Back in July 2019 Costa Rica enacted a new VAT law that, among other things, taxed digital goods and services. The law provided that in the cases of trans-national supplies of digital goods and services where the supplier was not established in Costa Rica, VAT would be withheld by the financial entities/credit card companies used by the purchaser for payment. However, if a foreign supplier chose to register, they could collect and remit on their own.
In December 2019, the Costa Rica VAT Administration (DGT) released a proposed resolution that lists the entities subject to withholding and describes the filing and remittance requirements imposed on the credit card companies under the new law. The proposed resolution also describes the procedure that non-established suppliers of digital goods and services would follow in case that they opt to register so as to directly collect and remit VAT. The DGT has not specified when such Resolution would be enacted and when it would be effective, but it is understood that it would be early 2020.
You may find the proposed resolution (in Spanish) at this link.
