cabys

Catalog of Goods and Services (Cabys)

Author: Lic. Mauro Esquivel

The Tax Control department as detailed in the document called " Annexes and Structures V 4.3" of the electronic receipts dated March 22, 2019, indicates that as of December 1, 2020, the Catalog of Goods and Services (Cabys) are mandatory for all taxpayers who carry out transactions in the national territory.

What is Cabys?
It is an official list of codes for mandatory use in electronic receipts to standardize the details of the goods and services traded.
The goods and services in this Catalog are identified with a unique code of up to 13 digits, allowing their individualization, starting from 10 general categories, expanding to more than 20,000 products.

Catalog structure
Cabys groups goods and services into hierarchical categories and assigns a code to each one: it starts with ten general categories, expanding to more than 20,000 products. The code of the general categories is made up of 1 digit, the following by 2 digits, and so on until reaching products identified by 13 digits.

The first five categories, except for clothing, drugs, and health interventions, respond to the international classifier called Central Product Classification (CPC) published by the United Nations (UN), with the support of international organizations such as Eurostat and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The CPC maintains a correspondence with the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC) and the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, based on the Central American Tariff System (SAC).

How were the codes for the CABYS openings created?
-Through international classifiers.
-Lists of goods with differentiated tax.
-List of medicines from the Ministry of Health.
-Export and import amounts.
-BCCR economic indicators.
-Work sessions with experts.

On this site you can also access:
• Guide using the web browser.
• Frequent questions.
• Means of contact for additional questions.
• Lists of goods and services that have a reduced rate of the Value Added Tax.

How will CABYS benefit?
• Identify goods and services with undifferentiated taxes.
• Facilitate inventory control.
• Basis for the development of facilities for taxpayers.
• Consistency of the information declared by taxpayers.
• Group goods and services into categories that facilitate traceability.
• Exercise more control over commercial transactions.

Our next article will show you how to validate the coding of services and goods in CABYS.

Where can I find the Catalog?
This Catalog can be consulted through any web browser and downloaded from the website of the BCCR through the following link

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