the CCSS. Cases with special features, such as a collective agreement, payment in kind, months with sick leave or several employers at once, should be confirmed with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MTSS) or an employment lawyer.
The amounts are those for 2026; for another year, look up the bracket decree in force.
What you can do with it
Check a payslip
Compare the deductions on your payslip line by line with the 2026 CCSS share and salary tax, and spot a wrong bracket or a missing child credit.
Weigh a job offer in Costa Rica
Turn the gross salary in an offer into the amount you will actually receive each month, and compare offers by take-home pay rather than by the figure on the contract.
Plan a hire
If you are hiring in Costa Rica, tell the candidate what they will take home after deductions. Employer charges are a separate cost on top.
See what family credits are worth
Work out how much net pay changes with another child or with the spouse credit, and decide together which spouse should claim it.
FAQ
How much does the CCSS deduct from salary in Costa Rica in 2026?
10.83% of gross salary: 5.50% for health and maternity insurance (SEM), 4.33% for pensions (IVM) and 1.00% for Banco Popular. On ₡1,000,000 that is ₡108,300 a month.
What salary is exempt from income tax in Costa Rica in 2026?
Up to ₡918,000 a month. Above that, the excess is taxed at 10%, 15%, 20% or 25% by bracket under Decree 45333-H. On ₡1,000,000 the tax is ₡8,200.
How much is the child and spouse tax credit in Costa Rica?
In 2026, ₡1,710 a month per child and ₡2,590 a month for a spouse. They come off the tax, not the salary, and if both spouses work only one of them can claim each credit.
Is Costa Rican salary tax calculated on gross or net pay?
The calculator applies it to gross monthly salary, without first deducting the CCSS share: both deductions are worked out separately on the same amount and then subtracted from gross.
Is the aguinaldo subject to CCSS or income tax?
No. Law 2412 exempts the aguinaldo, Costa Rica's year-end bonus, from social security charges (article 7) and from income tax (article 9), so it is not part of this monthly calculation.
Does the employer also pay into the CCSS?
Yes, separately: in 2026 employer charges come to 26.83% of gross salary, plus the INS occupational-risk policy. That cost is not deducted from the employee's pay.
Related tools
For developers — API access
Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.
API endpoint
Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.
Call it from your stack
curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/salario-neto-costa-rica \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"gross_salary":1000000}'const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/salario-neto-costa-rica", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"gross_salary": 1000000
})
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();import os, requests
res = requests.post(
"https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/salario-neto-costa-rica",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
json={
"gross_salary": 1000000
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/salario-neto-costa-rica", false, stream_context_create([
"http" => [
"method" => "POST",
"header" => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
"content" => '{"gross_salary":1000000}',
],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"gross_salary":1000000}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/fin/salario-neto-costa-rica", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)Example request
{
"gross_salary": 1000000
}Example response
{
"task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
"type": "fin.salario_neto_costa_rica",
"status": "queued",
"_links": {
"result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
}
}The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.
Pricing
Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.
Errors
| HTTP | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
401 | unauthorized | Missing or invalid API key. |
402 | insufficient_balance | Your balance doesn't cover the task price. |
404 | unknown_type | That task type doesn't exist. |
429 | rate_limited | Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling. |
Technical notes
Credits for children and a spouse
Example with ₡3,000,000 gross, one child and a spouse: the credits add up to ₡4,300, the tax falls from ₡322,650 to ₡318,350, the CCSS takes ₡324,900, and net pay is ₡2,356,750.