Legal Ease – Corporate Tax Update

Ivan Granados - DEC 06, 2017
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In addition to imposing an annual tax on all Costa Rican corporations, the new law 9428 requires all inactive corporations to register with the national tax authority (Dirección General de Tributación) by submitting a D-140 form.
Revised schedule of submission deadlines for D-140 form

On November 6, 2017, the tax authority issued a revised schedule of submission deadlines for D-140 forms based on the new Declaration No. DGT-R51-2017. Submission deadlines depend on the last digit of your corporate ID number (cédula jurídica) as follows:

3 — before Mar. 31, 2018
4 — before Apr. 30, 2018
5 — before May. 31, 2018
6 — before Jun. 30, 2018
7 — before Jul. 31, 2018
8 — before Aug. 31, 2018
9 — before Sept. 30, 2018
0 — before Oct. 31, 2018

What about corporations with corporate ID numbers ending in 1 or 2?

According to the previous submission deadline schedule, D-140 Forms for corporate ID numbers ending in 1 or 2 were due before October 31, 2017. The revised deadline schedule now applies as follows:

Scenario 1 — D-140 Form already submitted
No further action is required.

Scenario 2 — D-140 Form not submitted
Corporations created/incorporated before October 31st, 2017:
the form must be submitted WITHIN the month of February 2018, not before.
Corporations created/incorporated after October 31st, 2017 OR re-registered under Law No. 9485:
the form must be submitted WITHIN the month of February 2018, not before.

Submission of the D-140 form is not necessary if your corporation is active (already registered with the tax authority). We strongly advise you to verify this with your lawyer and/or accountant to avoid any uncertainty or penalty.

Please be aware that the corporate tax payment for 2017, Law No. 9428, must be paid to proceed with the registration as stated above.

Law No. 9485, (known as ley lazaro), came into effect on October 17, 2017 as a transitional amendment (III transitory) of Law No. 9428. It allows corporations that were dissolved for failing to make payments under Costa Rica’s former corporate tax law 9024 to be re-registered before the National Registry.

Upon completion of the following process, their legal status will revert back to what it was before dissolution:

• Before Dec. 15, 2017, payment in full of the outstanding amounts from 2012 up to date. No interest or fines will be charged.
• Requests to re-register the company must be submitted to the National Registry before Jan. 15, 2018.
• Re-registration must be requested by the corporation’s owners holding at least 51 percent of the shares/quotas, executed in a public deed following a publication in the legal newspaper La Gaceta.

Legal advice is recommended for companies that do not carry out the process indicated on the established dates.