With the objective of facilitating the fulfillment of the obligation that the corporations must provide, regarding the composition of their social capital, as well as the identification of the final beneficiaries, as mandatory in the Law to Improve the Fight against Tax Fraud, the Government established September 2019 as the new starting month for corporations and legal entities to send the requested records to the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR).
Tax Office will be issuing and notifying a revised scheduled of submission deadlines for the corporations.
It was also agreed to carry out a process of information and awareness towards the legal representatives of the corporations, so that they may carry out the necessary steps in advance to obtain their digital signature card, ‘firma digital’a necessary condition to interact with this BCCR Shareholders Registry.
To obtain a digital signature card, ‘firma digital’, interested parties must make an appointment at any of the offices that issue these certificates, authorized by the Central Bank of Costa Rica. Information on the cost, opening hours, geographical location and telephone numbers are available in the Services section, Digital Signature, of the Central Bank’s website, see following link:
https://www.bccr.fi.cr/seccion-firma-digital/firma-digital/oficinas-de-registro
However, the ‘Firma Digital’is only available for Costa Rican citizens or legal residents with a valid DIMEX, residency ID.If you are the legal representative and you cannot obtain the ‘Firma Digital’,you must opt for: Granting a Power of Attorney (POA) to a third party that you trust that has or can obtain the ‘Firma Digital’to do the registration on behalf your corporation.
Once the issue of the ‘Firma Digital’ is resolved, then it will follow to register the legal representative or POA holder into the database: https://www.centraldirecto.fi.cr. However, it is not yet function it, they are working on the proper adjustments.
As soon as the legal representative or POA holder is duly registered, following the instructions provided in the indicated website, they can fill out the registration form disclosing the information about the corporation and its shareholders. Therefore, seeking proper legal advice is highly advisable to avoid fines and penalties.