EDITORIAL

Analysts say that if the purpose of the creation of the Register of Shareholders was the fiscal control of a commercial act geared towards commercial companies with specific characteristics, simpler ways could have been devised to achieve it, rather than creating a general obligation for all corporations.

An article by Ricardo Gonzalez in Nacion.com reports that "officials at the Tax Administration have clarified that the intention of publishing the "Resolution on the Statement of Shareholders in Companies" and the consequent creation of the Register of Shareholders of Costa Rica, is to be able to control payment of transfer tax on real estate, when the mechanism is chosen for such a negotiation is the endorsement of shares and not a change of registered owner."

In Costa Rica registering valuable commercial real estate as belonging to companies, has been widely used to circumvent the fiscal costs in the event of a sale, since it is undertaken as endorsement of the shares of the company owning the property.

" ... Controlling these transfers of shares which are not declared or reported on any public record, is a problem for the Administration and with this objective the intention is to gather information from all partners and all corporations."

Source: Nacion.com

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