Costa Rica's Ministry of Finance has published Resolution No. DGT-R-13-2020, which regulates the collection of VAT on cross-border digital services in compliance with the Value Added Tax Law. The collection of VAT at a rate of 13% will begin on 1 August 2020, which must be performed directly by non-resident service providers or intermediaries or through the credit/debit card issuers facilitating payment.
If a digital service provider or intermediary chooses to collect VAT directly, it must register with the tax administration as a taxpayer, following the procedures set out by Resolution No. DGT-R-13-2020. Once registered and authorization is received, the collection of VAT is to begin within five business days. If registered providers or intermediaries fail to comply with their VAT obligations, they will be deregistered, and collection duties will go to the card issuers facilitating payment.
If the VAT is collected by card issuers, collection will apply on transactions carried with the digital services providers identified in a list maintained by the General Directorate of Taxation, which will be available on the website www.hacienda.go.cr. This list will be updated at least every six months in order to include new providers or exclude those that have voluntarily registered as taxpayers for direct collection. The initial list is included in an annex to the resolution and includes Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Dropbox, Facebook, HBO, LinkedIn, Netflix, and Twitter, among several others.
In addition to establishing the procedures for digital service providers and card issuers, Resolution No. DGT-R-13-2020 also includes the required forms for the calculation and payment of VAT. This includes the registration form, as well as the forms for VAT declaration. The presentation of the declaration is made via the Virtual Tax Administration portal (Administración Tributaria Virtual - ATV), available on the website www.hacienda.go.cr. The VAT period for digital services is monthly, with payment of VAT collected due by the 15th of the following month.