"Pida su factura; evite la multa"

In many of the stores, there's a little sign that says "Pida su factura; evite la multa" ("Ask for your receipt/invoice; avoid the fine".) 

I have to admit, I really didn't understand this sign for the first six months I was here. Part of the not understanding is that maybe we don't have the same kind of "factura" back home, a thing that might be best translated as "itemized receipt" or "invoice".  Even when I don't ask for my factura, I get a little receipt-like thing that says that I used my credit card and paid whatever amount on such-and-such-a-day at thus-and-such-location.  The factura isn't a standard printout at most places (CVS, take note!), but that little credit-card proof, yes.

I think I finally figured out the purpose of that sign this past February.  I was paying for my hotel stay in Penonomé, and the desk clerk asked if I wanted my factura. Normally, I say no, because I don't really want to create extra paper. However, this is kind of like a business expense, so this time I said yes. The clerk immediately added a 10% surcharge to what I was paying. (I have to say, I wasn't paying much: $27.50 per night for four nights, or $110 total. Adding the extra charge when I asked for the receipt, this additional 10% this raised the bill to $121 for four nights. I think I can manage).

The sign--which I finally read while the hotel clerk had to scramble after I surprised him by doing what the sign actually asks us to do--points out that if you don't get your factura and therefore have evidence of what you paid for, you can be fined either one dollar or 7% of the bill, whichever is higher. If you don't get your factura, then the stores might not actually pay their sales taxes. In this case, the hotel wasn't including sales tax in the original bill. However, the mandated hotel tax is 10%, and when I asked for the factura, they therefore had to include it. In this case, paying the fine would be less than paying the taxes – but as I said, I think I can afford this.

I think few enough people ask for their factura that sometimes it's a bit of an ordeal to get one. The hotel clerk was a sweet young guy who wrote up my initial bill by hand, and was ready to enter this total into the credit card machine. However, once I said, I was asking for the factura, he then had to go ahead and enter all of the details into the computer. In the United States, when the store clerk asks if I want to receipt and I say yes, it's a matter of pushing one more button. In the case of my hotel clerk, when he asked me if I wanted a factura and I said yes, it added not only another $11 to my bill, but another but also an additional 10 minutes to my check-in time as he figured out how to navigate the computer system and enter all the details that he needed there, including spelling my name (not an easy name to spell, especially for Panamanians), my passport number, my telephone number, and my email address.

So, that's the purpose of that little "Pida su factura" sign, and may we all successfully evitan las multas.