(QCOSTARICA) President Carlos Alvarado, this Tuesday singed the law that exempts, for another year, the Value Added Tax (VAT) for tourist services registered with the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT).
The VAT moratorium law for the tourism sector will come into force today, August 19, 2020, and aims to give a break to one of the sectors hardest hit by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the reform, the collection of VAT for tourism would go into force on July 1, 2021, with a rate of 4%; a year later, in 2022, increasing to to 8%.
Finally, in July 2023, the sector will begin to pay the 13% Value Added Tax.
It should be noted that the deputies approved, the unanimous support of the 39 legislators present on the legislative floor, this bill without setting an alternative source of financing for the State.
The decision was made despite the fact that the Minister of Finance, Elian Villegas, and the Comptroller General, Marta Acosta, warned of the need to define compensation in the State’s tax revenues.
