Costa Rica E-Invoicing: Top 8 Requirements to Know

Gustavo Jiménez
September 5, 2017

This blog was last updated on March 11, 2019

After 8 years of voluntary e-invoicing, Costa Rica has begun its transition to mandatory e-invoice submissions. The first 10 companies began compliance in March 2017 as a pilot, and the DGT, Costa Rica’s tax authority, will continue to roll the program out to additional enterprises over the next two years via email notifications. Like other Latin American e-invoicing roll outs, Costa Rica will start with the largest taxpayers, and they will have six months to implement the processes and systems needed to maintain compliance. Multinational companies need to be proactive and start looking for a solution now to avoid any surprises when they are mandated.

With mandatory participation imminent, here are the top Costa Rica e-invoicing requirements to know.

  1. Documents required:
    1. Invoices
    2. Credit Notes
    3. Debit Notes
    4. Final Consumer Ticket
  2. Sequencing: The DGT requires 20-digit consecutive numbering, which must be assigned automatically by the taxpayer and correspond to the type of document. Errors in sequencing may trigger rejections by the DGT.
  3. Unique identifier: The taxpayer must also create a 50-digit unique identifying code for each transaction.
  4. Fields required (in Spanish):
    1. Document version
    2. Taxpayer ID
    3. Type of document
    4. Numeric code
    5. Time sent
    6. Date sent
    7. Method of payment
    8. Conditions of sale or service
    9. Current legislation
    10. Description of goods
    11. Discounts
    12. Subtotal in national currency
    13. Consumption tax
    14. Value of services and goods
    15. Net price (without sales tax)
    16. Amount of the tax equivalent to the rate applied on the net sales price
    17. Total value of the invoice
  5. Validation process: Upon reception of electronic document, the DGT will validate the document and send an approval or rejection within three hours. All electronic documents must have an acceptance acknowledgment; otherwise, they may not be used as a support for tax credits or to deduct expenses.
  6. Contingency processes: In the event of an Internet issue, documents must be sent to the DGT within two days of generation and the taxpayer must provide a reason for the transmission delay. If the DGT’s system is down, taxpayers must store and send documents in contingency mode as soon as services are back up.
  7. Archives: All electronic receipts generated, sent and received, as well as associated documents, must be stored for five years.

Correction notices: Electronic documents cannot be canceled directly, and instead must be cancelled or modified by the use of electronic credit or debit notes.

As the e-invoicing requirements in Costa Rica continue to expand, companies must have an intelligent compliance approach to avoid the rejected tax deductions and credits that accompany compliance errors. Contact us to learn more about intelligent compliance and subscribe to our blog for the latest news on Latin American tax compliance.

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Author

Gustavo Jiménez

Gustavo Jimenez is the Product Marketing Manager for Sovos’ e-invoicing solutions and is based in Atlanta. Gustavo is responsible for go-to-market strategy for Sovos LatAm e-invoicing solutions in countries with existing and upcoming mandates. He has more than five years of experience in e-invoicing, middleware integrations, and regulatory research. He works closely with the product management and development team as well as sales and marketing to facilitate compliance process transformations for Sovos clients. Prior to joining Sovos, Gustavo was responsible for marketing activities and strategy at Invoiceware International, a leading e-invoicing solution for businesses with operations in Latin America. He focused on the go-to-market strategy of their solutions as well as communications with the LatAm market about regulatory changes and new solutions.
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