2019 Could be a Record Year for Changes to Corporations - SRS-CR: Summerland Relocation Services

Earlier this year, we provided you with some changes being made regarding corporate ownership in Costa Rica. From the most recent we published“Tricky Tax Changes Coming in July”where we explained a lot of just that: tricky tax changes. The article ends with some good information on how these changes affect those of you who own corporations. Considering that many people own homes or even just a car through a corporation here, these are things to which attention needs to be paid.

In April of this year, we posted an article regarding “Registering Your Corporation: Have you done everything you need to do?”. This piece discussed how the government is requiring by law, shareholders or beneficial owners of any Costa Rican corporation or foreign company to go through a very specific registration process. This process was newly instituted as of March of this year. Earlier in the year we published further information of this as well in our article “2019 Corporation Taxes and Registration”. Having reminded you of all of this you are likely thinking “now what?!” … we don’t blame you.

Today’s article is regarding a new law taking effect on September 1^stcalled “Ley Para Mejorar La Lucha Contra El Fraude Fiscal” aka: The Law to Combat Tax Fraud. It requires all corporations both active AND inactive to register with the “National Registro de Transparencia y Beneficiarios Finales” by providing the names of corporation owners and the percentage of shares they own. Signing authority of each corporation needs to register the information at: www.centraldirecto.fi.cr. The person authorized to submit the information must have a Digital Signature (firma digital) and be a resident of Costa Rica.

The following schedule is when registration needs to be submitted for this year. The last digit of corporate ID and month to present the declaration is as follows:

• 0 and 1: September 2019
• 2 and 3: October 2019
• 4 and 5: November 2019
• 6 and 7: December 2019
• 8 and 9: January 2020

Of course, much of this was covered in the Marcharticle mentioned above and is therefore a bit redundant. Sort of like the same law under a different name. At least this time we can provide you a schedule of when this needs to be accomplished.

Questions? Concerns? We wouldn’t be surprise. Other than contacting your lawyer, you might want to visit the Costa Rica Law site and search some of this stuff for further clarification. Would you prefer to speak with someone? Contact us.We’ll help you any way we can.