Nowadays the Ministry of Finances and the General Directorate of Taxation of Costa Rica are conducting tests for the mandatory implementation of the electronic bill and tax collection, “a commercial document with tax effects, generated, expressed and transmitted in an electronic format”, that must comply with legal requirementsapplicable to traditional bills.

The purpose of the electronic bill is to streamline sales and collections, but also to practice a better control over the so-called ‘liberal professionals’: doctors, engineers, accountants, who often do not declare, for tax effects, what they really earn.

Fernando Rodríguez, vice minister of Incomes of the DGT, explained to the weekly publication El Financiero that they approached Radiográfica Costarricense (Racsa) in order for that institution to take over the technical part of the system and that the entire project, they expect, may be working later this 2014.

To Rodríguez, the priority is that the system be able to capture, process and control information. “Make mandatory the use of the bill without approving a system with these characteristics would make no sense”, added Rodríguez to the media.

Some of the benefits of the electronic bill are:

• Contributes to the environment because it avoids the extensive use of paper.
• The issuer will save money on supplies such as paper and printer ink, as well as on shipment costs and gasoline.
• It is a more agile procedure when it comes to charge services or products.
• Efficiency and safety in the exchange of information between the electronic issuer and the manual receiver (a physical person), because the use of the electronic bill requires a digital signature: “a method that associates the identity of a person with a message or electronic document, to ensure their authorship and integrity”.

¿How do I issue electronic bills?

ERP Lawyers & Associates explains the requirements to use and deliver electronic bill and tax collection:

• To have an application or software to issue the electronic bills that can ensure the security of the transactions and that the information of the professional or company which receives the product or service remains safeguarded from third parties.
• All the information generated prior to, during and after the issuance of the electronic bill has to be stored and have indelible copies. This includes: system design, source code, a data dictionary and user manuals.
• The applicant must be enrolled in the Register of Taxpayers and then register as an electronic bill issuer on the website of the Ministry of Finance.
• Remember that to use the electronic bill is necessary to have a digital signature, which you can transact on state or private banks.

The electronic bill must have the following information:

• Identification of the taxpayer or declaring person or company
• The name of the document: “Electronic Bill”.
• Consecutive numeration
• Issue date of the transaction
• Conditions of the sale (credit, cash, consignment, lease with a buying option or any other condition stated in the bill).
• Be written in Spanish and to deliver the electronic document to the buyer; it should also be stored in an electronic and indelible system.
• Details of the goods or service provided: shipped quantity, unit price, unit of measure, product code, description of the product or service and amount of the transaction in national currency.
• Discounts granted with a description of its nature and amounts.
• Subtotal and total value of the bill in local currency

* Consulted sources:
www.dgt.hacienda.go.cr
www.ccpa.or.cr
www.elfinancierocr.com