December and Christmas in Costa Rica is the prelude to tourism season and better weather, but this also is the time of the year to file certain crucial tax forms.
Everyone knows that life has two certainties: death and taxes. There is another: The nation tax authority’s Website stinks. It stunk last year, the year before that and the year before that. This year it is fancier with new graphics, new links, and a new search engine. They have obviously spent some money on revamping the interface, much like the Instituto Costarricence de Turismo with its $880,000 site. However, it still does not work properly.
Many links go nowhere, and the search engine is a joke. A search lists orderly results, but a click on them ends in this error, “The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Website might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.”
It is frustrating enough to have to find which bank is selling tax forms or what bank has what forms. Or what bank is not selling forms because they are fighting with the tax authority, referred to as the Dirección General de Tributación also known as Tributacion Directa for short. Yes, it is true, Banco Nacional, the country’s most important governmental bank will not take money to collect sales taxes for Tributación, and other banks will not accept Banco Nacional checks for tax payments.
