Treasury Proposes Tax Grab On Online Services

The Ministerio de Hacienda (Ministry of Finance) proposes to charge the 13% Value Added Tax (VAT) on purchases of 191 cross-border online services and websites available consumers in Costa Rica.

The list includes famous streaming services such as Netflix, HBO and Amazon Prime; video games such as Epic Games (creator of Fortnite), Playstation and Nintendo; advertising services on social networks (Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads and Twitter Ads); online music like Spotify and iTunes; and even antivirus purchases and website hosting, among others.

Cross-border digital services are all purchases that a consumer makes within Costa Rica through online platforms that are based outside the country.

The list of services was published on Monday, December 2, by the Dirección General de Tributación (DGT) – Tax Department – in a draft resolution that establishes the mechanisms to collect the tax on cross-border digital services.

This is the third draft of this resolution published by the Treasury. However, this latest version is the first one that includes the list of 191 platforms to which the tax would apply.

The public has up to December 16 to receive comments on the proposed tax, after which the Tax Administration will evaluate the comments to determine if it is necessary to make important adjustments to the text.

In a nutshell, the tax would be applied to purchases made in Costa Rica using a debit or credit card issued in Costa Rica. Purchases made with a card issued outside the country, though the service is being consumed in Costa Rica, would not apply. For now.

According to the proposal, the service provided would be required to register for the collection of the value added tax, charge the consumer and remit to the tax department.

The DGT is also looking at a process where the card issuer if to withhold the VAT when a consumer makes a purchase of a cross-border service.

Banks and financial institutions issuing debit and credit cards would withhold on purchases based on the published list.

The DGT can modify, from time to time, the services on the list, based on consumer demand.

The process would include the ability of the consumer to obtain a refund if they experienced an improper charge, in which case would have to submit a form to Taxation for approval and can then make a request to the issuing bank for a refund of the charge.

Following is the list from the of cross-border services the Ministry of Finance proposes to tax.

NETFLIX
SPOTIFY
DEEZER
TIDAL MUSIC
ITUNES.COM
WWW.SKY.COM
PRIME VIDEO
G2A.COM
G2A
GAMEFORCE GAMES
ANKAMA GAMES
BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT
BLIZZARD ENT
OASIS GAMES
LEVEL UP INTERACTIVE
INSTANT GAMING
SKR*UNITED GAMES GMBH
PLAYSTATION NETWORK
XSOLLAS
RIOTGAM
RIOTGAMES
RIOT GAMES
STEAMGAMES.COM
VALVE
VALCE CORPORATION
FACEIT
XSOLLA
SEGA
SEGA II
GOOGLE*SEGA
GOOGLE*SEGA
AXESOS
GLAUD GAMES
CLOUD GAMES
WWW.STEAMPOWERED.COM
STEAMPOWERED.COM
EPICGAMES
SITEGROUND
INMOTIIONHOSTING.COM
GITHUB
VENDOSTORE
BEFLICK
MEGA CLOUD SERVICES
ONE DRIVE
MEDIAFIRECHARGECOM
SUGARSYNC
ICLOUD
PCLOUD
JIMDO
WORDPRESS
WEEBLY
YOLA INC
YOLA
YOLA.COM
FREEHOSTING
FREEHOSTING.COM
BLUEHOST
WIX.COM
WIX
MASSIVE MEDIA
FACEBK ADS
INSTAGRAM
TWITTER
TWITTER ONLINE ADS
TWITTER ADVERSTISING
TINDER
TINDER
GOOGLE TINDER
LINKEDIN
TUMBLR INC
SNAPCHAT
HAPPN
BADOO
BADOO
BADOO.COM
MEETIC.COM
FACEBOOK ADVERTISING
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
FINANCIAL TIME LT
FINANCIAL TIME LTD
NEW YORK TIMES
DROPBOX
GODADDY
THE SURFER’S JOURNAL
AIKIDO JOURNALS
COLUMBIA JOURNAL
COLUMBIA JOURNALISM
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
LIVEJOURNAL
WOOD WORKERS JOURNAL
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS JOURNALS
HIKARI LTD
HIKARI
JHUP JOURNALS
KLETT SPRACHEN
KYLA ITSINES
LEARNING SANOMA
MITBLADDK
MONOCLE MONOCLE
MONOCLE
MYSS.COM
OAKTREE SOFTWARE
PARADISE PUBLISHER
SAGE PUBLICATIONS UK
SAGE PUBLICATIONS
NYT*NYT TIME SYNDICATE
TIME NEWSPAPERS LTD
TRAINING SOLUTIONS
TRAINING SOLUTIONS LTD
WONDERBLE¡Y PERSONLIZED
WONDERBLY
NORTON
NORTON
AVAST SOFT
AVG STORE
AVG ECOMMERCE
AVAST NEXWAY
PANDA SECURITY
AVIRA ANTIVIR
WWW.AVIRA.COM
ESET LLC
BITDEFENDER
SKYPE.COM
SKYPE
SKYPE SUBSCRIPTION SKYPE
WWW.SKYPE.COM
WEBEX.COM
MICROSOFT
GOOGLE PLAY
GOOGLE STORAGE
YAHOO SMALL BUSINESS
HABITISSIMO
WWW.GETTYIMAGES.COM
GETTY IMAGES
MICROSOFT
MICROSOFT
MICROSOFT
DGNET LTD.
OPENENGLISH.COM
BLOMBERG
ENVATOMARKET
HASHFLARE
HBO DIG
HBOSTORE
KASPERSKY
LEIDEN TECHNOLOGY DO B
LEIDEN TECHNOLOGY DO B
RACKSPACE CLOUD
TEAMVIEWER.COM
TELEFONICA GLOBAL SERV
VIBER
VIBER
SECURITY SHIELD
QUICK HEAL
ZOOM.US
ANYMEETING
INTERMEDIA ANYMEETING
WISH.COM
COINBASE
SMILES FIDELIDADE SA
AMAZON VIDEO
AMAZON PRIME
AMAZON WEB SERVICES
AMAZON DIGITAL
MAILCHIMP *MONTHLY
ZOHO CORP
ZOHO CORPORATION
JRPASS.COM
JRPASS LTD
FXCLUB.ORG
AVANGATE
DIGITALRIVER
DIGITAL RIVER
ONEPLUS
ONEPLUS
AIRBNB
HOTELES.COM
BOOKING
B&H PHOTO
BEST BUY
WWW.ALIEXPRESS.COM
MOUSER ELECTRONICS INC
DKC*DIGI KEY CORP
OLX
APPLE
ATLASSIAN
WWW.ALIBABA.COM
NINTENDO
SONY
PLASTATION
SHOPIFY