New digital invoice requirement for the self-employed on its way

October 22^nd, 2012 (Inside Costa Rica) – A new project, which will force professional self-employed workers to issue an electronic invoice, will begin its trial phase in December, after which it will be implemented gradually during the coming year.

The trial will be conducted with a group of voluntary taxpayers, who will use a free tool called “My electronic invoice.”

“We want to have all the technical aspects very secure, in order to avoid any issues during the (full scale) implementation,” said Patricia Castillo, from the Tax department of the Treasury Ministry (Hacienda).

Castillo said that goal is to reach the implementation phase in the first four months of next year, and added that they would gradually transition taxpayers into the system.

In August, the tax department stated that the new tool was to be used as a strategy to avoid tax evasion, beginning with self employed professionals such as doctors, lawyers and engineers.

A report from the Controller’s office revealed that 93% of the 46,795 self employed professionals that are registered paid less than 36,000 colons (about $72 USD) in taxes in 2010.

“My Electronic Invoice” will be available via a link in on the Hacienda web page.

The page will become a direct communication channel between taxpayers and the Tax Department. The system will allow professionals to register their invoices, while also allowing the client to receive a copy of it in their email, signed digitally by Hacienda.

As a security mechanism, users of the system will need to use the new “digital signature card” which Inside Costa Rica reported on earlier this month.