E-invoicing in Costa Rica

Business-to-government (B2G) e-invoicing is mandatory in Costa Rica. Businesses must issue electronic invoices in XML format, digitally sign them, and submit them to the Ministry of Finance’s tax platform (ATV) for validation before delivery to the public sector buyer. These invoices must be archived for five years.

Business-to-business (B2B) e-invoicing is also mandatory in Costa Rica for all VAT-registered businesses. As with B2G transactions, businesses must generate invoices in XML format, digitally sign them, and submit them to the ATV for validation. Once validated, invoices are then sent to the recipient, who is required to confirm acceptance, partial acceptance, or rejection within eight business days.

For business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions in Costa Rica, businesses must issue electronic tickets or receipts for sales to consumers using the same XML-based, digitally signed format. As with B2G and B2B transactions, these documents are submitted to the ATV for validation but do not require buyer confirmation.

1. Invoice generation: The issuer creates an XML-formatted invoice, signs it digitally, and includes mandatory data like sequential numbering, IDs for issuer and recipient, and tax calculations.
2. Submission to ATV platform: The invoice is submitted to the Recepción de Comprobantes Electrónicos (RCE) via ATV for validation.
3. Validation: The Costa Rican government has up to three hours to validate and return an acceptance or rejection message.
4. Delivery to recipient: Once accepted, the invoice (with validation message and often a PDF representation) is delivered to the recipient.
5. Recipient response: The recipient must accept, partially accept, or reject the invoice via ATV within eight days.
6. Archiving: Both parties must retain all electronic documents (original XML, validation, recipient message) for five years.

Failing to issue a compliant e-invoice can result in a penalty of 2% of the prior month’s turnover. Additionally, expenses not backed by compliant e-invoices are not deductible for income tax purposes.