October 11, 2022
2022-1533 Costa Rica's General Directorate of Treasury publishes new criteria for selecting tax exemption regimes and beneficiaries under their supervision for audits - Taxpayers or beneficiaries of tax exemptions granted and supervised by the Costa Rican General Directorate of Treasury who may be found in any of the 22 selection criteria should prepare now as they could be audited during 2022 and the following years.
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On 7 October 2022, resolution N° RES-DGH-040-2022 (the Resolution), issued by the Costa Rican General Directorate of Treasury (in Spanish Dirección General de Hacienda) was published in the Official Gazette. The Resolution contains 22 selection criteria based on risk, for auditing taxpayers, beneficiaries and tax incentives or exemption regimes that are granted and under the supervision of the General Directorate of Treasury. Taxpayers or beneficiaries who fall under any of the following cases, among others, may be selected for an audit process by the General Directorate of Treasury: - Where there are findings related to non-compliance with tax obligations arising from studies or audits carried out by the tax authorities or the recommending entities.
- Beneficiaries for whom it is presumed or there is evidence of having acquired goods and services other than those authorized or who have carried out exempted imports using expired exemption authorizations.
- Beneficiaries who present changes in their organization or line of business, whether they have carried out other business functions, closed operations or made changes in their organization or management model, among others.
- Beneficiaries who are not up to date with their obligations to the Costa Rican Social Security Found (in Spanish Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social) and the Tax Authority.
- Beneficiaries who have not submitted the required periodic or special reports.
- Beneficiaries linked to others who have undergone tax audits.
- Beneficiaries for whom there is evidence that they have infringed any regulation of the exemption regime.
- Beneficiaries who provide the tax authorities with incomplete or inconsistent information in response to information requests during studies or audits.
- Beneficiaries who have been subject to sanctioning procedures for not providing information or providing incomplete information, whether they have been sanctioned or not.
- Regimes, beneficiaries, assets or recommendation and authorization processes that have not been audited in the last two years.
- Beneficiaries who used special forms or special requirements made available by the Tax Authority during the time their systems were down due to the hacking of the Ministry of Finance databases.
The criteria established in the Resolution may be modified, expanded or eliminated, on an annual basis by the decision of the General Directorate of Treasury. In such cases, the General Directorate of Treasury must notify the resolution that contains the modifications prior to the entry into force of the Annual Audit Plan for the following year. The Resolution entered into force on 7 October 2022. For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following: Ernst & Young, S.A., San José, Costa Rica Ernst & Young LLP (United States), Latin American Business Center, New York Ernst & Young LLP (United Kingdom), Latin American Business Center, London Ernst & Young Tax Co., Latin American Business Center, Japan & Asia Pacific |
