TRIBU-CR: A Revolution in the Management of Tax Information

As part of the technological modernization currently being implemented by the General Directorate of Taxation, in the coming weeks, compliance with tax obligations—as we know it today—will undergo a revolutionary shift. This transformation will not only alter the way tax returns are currently filed, but will also entail the unification of the various systems used by the Tax Administration to manage taxpayer information. 

These changes aim not only to make the system more user-friendly to facilitate taxpayer compliance but also to ensure uniform handling of information, thereby enhancing tax oversight, improving revenue collection, and providing taxpayers with greater safeguards concerning their tax accounts and the handling of tax-related information and procedures. 

This new system is part of the national project known as Hacienda Digital (“Digital Treasury”). In this first phase, which is scheduled to take effect in August, eight modules—representing approximately 29% of the total system—are expected to be rolled out. These will comprise TRIBU-CR: the Oficina Virtual (Virtual Office, or OVI), tax return filing and payments, integrated taxpayer account, comprehensive tax consultation, the Unique Tax Registry (RUT), electronic tax file, document management system, and communications and notifications. 

Accordingly, the current ATV (Tax Administration Virtual System) will be replaced by the Virtual Office (OVI), through which taxpayers will be able to carry out all tax-related procedures, including changes to the tax registry (registration, modification of data, deactivation of activities), requests for fiscal period changes, payment processes, among others. This new platform will integrate what is currently known as TRAVI. 

Although the Tax Administration has not yet published the final resolutions detailing the main changes, it is already clear that the new system will only migrate taxpayers’ account balances, not the supporting documentation. Consequently, as the current system is phased out, it is essential for taxpayers to back up all the information stored in the ATV, including tax returns, payments made via the direct debit system, modifications to the Unique Tax Registry, among others. 

It is also important to bear in mind that the statute of limitations for tax matters in Costa Rica is four years, beginning on the first day of the month following the due date of the corresponding tax. Therefore, tax years 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 are currently within the statute period. However, there are special cases where previously submitted returns have been amended (via rectifications), which resets the statute of limitations for that particular period—starting anew from the first day of the month following the amendment. 

For this reason, taxpayers should, at a minimum, retain backups of documentation for tax periods from 2020 to the present, as well as any documentation related to earlier periods in which returns were amended within the last four years. 

We emphasize that the General Directorate of Taxation has yet to issue the general resolutions that will formally establish the changes to be implemented—such as the formats for tax returns and penalty assessments, as well as procedures for authorizing third-party users to act on behalf of taxpayers within the platform. We will provide updates as soon as further information is published by the Directorate.

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