By A.M. Costa Rica staff
As part of the control plans carried
out by the Tax Department of the
Ministry of Finance, since July 2018
actions have been taken to verify
compliance with the use of
electronic invoices. The department
analyzed 1,570 cases and found 157
cases with irregularities.
According to the ministry, of the
157 cases found, 28 fixed the
problem and made the corresponding
electronic invoice but 60 were fined
for an estimated total of 257
million colones ($427,339). Of those
fined, 15 percent already paid the
penalty.
According to the regulations of the
ministry, whoever failed to comply
with the electronic billing during
2018 will have to pay between
1,293,000 colones ($2,150) and
43,100,000 ($71,666). If the fault
is generated this year, the penalty
increases between 1,338,600 colones
($2,225) and 44,620,000 colones
($74,194). The changes in fines for
this year are due to the change in
the minimum salary amount for public
employees, which is used as the base
to calculate the fee.
According to Carlos Vargas, general
director of Taxation, people must
comply with the issuance and
delivery of electronic invoices to
avoid fines. In addition, Vargas
calls upon consumers to make the
complain at the ministry if they do
not receive the electronic invoice
for any purchases.
"We call to the citizens to continue
supporting us in these efforts to
improve taxpayer compliance through
the complaint,” said Vargas.
The obligation to issue electronic
invoices started in January 2018. To
use the billing system, the Ministry
of Finance enabled the necessary
software on the website www.hacienda.go.cr.
In relation to the problems caused
by the new electronic billing
system, A.M. Costa Rica Wednesday
published the news about scammers
from jail caused the loss of more
than $800,000 to users of the
Ministry of Finance and the Ministry
of Economy web page.
According to specialists, scammers
were calling business people
pretending to be executives of
government agencies, such as the
Ministry of Finance and the Ministry
of Economy.
Government officials became aware of
the scams because technicians
detected that crooks could enter the
Ministry of Finance website to
access citizens' bank account
information. This application was
blocked, and the ministry site has
new control systems to prevent the
leakage of information, officials
said Tuesday.
After getting a victim on the
telephone, the scammer frequently
mentioned that they must create a
digital signature to perform the new
and mandatory electronic invoicing
program that was created by Ministry
of Finance.
The scammers had victims enter
legitimate websites run by the
government, including Ministry of
Finance or Ministry of Economy pages
about taxes or public purchases. The
victims were led step by step to
register for these programs. When
they finished, the scammers directed
them to a website to end the
process. This scammers page was
identified as https // fd / TOKEN /
TOKEN / TOKEN /
Scammers ask the victim to enter
sensitive information, such as bank
passwords, on that site with the
pretext that this step is necessary
to obtain a digital signature. On
that site, run by the scammers, the
victim's sensitive information was
captured.
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A.M. Costa Rica
wire services photo
If the fault is generated
this year, the penalty
increases between $2,225
and $74,194.
As
a last step, the scammers
left the victim watching
an instructive video of
the digital invoice system
of the Ministry of
Finance. Alternatively the
scammer pretended to set
an appointment for
additional government
business.
While the victim watched
the video or awaited
appointment information,
the scammers were using
the victim's information
to raid the business bank
accounts.
According to the
specialists, scammers have
been spending from one to
four hours talking over
the phone with the
victims.
To avoid more victims, the
specialists give this
series of recommendations
so that the public can
detect the scammers:
- Never take any call from
any government institution
or bank. None of those
organizations are making
calls to clients or
sending executives to
users home or offices. In
the case of a call from a
bank, members of the
public should take the
call and call the official
phone number of the bank
or go in person to the
bank's customers support
in person.
- Never accept any call
from any executive
institution asking to
download any program in
your computer. If you get
a call from a person
asking to download a
program, you must cut the
call and turn off the
computer immediately.
- If you suspect you have
received any scammer
calls, you must go to an
official complaint to the
Judicial Investigating
Organization.
The government
representatives confirmed
that in the next few days
there will be a campaign
called "This could happen
to anybody” (“A cualquera
le puede pasar” in
Spanish), to alert the
public and prevent frauds
continue.
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Should the Ministry
eliminate this electronic
invoicing system and look
for another type of tax
payment control? We would
like to know your thoughts
on this story. Send your
comments to: news@amcostarica.com
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