D101 - MARCH Yearly corporate requirements - Costa Rica corporations declaration of ownership & assets to Revenue Department

Costa Rica-based corporations declare their 1) owners and 2) assets to the Ministerio de Hacienda (Treasure Department) on a yearly basis. This rule now applies to ALL corporations, regardless of whether commercially active or not. 

To put this into perspective, corporations were previously classified as being either 'active' or 'inactive' regarding commercial activity. Only 'active' corporations needed to comply with this rule. Consequently, the other corporations (often owned by foreigners) for the sole purpose of holding real estate or other property were considered 'inactive' and therefore did not need to make yearly declarations. However, the classifications have changed. Specifically, erstwhile 'inactive' corporations are now considered more as corporations 'without activity' and must now make annual declarations, even if to merely reflect '0' balances. Here are some basic details of this requirement.

The D101 form is used for this declaration to the treasury department. For clarity sake, this D101 form should not be confused with the similar declaration of owners (ie 'registro de accionistas') required yearly by the Central Bank of Costa Rica. While this D101 form requires you to declare not only ownership but, when applicable, also details about your corporation's assets (like property ownership and bank accounts), the Central Bank only needs the declaration of owners.

You will need.

• knowledge of 'total capital social' associated with your 'acciones' / shares (in your corporation) or quotas / 'cuotas' (in your LLC known in Costa Rica as a 'Sociedad de responsibilidad limitada' / SRL)
• You will find this number in the field 'capital social' in the document named 'solicitud inscripción sociedad' (ie corporation registration application) or the 'Cantidad Titulos' field in the Personería Jurídica.
• ID number: Número de Identificación Tributario Especial (NITE). The Treasury department will have assigned this special tax payer number to you if you are a foreigner or Costa Rica cedula number. 
• Access to the ATV (ie the Administracion Tributaria Virtual). The ATV is the website of the government's revenue department.). This due date is a 'plazo perentorio' which means that it is fixed for ALL corporations, regardless of their financial period or other unique details.
• 2 passwords to the ATV. The first is your creation. The second password is issued in the form of a 'tarjeta inteligente Virtual / TIV'. It comprises a grid of randomly generated codes that are assigned to each letter of the alphabet. Each time that you log in, you will be prompted to enter the codes that correspond with a random set of letters from the alphabet.
• If you lose your password, you can click the button below the username and password fields to generate a new password. The system automatically generates a new TIV.
• Failing the above, if you lose your password during the narrow submission window, you can expect a real human response to a request for a temporary replacement within an hour, even on Saturdays, ie in addition to weekday. Write an email as follows. 
• To: clave@hacienda.go.cr. 
• Subject: Favor gestionar clave temporal ATV
• Body: Lo solicitado.
• Attachment: a copy of the first page of your passport or DIMEX (local identification card) to the email.

Steps

1. Do the following before the deadline of 15 March
2. ATV website https://www.hacienda.go.cr/ATV/login.aspx 
3. Enter your NITE
4. Select 'representante legal' when asked how you wish to act
5. Select
1. Declaraciones 
2. Presentar declaracion de impuestos
6.  Select 'Formulario' and specify '101' and the period. In some cases, if the corporation has multiple years for which the declaration is due, select the more recent. By so doing, you will automatically cancel the previous year.
7. Select 'Llenar formulario' and complete the declaration form
8. Enter relevant details in section 'Activos & Pasivos'. For corporations without activity, the only line to be entered is 21.
1. Line 21: In the event of a corporation without activity, enter the number that exists in the 'total capital social' field in the 'capital social' section of the solicitud inscripcion sociedad'  or 'registro de cotistas' in the front of your corporation's legal books.
9. Select: Validar, Presentary y Aceptar.

CONTENT RELATED TO YEARLY REQUIREMENTS OF COSTA RICA BASED CORPORATIONS 

• Yearly corporate requirements
• JANUARY: Personeria (payable at any Banco de Costa Rica or competent 'libreria' (ie bookstore) during January of each year, roughly CRC 70,000)
• JANUARY TO MARCH: 'Timbre de educacion y cultura' (payable at any Banco de Costa Rica or competent bookstore (aka 'libreria') January until 15th March (CK) each year, roughly CRC 5,000)
• MARCH: D101 form (online declaration of ownership and corporate assets via ATV) for the Ministerio de Hacienda (this page)
• APRIL: D195 form aka 'Declaración Informativa'
• MAY: registro de accionistas / declaration of owners for the Central Bank of Costa Rica due 1-30 April each year

Declaration of Owners - MAY Yearly corporate requirements - Costa Rica corporations: List of Owners for the BCCR

Every year, the Banco Central de Costa Rica / BCCR (ie the Central Bank) (and some commercial banks) require you to declare the 'beneficiarios finales' aka 'razón social', regimen de beneficios finales (RBF) or 'registro de accionistas', ie the declaration of owners of your Costa Rica - based corporation. This list refers to shareholders (for a 'sociedad anónima' / SA which is a regular corporation) or cuotistas (for a simpler version of a corporation; similar to the US structure 'limited liability corporation' / LLC; 'sociedad de responsabilidad limitada' / SRL). Fines are charged for failure to comply. Here are some basic details of this requirement. The BCCR requires that this be submitted in May. (1st May until _[TBA]_)

For clarity sake, this process should NOT be confused with the similar D101 form of the government's revenue department (called el 'Ministerio de Hacienda). The D101 form requires you to declare not only ownership but, when applicable, also details about your corporation's assets (like property ownership and bank accounts).

You will need.

• A notary public. 
• (Applicable for foreigners). A digital signature is required. However, only persons with legal residency can have a digital signature. This is why non-residents will need to seek the assistance of a notary public with a digital signature to act on behalf of the non-resident. Since there is no fixed schedule of fees, notary public officials charge a wide range of rates. So far, I have heard of rates ranging from CRC 25,000 to 60,000.
• A current version of the personería jurídica document (that provides evidence to the notary public of the current details of the ownership of the corporation).
• A government / public authorized accountant (aka 'contador público autorizado'), preferably one that works as a team with notary publics.

Steps

1. Ask the notary public to prepare the ''registro de accionistas' statement in a format that you can showcases the notary public's official stamp.
• If an electronic version, it should have the digital signature, & / PREFERENCE because a single copy can be sent to multiple parties.
• If a paper version, it should be on special paper with his official stamp and seal.
2. Ensure that the following have a copy of the 1) personería jurídica and 2) notary public's document.
• public authorized accountant 
• commercial banks. 
• Subject: Registro de Accionistas / Cuotistas - Nombre de Empresa 3-123-456789
  
  
  Buenos días,  Favor actualizar los datos de la cuenta de Mama Gaia SRl en consecuencia.

  
  

  Gracias de antemano.

  
  

  Atentamente,

  Mi nombre 

  Nombre de Empresa 3-123-456789
3. Ask the public accountant to submit the financial statement directly to the BCCR. You will not need to do anything other than to make this request. The accountant will use the notary public's documentation for his process.

CONTENT RELATED TO YEARLY REQUIREMENTS OF COSTA RICA BASED CORPORATIONS 

• Yearly corporate requirements
• JANUARY: Peroneria (payable at any Banco de Costa Rica or competent bookstore (aka 'libreria') during January of each year, roughly CRC 70,000)
• JANUARY TO MARCH: 'Timbre de educacion y cultura' (payable at any Banco de Costa Rica or competent bookstore (aka 'libreria') January until 15th March (CK) each year, roughly CRC 5,000)
• MARCH: D101 form (online declaration of ownership and corporate assets via ATV) for the Ministerio de Hacienda (this page)
• APRIL: D195 form aka 'Declaración Informativa'
• MAY: registro de accionistas / declaration of owners for the Central Bank of Costa Rica due 1-30 April each year.