The obligation to file the shareholder and beneficial owner form started on September 1, 2019. All Costa Rican companies such as Sociedad Anonima (S.A.), Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL), Sociedad Civil (SC) and foreign companies registered in Costa Rica are obligated to complete the filing. This filing is mandatory for all companies even if it does not do any commercial activity. The deadlines for compliance are based on the ending digit of the corporation identification number.
Ending in 0 and 1 September 2019
Ending in 2 and 3 October 2019
Ending in 4 and 5 November 2019
Ending in 6 and 7 December 2019
Ending in 8 and 9 January of 2020
How do you file it ?
The legal representative of the company may file the form as follows:
For an S.A. the President is the authorized individual to file it.
For an S.R.L. any Manager registered for the company
For a Civil Society the administrator or Manager
For a foreign company the registered local representative.
The form can only be completed online at the web portal of the Central Bank of Costa Rica which is CentralDirecto.fi.cr To access it you must have a digital signature card or token (Firma Digital) that allows you to digitally sign the form. These digital signature cards are issued by local banks to those individuals that have citizenship or residency status in Costa Rica. If you don’t have either then you will need to hire the services of a local Notary Public to confer a limited special power of attorney (Poder Especial) to be able to do the filings. The Notary can register the company on the database and upload any Power of Attorney to third parties that have digital signatures so that they can do the filing for you.
Step by Step in the filing of the shareholder disclosure form
I have prepared two videos which walk you step by step through the filing process. The first video covers the digital signature card and registering the company on the web platform. The second video is focused on the completion of the disclosure forms and their submission.
Part 1 – Register the Company
Part 2 – File the declaration form
