Change Announced on the Registry of Transparency and Final Beneficiaries

It has been a year and a half since the Registry of Transparency and Final Beneficiaries (RTFB) was enforced as a mandatory requirement for corporations in Costa Rica.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, especially when it comes to people trying to complete the obligation and providing extensions on deadlines.

How it Started

The RTFB requirement started in September 2019 as an effort by the government of Costa Rica to comply with international agreements to fight money laundering and bribery, as they are obligated to create measures to ensure their obligations are being fulfilled.

Since then, the obligation has been mandatory in Costa Rica per the following chart:

While the first period -2019-2020- should have been completed by 2020, the second period -2021- deadline was set for April 30th, 2021. Without a doubt, what has made this requirement become a topic of conversation is its fines, which start at around $2,500 USD and accumulate over each non-compliant period.

New Change Announced

Today, a new change has been announced on the requirements: deadline to comply with the RTFB 2021 period has been extended an additional month.

Per resolution N° DGT-ICD-R-17-2021 by the Revenue Service (Hacienda as Ticos call it) and the Costa Rican Drugs Bureau, obligated subjects on items 1, 2, and 3 of the chart above now have until May 31st, 2021 to comply with the requirement voluntarily.

According to the resolution, this measure is taking place due to the sanitary emergency produced by COVID and as an effort from the Government to allow the responsible individuals to procure all necessary information to comply. 

Avoid fines and liability: take action now.