Although Airbnb offered to collect the sales tax for transactions made in Costa Rica through its platform, the Treasury is evaluating asking the US for information on the hosts.
The Directorate General for Taxation will try to exhaust all routes first with the company Airbnb, but as a second alternative, it has announced that if it does not reach an agreement with Airbnb, it could request information on the hosts, making use of international agreements for exchange of information with other governments, such as as the US.
Public companies from Italy, Spain, China and Switzerland have expressed interest in taking part in the proposed implementation of an urban electric train system.
Carlos Vargas, president of the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer) confirmed with Nacion.com an interest on the part of foreign public companies and noted that"... for now we can not give out details of the persons concerned or the type of partnership that could be used to operate the transport system, as they are awaiting the results of a prefeasibility study."
If the Treasury's proposal succeeds, interest on bank deposits would incur 8% to 15%, while for revenues generated by mutual funds, the tax would rise from 5% to 15%.
This unification is due to the fact that currently there are different taxes for similar types of income, therefore the tax is not neutral, according to the CEO of Taxation. In the case of surplus cooperatives and solidarity associations, the project proposes "...
The decree submitted for public consultation by the General Directorate of Taxation of Costa Rica requires commercial companies to provide information about its members and the composition of its capital.
There is currently a period of 10 working days for companies that do not agree with the draft decree to declare so and make comments. This measure aims to implement the standards of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The Taxation Office has sent to consultation a resolution that would require corporations to disclose information about their shareholders.
The Directorate General of Taxation has sent to consultation a resolution demanding that every society must report who their shareholders are. This measure, according to Carlos Vargas, chief of Taxation, aims to verify payment of transfer tax, in addition to meeting the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The presentation of a study on transfer pricing accompanying declaration of income statements will be only be required in early 2014.
An article in Nación.com reports that the Director General of Taxation, Carlos Vargas, said that "for the declaration of income tax for 2013, whose submission deadline is Dec. 16, there is no requirement to provide the price transfer study. That will be mandatory in 2014. "
New guidelines from the Costa Rican Treasury Office will allow greater access to the most relevant data of companies who paid more than $500,000 in taxes in the past three years.
Large taxpayers now have the obligation to submit to the Directorate General of Taxation information on their financial status in unconsolidated digital format.
This measure is intended to increase oversight of the most important data of 500 companies which account for about 70% of the country's tax revenue. The Treasury defines major contributors to the company as those who paid more than $500,000 for taxes in the last three fiscal years.
From the first half of next year, all professional people will have to use the mechanism that has the same validity as paper documents.
This was announced by Carlos Vargas, CEO of Taxation. The goal "... is to have a tool to verify professional people's income, which is important for determining income tax (which is applied on the difference between income and expenses)", reported Nacion.com.
Sellers of used cars in Costa Rica believe there is discrimination in the way the Ministry of Finance estimates import taxes on cars.
According to Jose Carballo, president of the Costa Rican Automotive Chamber, the industry complains that 52% is charged for new vehicles, while used cars which are over six years old are charged 79%.
"The tax burden is calculated using a ranking system, explained the Director of Taxation, Carlos Vargas, this means that vehicles from zero to three years old pay 52.29%, four to five years 63.91% and six years or more 79.03%", reported Nacion.com.
The evaluation program for the system will involve 100 professionals who will start using electronic invoices.
Starting today, the Directorate General of Taxation is launching its pilot scheme for digital invoices which aims to increase the control of data, improving tax collection and reducing the use of paper.
According to Carlos Vargas, chief of the Directorate General of Taxation (DGT), "we are presenting the application for free.
The General Directorate of Taxation is preparing regulations to govern the sales prices of goods and services between companies considered as related to each other.
This regulation is currently under review by the legal department of the Ministry of Finance. The aim is to have it in force before the end of the current administration, said Carlos Vargas, CEO of Taxation.
Although there are countries in Latin American where paying taxes is an even more cumbersome task, the country needs to improve both the rules and the operation of the tax collection system.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the country is located at No. 125 in the world rankings on how easy, or difficult, it is to pay taxes.
PWC data reveals that a company uses up an average of 226 hours per year in meeting its obligations and ensuring the payment of all taxes. In Central America, the country has the second best place, in contrast to Guatemala which occupies position 124.
A drop in the collection of sales tax revenue by customs offices and of the internal sales tax confirms a drop in consumption by households and firms.
The decline in imports during the last year, caused a drop in sales tax revenue in customs, which in February, had a real decrease of 1.39% compared to the growth of 18.3% in the same period in 2012, according to calculations made by La Nacion using data supplied by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank.
Recognized Brazilian company of backhoe loaders, telescopic, articulated and other types of cranes looking for companies interested in representing the brand and distributing their machinery in Central America and Mexico. The company manufactures and sells telescopic,...