The Chamber of Fuels Entrepreneurs announced on Monday that all the gas stations in the country couldn't longer accept payment with any type of cards (credit, debit, local or international).

They maybe will accept payments in colones cash and therefore advise the public to carry enough cash in colones fill the tank.



José Miguel Masis, director of the Chamber, said the refusal to receive payments with cards is because the banks are applying a 7.3 percent withholding on all amounts paid with cards which is affecting the income of merchants.



Masis says this deduction is due to an apparent error by the Ministry of Finance which asks all banks to make the automatic deduction for purchases paid with cards.



The Chamber says that fuel sales are an economic activity exempt from this retention. "In a meeting with them (referring to the representatives of the Ministry of Finance) we explained that this provision should not be applied to gasoline sales, because that is a public service."


According to the organization, the Ministry of Finance is applying the retention by mistake and they are in the process of making the corrections. "The Ministry of Finance confirms to us it was a mistake and that they are going to give instructions to the banks to stop the reduction," said Masis.