A 3% additional to the 13% VAT that was expected to be charged in Costa Rica as a tax on accommodation services provided through the Airbnb platform and other similar platforms was finally removed from the bill being discussed in the Legislative Assembly.
Bill 20.865 for the regulation of non-traditional hosting and its intermediation through digital platforms, which is discussed in the Legislative Assembly and determines the taxes to be charged for the activity, will be modified by the Economic Affairs Commission.
A 15% tax, charged by the Treasury on income from interest generated on foreign investments in securities in the local market, has been described as incorrect.
A ruling by the Attorney General of the Republic indicates the charge of 15% by the Treasury on interest earned by foreigners on their investments in securities in the local stock market is incorrect and it should be 8%, as is charged to local investors.
The controversial charge of $1,874 to certify commercial use of drones has been suspended for a period of six months while the Attorney General decides on its legality.
The suspension of the charge applies to all commercial users of drones for a period of six months.At the same time, the government has announced a differentiated regime for micro enterprises registered as such with the MEIC, meaning that they are exempted from the payment of $1,874 for certification.
The figure is an estimate made by the Intelligence Directorate in Costa Rica released by the US State Department, along with information that indicates a rise in criminal organizations based in the country, and little capacity to combat them.
Money laundering is a criminal activity that handles amounts that are difficult to measure. For example, the report "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2004-2013" by Global Financial Integrity says that during the aforementioned 10 year period, the flow of illicit money from Costa Rica exceeded $11 billion, that is about $1.1 billion a year.
There is a risk to democracy when liberal state corporatism goes as far as to evade the rules of competition in order to benefit the gigantism of public enterprises.
EDITORIAL
An editorial published by Nacion.com reports on how the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) is insisting on giving contracts to the state run Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), this time to run supervisory tasks in a road building project.
Although the company intends to operate under the format of "self-sustaining community," the criteria of the Attorney General is that "all paid transport is a public service."
The judgment issued by the Attorney General's Office also provides for possible sanctions against Uber for providing transportation services illegally. ".. It is also supported by the legal standard of the CTP which indicates that Uber provides a public service and will never be private, because of the provisions of Law 7969. "
The Attorney General's Office is recommending to the Constitutional Court that it reject the appeal which seeks to outlaw the power of the taxation department to proactively collect tax debts.
The appeal to the Constitutional Court by a group of taxpayers is still under consideration by the judges and although there is still no resolution to this effect, the Attorney General of the Republic "...
The Guild supports the review of the reform proposed by the Procurement General and warns that as formulated it involves risks for the development of works in the country.
From a statement issued by the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of Private Business Sector (UCCAEP):
UCCAEP supports a return to committee to reform the Civil Procedure Code
The Sutel has fined the company and given them a month to stop providing the service, for offering Internet services outside of the law.
The Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel) sanctioned the company IBW Comunicaciones, which provides mobile internet services under the brand name Japi, with a fine of $38,000 and ordered it to suspend services within one month.
The Attorney General's Office said that Costa Rica is not allowed to release GMOs into the country without having an conducted an environmental impact study.
"If the degree of damage to the environment is relevant the regulations should include this activity, among those which must be evaluated from the point of view of their impact on the environment," said the Attorney General's Office under the signature of the attorney General Ana Lorena Brenes.
Lack of coordination among the agencies involved in the start-up of digital tv has caused its introduction to be delayed until at least July.
"The schedule was to start digital signals in January, but we could not do it because we didn't have the legal discretion of the Procuraduría, who sets out the field and defines the legal model to be used. The entity in this case, said that it will grant experimental use permits (probationary periods) to companies ," said Rowland Espinosa, Deputy Minister of Telecommunications.
The National Insurance Institute will resume this year its plan to expand its operations to the countries of the region, investing $300 million in the process.
The National Insurance Institute (INS by its initials in Spanish) intends to be the majority shareholder or acquire 100% of a company with regional presence, a project suspended in 2009 when the company faced opposition from institutions such as the Comptroller General of the Republic, the Pensions Superintendency and the Attorney General's Office.
Rural electrification cooperatives in Costa Rica may be treated differently from cooperatives in general, for financing their projects through debt issuance.
Crhoy.com reports that "The Attorney General's Office told the Superintendency of Securities (SUGEVAL), that it could not measure these entities using the same scale as it does for credit unions."
The concessionaire of the route San Jose – Caldera, , Autopistas del Sol, has filed a lawsuit against the state demanding an update of the cost of road construction.
The company is seeking to "rebalance the contract based solely on an update of the amount of the original bid", said Luis Diego Flores, constitutional attorney. The concessionaire maintains that the cost of the works exceeded the figures set out in the original bid for the project.
The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity is inviting water and wind energy generating companies to participate in a tender, although it is not yet clear how it will be priced.
The ICE has announced a tender for the purchase of 140 MW of energy produced from renewable sources, for which $350 million has been allocated.
It will select up to 100 MW from wind energy projects and 40 MW from water at this early stage.