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The purchase invoice: when the one who invoices is the one who buys

Your supplier does not give you an invoice because they are not required to. The expense can still be deductible — but you have to make the invoice.

6 min readTicuenta
What it is: the factura electrónica de compra is a document issued by the buyer to support a transaction when the seller is not required to issue electronic documents. Without it, that purchase has no support. And with no support there is no deductible expense.

When it falls to you to issue it

The regulation names four situations. They all have something in common: there is nobody on the other side who can give you an XML.

  • The seller is not required to issue electronic documents

    The general case the figure covers.

  • They are a taxpayer under the special agricultural regime

    Very common if you buy produce from farms or agricultural intermediaries.

  • They are a non-domiciled supplier

    A supplier outside the country, who does not invoice under the Costa Rican system. This is the one that covers Airbnb and Booking commissions.

  • They are an individual not registered as a taxpayer

    The most frequent case of all: someone who did a one-off job for you and is not registered with the tax authority.

The expensive mistake is not issuing it. The work is paid, a handwritten receipt is filed, and at year end that expense cannot be sustained. The purchase invoice is what turns that payment into a supported expense.

When it does not apply

There are four express exclusions. Issuing a purchase invoice in these cases fixes nothing:

SituationWhy not
Taxpayers under the simplified regimeThey have their own support scheme
Registered non-confirming electronic issuer-recipientsThey are already inside the electronic system
Public transportExpressly excluded
Payments to State entities for their usual activityExpressly excluded

What changes compared with a normal invoice

The roles are reversed: you are the issuer and your supplier appears as the recipient. The document comes out of your sequence, with your signature and your key, and it is transmitted to the tax authority like any other.

Which has a practical consequence worth being clear about: the purchase invoice consumes your numbering and carries its own series. It does not mix with your sales numbering.

And its VAT

It carries the reverse charge with it: the tax is declared by the buyer. You work it out, declare it as output and — if the purchase relates to your taxable activity — credit it in the same return. Net effect zero, but it has to be declared.

With one exception that matters. If the foreign supplier is registered with the Costa Rican tax authority — Airbnb has been since June 2023 — then they charge and remit the VAT themselves, and you take it as a credit without self-assessing it. Doing both is paying it twice.

If you pay suppliers abroad

This is the everyday case for anyone with a platform commission, a foreign software subscription or a contractor outside the country. Two things travel with that payment besides the purchase invoice: the VAT above, and the remittance tax on payments to non-domiciled parties. The detail is in the commission article.

From Ticuenta

Its own series, without mixing your numbering

Purchase invoices come out of their own sequence, with the supplier as recipient and the VAT treatment that corresponds to them — self-assessed or credited.

See how it works

About this article. The four situations and the four exclusions come from the Electronic Documents Regulation; the document type and its code, from the version 4.4 annex; the reverse charge, from article 4 of the VAT Act.

Verified as of 24 September 2026. Tax rules change. This is information, not tax advice.

Sources: Ministry of Finance Current legal texts (Sinalevi)

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