From October it will be mandatory for declarations for the traditional and simplified taxation regimes for income taxes, sales, withholding tax and solidarity tax to be made using the electronic platform.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance:
New system allows online statements.
ATV does not requires installation of programs or software.
More than 500 companies categorized as large taxpayers will be able to avoid providing sensitive information on themselves and third parties, such as suppliers and shareholders, to the Directorate General of Taxation.
From a statement issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Costa Rica (CCPCR):
More than 500 large taxpayers could avoid being eligible for AMPO
The Directorate General of Taxation of Costa Rica has been given the power to require professionals to provide information which is "foreseeably relevant for tax purposes".
An article in Nacion.com reports that "... "An institutional criteria of the Ministry of Finance, of July 27, 2015, states that the Directorate General of Taxation (DGT) has the power to require liberal professionals to provide confidential customer information, as long as the data is not related to the query made of the specialist. "
The General Department of Taxation has extended until March 19th the deadline for companies classified as large taxpayers to provide the information required for tax purposes.
The General Department of Taxation has tightened controls on large taxpayers, implementing a new standard called Multifunctional Scheduled Objective Analysis (AMPO by its initials in Spanish), through which it requires companies to submit information such as "...
Up until December 31, 2015 a moratorium will be in effect on the payment of the 13% sales tax on recreational tourism activities in Costa Rica.
The tourism sector will accept the new tax on their terms: desiring an alternative draft law as soon as possible, which exempts legislative procedures and exonerates the charges made before the moratorium.
Ranging from law suits to revoke the decision, to a request for injunction against the Director of Taxation, legal measures are being taken by the guild in Costa Rica to get the collection of the sales tax suspended.
The decision to charge sales tax on companies offering tourist services, retrospectively since 2009, will generate the "... failure of many businesses," warn the authorities of the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur).
Authorities from Tributación Directa reported that the sales tax on tourist activities will start to be accrued from September 30th.
Despite complaints by tourism entrepreneurs, Carlos Vargas, director of Tributación Directa, confirmed that the tax, which taxes at 13% activities as "... zoos, spa, canopy tours, hiking trails, bird watching activities, and bungee jumps, among other things, "will begin to be accrued on September 30 this year.
The new system proposed by the government will include all professionals who create invoices and not only those who work freelance, as had been mentioned in the current project so far.
The pilot project implemented by the Directorate General of Taxation in 2013 will cease to be effective as of now, as will the software and systems that were purchased for its deployment last year.
The Directorate General of Taxation is examining a tax scheme for companies that engage in this activity.
The concept has been put to public consultation for a draft taxation bill on pyramid schemes or catalog sales, in which the intention is to tax, at different levels, wholesale and retail activity in the sector.
In his article in Nacion.com, Ricardo González explains: "The idea of the new regulation is to set the tax basis of the general sales tax at the wholesale level and the estimated selling price to the final consumer, understood as the current list price that companies set precisely in those catalogs."
In three years there has been a 36% increase in the number of beauty and integrale aesthetic salons registered in the country.
The integration of services in one place is one of the reasons why companies in the beauty and aesthetics industry are gaining ground and forcing those who offer the services in a traditional way to innovate.
"Data from the Directorate General of Taxation indicates that in the country there are 3,270 beauty and aesthetics centers, an amount which has increased by 36% in three years.
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.
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.
Between 2010 until October 2013 at least 500 restaurants were built in the country.
The data was supplied by the Association of Engineers and Architects (CFIA). The increase occurred in all areas and all categories, which include restaurants and bars, plus six other categories, as defined by the Treasury Department.
Elfinancierocr.com reports that "if you encompass the eight in a single block, the data shows that the amount of legal persons who declared income grew by 11.6% between 2009 and 2012". Meanwhile, sales tax was up 16.5%.
Experts say that if the Directorate General of Taxation has more autonomy and flexibility it could improve recovery in the country.
The document entitled "The path towards fiscal consolidation " published by the Ministry of Finance, aims to transform the Directorate General of Taxation (DGT) into an entity with greater autonomy in managing its resources and personnel.
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.