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 Published Monday, June 15, 2020 New
tax to online purchases
begins in August By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Starting August 1, the collection of 13% value-added tax, known as IVA, will be applied to digital services generated in other countries, the government announced on Friday. The tax also applies to the use of international platforms that have representation in the country. International digital services are understood to be those provided by a company not located in the country through the internet or any other digital platform, such as Amazon, Uber, Hotels.com, HBO, Netflix, among many others. To collect this tax, two mechanisms were established: • Direct collection by the digital service provider. In this case, the foreign company will charge the tax directly to the client. International companies that directly charge taxes must be registered with the Ministry of Finance in Costa Rica. • The collection by debit or credit card bank issuers. In this case, banks will automatically charge the tax when detecting a payment made with a card, for each purchase made on international companies listed by the Ministry of Finance. The list of these companies can be reached at the Ministry website. According to the Ministry, the list will be updated every six months with information on more companies charging IVA tax and those companies excluded from the tax. According to Priscilla Zamora - Rojas, representative of the Ministry, the collection of the international digital services tax was established following the recommendations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. Another new tax on public employee's salaries could be approved in the next few days. Last week, the Government presented to Congress a new bill to tax a bonus received by the public employees, known as Salario Escolar, or School Salary. The school salary extra bonus is equivalent to one month of salary paid to the public employee in January just days before the start of the school year. The bonus is intended to help families pay for their children's school supplies or to help employees pay for expenses in the case they are enrolled in school. The money is paid to all public employees regardless of whether they have children or school. According to the government, the school salary extra bonus tax would be applied in the same conditions in which income taxes are now collected on wages. In the same bill, the government presented a project to exempt the IVA, to all the products and services of the basic food basket. The basic food basket, known as Canasta Básica, is a group of products and services considered to be essential for basic living. It includes utilities such as electricity, water and food such as rice and beans among many others. In case the deputies approve the bill, the products and services listed in the basic food basket would be exempt from taxes for one year, from July 2020 to July 2021. -------------------------- How do you benefit from the government creating more taxes during the economic crisis caused by the pandemic? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com |
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