A new Resolution MH-DGT-ICD-RES-0005-2024, published in “Alcance N. 53”, modifies the General Scope Joint Resolution for the Transparency and Final Beneficiaries Registry N°DGT-ICD-R-06-2020 of March 26, 2020. It establishes that the subjects obliged to file the ordinary declaration for 2024 must do so between July 1 and July 31, 2024. In the following years, the declaration will be filed in April, as provided in the Resolution. This is due to adjustments made following the repeal of Executive Decree No. 41040-H of 2018 through Executive Decree No. 44390-H of February 2024, which establishes the “Regulations of the Transparency and Beneficial Ownership Registry”. The adjustments include modifications to the computer system managed by the Central Bank of Costa Rica for the filing of declarations. The extension of the deadline for filing the ordinary declaration applies only for the period 2024.

The Regulations of the Transparency and Beneficial Ownership Registry (RTBF), established by Executive Decree 44390-H and published in Scope No. 50 of La Gaceta 45, introduce several important modifications to the previous regulations:

• Limitation on the filing of returns by special power of attorneys: The possibility for special power of attorneys (POA holders) to file returns is eliminated, except in exceptional cases where general power of attorney or “apoderados generalísimos” may file returns.

• New functionality in Central Directo: A new functionality will be implemented in Central Directo to determine beneficial owners automatically.

• Warning for non-filing of returns and place of notifications: Warnings and places for notifications are established in case of non-filing of returns.

• The new definition of non-compliers: It redefines who is considered a non-complier in accordance with the RTBF.

• Six-month term for adjustments to the Joint Resolution of General Scope: A six-month term is granted to the General Direction of Taxation (DGT) and the Costa Rican Institute on Drugs (ICD) to make adjustments to the Joint Resolution of General Scope.

• Maintenance of obligations for the 2024 RTBF: The obligation to comply with the RTBF by April 2024 is maintained.

In addition to these modifications, the regulation details responsible for the provision of information, procedures for the provision of information by non-profit organizations, automatic determination of beneficial owners, and definitions of beneficial owners depending on the type of entity, among other aspects. It also determines the obligated parties to comply with the RTBF declaration as per Article 3 of the new regulation which are: 

1. Legal entities registered in the National Registry, as well as, all those that the National Registry has assigned a legal identification number.
2. Private trusts, which own or manage property, assets or rights, including foreign trusts that carry out activities in Costa Rica and/or have a legal identification number assigned by the National Registry.
3. Administrators of third-party resources.
4. Non-profit organizations and their branches, foreign subsidiaries of international non-profit organizations.
5. Within the institutional decentralized public sector, the following must file the declaration: state public companies, non-state public companies, and non-state public entities, as long as they have private legal or natural persons as participants in the capital stock.

Due to the new regulations established, the Costa Rican Bar Association has requested the Executive Branch to revoke the recent Regulation of the Transparency and Beneficial Ownership Registry, arguing that it contravenes the principles of normative hierarchy and legality, as well as that it exceeds the regulatory power by contradicting provisions established in the Civil Code and the General Law of Public Administration in relation to the powers (mandates). The Association warns that if the regulation is not reversed, it reserves the right to take appropriate legal action and urges the Executive Branch to seek a solution that is in accordance with the legal system.

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