Uber users will have to pay 13% for Value Added Tax (VAT), as reaffirmed by Carlos Vargas Durán, General Director of Taxation of the Ministry of Finance, after a consultation by two leaders of formal taxi drivers.
In the document, dated May 17th, Vargas explains that the clients of the application will have to pay the tribute “due to the cross-border service they are receiving in the national territory.”
We must remember that this detail is not new, because on April 23rd – during a hearing before the Legislative Assembly – representatives of the company confirmed that starting in June the tax would be collected on each of the trips as stipulated in the Law of Strengthening of Public Finances (fiscal plan).
As explained by the entity, bank agents will issue the Costa Rican cards who act as agents of tax collection. “That is to say, that when a transaction of this type is carried out, the bank will receive the amount of the tax and will receive it from the treasury; so the card must contain sufficient resources, including the amount of the tax, or the transaction will be denied.”
The official said that companies that do not want their customers to be withheld from the tax as indicated above, will register with the Tax Administration and they’ll report and collect the tax.