As informed in previous communications, the Law to Improve the Fight against Tax Fraud (Law No. 9416, effective as of December 20, 2016), establishes that legal entities and other corporate structures domiciled in Costa Rica will be obligated to provide the Costa Rica Central Bank (BCCR) on an annual basis the list of the Shareholders and Final Beneficiaries holding a 15% interest or higher, as well as the obligation to report any changes in stock ownership exceeding these percentages, a process that was originally set to begin in March 1 with those entities with corporate identity numbers ending in 0.

Due to the delays in issuing the resolution intended to clarify the scope of the obligation and issues related to the technological functionality that will be installed to comply with the registration, the Ministry of Finance announced back on February 22 that the process was postponed until September 1, 2019.

Said resolution was published yesterday in the Official Gazette, clarifying issues such as:

1. Individuals authorized to submit the relevant information, particularly in the case of entities whose representatives are foreign individuals or persons with some kind of disability.
2. Dates to file the relevant information as of September, 2019, starting on September with entities whose corporate identity card ends in 0.
3. Entities and legal structures obligated to comply with the provisions of Law No. 9416.
4. Relevant information.
5. Penalties for failure to comply with the obligations provided for by Law No. 9416.

Bear in mind that this obligation applies to legal entities, private trusts and foreign trusts with activities in Costa Rica, managers of third-party funds in favor of their clients, and non-profit organizations, and, as estimated by the Tax Administration, to date there are approximately 310,000 legal entities that must file the relevant information with the Registry of Transparency and Final Beneficiaries.

We will son provide you with detailed information for the effective compliance of these regulations.

Should you require further assistance in this or other matters of your concern, you may contact are Corporate Law and Tax Law practice areas at your convenience.