Costa Rica: Shareholder Registration Begins in September
As of September 1, approximately 370,000 legal entities will be required to comply with the Registry of Transparency and Final Beneficiaries, with the legal documents ending in 0 and 1 being the ones that must do so first.
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
However, as of September 1, 2019, legal entities who prefer it, regardless of the last digit of their identity card, may make their declaration and send it in advance. As of 2020 the presentation must be made in April of each year, informed the Ministry of Finance.
From the statement of the Ministry of Finance:
August 26, 2019. As of September 1, more than 370,000 legal entities will have the obligation to comply with the Registry of Transparency and Final Beneficiaries (RTBF), whose objective is to reduce tax evasion, allow the exchange of tax information with other countries with which Costa Rica has signed agreements and combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.
For the entry into force of the RTBF, the Ministry of Finance and the Costa Rican Drug Institute (ICD) comply with the security guidelines established by the Central Bank of Costa Rica, which has the function of registry administrator and custodian of information, although with no access to it.
Legal persons and structures, trusts, non-profit organizations and third party resource managers are required to provide information. The legal representative is responsible for making the registration, for which he must necessarily have a valid digital signature certificate for natural persons. If the legal representative (appointed by law) is unable to make the declaration, he/she may appoint a third party before a notary to do so.
Initially the ordinary period to declare the beneficial owners of the companies was due on April 30, but the authorities decided to extend the deadline to May 31.
This declaration was to be submitted during the month of April; according to resolution N°DGT-ICD-R-06-2020, however, due to the state of emergency facing the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these institutions agreed to extend the deadline, in order to guarantee the fulfillment of this obligation and facilitate voluntary compliance, informed the Ministry of Finance.
Businessmen ask for an immediate extension in the application of any fines, as many representatives of companies have not yet managed their digital signature and at this time, there is no capacity installed in the authorized posts.
Because of doubts that have arisen in the business sector, in Costa Rica it was reported that the start of shareholder registration was postponed six months and will enter into force on September 1 of this year.
The aim of this process is to facilitate compliance with the obligation that companies must inform the Treasury on the composition of its share capital, as well as the identification of final beneficiaries, under the provisions of the Law to Improve the Fight against Tax Fraud, a statement from the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR).
Although the Central Bank has not yet defined the date on which companies must present information, the new regulation on transparency and final beneficiaries registration has already been published.
The regulation was published at the end of April in the official newspaper La Gaceta, and details which entities are obliged to provide information regarding the substantive and final beneficiary interests, established in the Law to Improve the Fight Against Tax Fraud.
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