New Regulations of the Register of Transparency and Ultimate Beneficiary Owners
New Regulations of the Register of Transparency and Ultimate Beneficiary Owners
Following up on the Registry of Transparency and Ultimate Beneficiary Owners (UBO) process and in order to keep you informed of the provisions governing this obligation, we would like to inform you of the following:
On March 13, 2024, resolution MH-DGT-ICD-RES-0005-2024 was published in La Gaceta N°48, whereby, only for the current year, the ordinary declaration period will be from July 1st to July 31st, and not during April as it is usual.
This amendment is made pursuant to the entry into force of a new Regulation of the Transparency and Final Beneficiaries Registry (Executive Decree Nº 44390-H) which was published in La Gaceta number 45 on March 8th, 2024, this regulation amends the previous regulation by incorporating a series of changes, among which the most significant ones are listed below:
The General Tax Administration (Dirección General de Tributación) and the Costa Rican Narcotics Institute (Instituto Costarricense Sobre Drogas) have a maximum period of 6 months to issue a new General Scope Joint Resolution. It is expected to include the implementation of the indicated changes, related processes, and relevant limitations.
Looking ahead to the 2024 regular period, we are awaiting clarifications from the competent authorities regarding authorizations for third parties to submit declarations on behalf and representation of legal structures.
On March 13, 2024, resolution MH-DGT-ICD-RES-0005-2024 was published in La Gaceta N°48, whereby, only for the current year, the ordinary declaration period will be from July 1st to July 31st, and not during April as it is usual.
This amendment is made pursuant to the entry into force of a new Regulation of the Transparency and Final Beneficiaries Registry (Executive Decree Nº 44390-H) which was published in La Gaceta number 45 on March 8th, 2024, this regulation amends the previous regulation by incorporating a series of changes, among which the most significant ones are listed below:
- It is established that the legal representative of the legal structure is the one responsible for sending the declaration, allowing a full attorney-in-fact to do exclusively in exceptional and duly justified cases. The regulation itself does not detail processes, or what the authorities will interpret as exceptional cases since a new Joint Resolution needs to be issued. However, from this new provisions it is correct to interpret that the special powers of attorney that have been granted in previous years may not be allowed in the system to send the declaration, it would only admit the full powers of attorney which must be registered before the Costa Rican Mercantile Registry.
- Increased rigor in the supporting documentation the person responsible for submitting the declaration must possess. The regulations also provides clearer details on the prior due diligence steps to be carried out to correctly identify the beneficiaries of each legal structure. Therefore, it is possible that for the new period, our team may request updates or new supporting documentation.
- It incorporates a new non-compliance reason that applies to obligated entities maintaining within their chain of legal structures other obligated entities (such as local corporations or trusts) that have not provided the required information. In other words, if there is an entity within their shareholding chain that has not submitted the respective declaration of its own legal structure, it will be considered as non-compliant due to the existing linkage.
The General Tax Administration (Dirección General de Tributación) and the Costa Rican Narcotics Institute (Instituto Costarricense Sobre Drogas) have a maximum period of 6 months to issue a new General Scope Joint Resolution. It is expected to include the implementation of the indicated changes, related processes, and relevant limitations.
Looking ahead to the 2024 regular period, we are awaiting clarifications from the competent authorities regarding authorizations for third parties to submit declarations on behalf and representation of legal structures.