As of today, Friday, December 18, 2020 services such as Uber, Didi, Disney+, Expedia, Booking, Despegar, Aplaudir.com among others will have to add the 13% charge corresponding to the Value Added Tax (VAT), confirmed the Ministry of Treasury in Costa Rica.

The list of websites is listed in the Ministry’s site hacienda.go.cr, new providers can be and will be included as needed and with three days of notice before the charge has to be applied.

All these services are considered “digital transborder services” which are provided by companies not located in Costa Rica through the internet and used or acquired by consumers in the country.

Some of these services such as Netflix and Spotify had already been included in the list earlier in the year and began charging the VAT back in October.

According to the tax authorities the first month in which this tax was collected represented over $1,6 million USD.