The Ministerio de Hacienda (Ministry of Finance) explained on Friday that the proposed 13% Value Added Tax (VAT) on goods on services being processed through Congress that includes taxing online purchases would be applied to Netflix, but not to Amazon.
Hacienda explained that the tax would not apply to online purchases of tangible products, only to services consumed in Costa Rica by way of apps such as Uber, Spotify, HBO Go, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Airbnb, among others. The latter would apply only to rentals in Costa Rica.
On the other hand, the purchase of tangible products on sites such as Amazon and eBay, clothing brands with online stores and any other purchase that one makes online abroad, would not have the VAT applied, but the consumer must pay tariffs when the products enter Costa Rica.
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
