The What, Where, When and How of the Corporate Taxes
As part of our desire to provide the best and most reliable service to our clients we put together the following information of upcoming requirements for Costa Rican corporations. We wanted to share with our

As part of our desire to provide the best and most reliable service to our clients we put together the following information of upcoming requirements for Costa Rican corporations. We wanted to share with our readers, in hopes it could be of use. As always, if you have any questions or feel we could be of service to you, please reach out us directly by phone or email.
1) Taxes
As of September 1, 2017, the corporate tax for Costa Rican Corporations has started again. The tax is approximately $40.00 USD (21.308 CRC) for 2017. This can be paid online, using banking websites for the BCR Banco de Costa Rica, or in person at the bank. In order to avoid interest charges, it would prudent to pay it as soon as possible, or by the end of September at the latest. Please be aware that Banco de Costa Rica has been having issues with processing the payment of the taxes, and you may have to try another bank.
2) Yearly fees
The yearly fee for the coming year will be as follows:
63,930 CRC for inactive corporations
106,550 CRC for active corporations
213,100 CRC for active corporations with revenues over 119 million CRC
3) Inactive Corporations
Additionally, all inactive corporations, which want to remain inactive, MUST fill out a D-140 form in order to remain inactive. (Inactive means the corporation is not currently doing business, which requires reports and payment of income taxes.)
The law requires the D-140 form to be:
- signed by a legal representative of the corporation and
- the signature must be notarized by a notary or lawyer.
- filed with the tax authorities or Tributación in Spanish.
Due to the large amount of corporations recorded in Costa Rica, the government is asking that corporations file their D-140 form in a specific month, in order to manage the influx of work in Tributación. The month assigned to each corporation is based on their corporate ID. Please contact us if you need assistance in determining when your form should be filed. It’s important to File the D-140 form. If you are late or do not file, you will be fined.
When to file the form D-140
- Corporations ending in 1 and 2 must be filed in October 2017.
- Corporations ending in 3 and 4 must be filed in November 2017.
- Corporations ending in 5 and 6 must be filed in December 2017.
- Corporations ending in 7 and 8 must be filed in January 2018.
- Corporations ending in 9 and 0 must be filed in February 2018.
4) Other legal requirements
Please remember:
The ordinary General Assembly meeting required by law within the following 3 month of the fiscal years close (September 30th).
Update your property information with the Municipality every 5 years. Do not confuse this with the property taxes payment.
If you are behind on corporate taxes for previous years, be aware the National Registry will be taking collection actions by placing a lien on assets registered to the corporation and dissolving the corporations within the next 3 months.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us for a consult. We are here to help!
Best,
The Outlier Legal Team
Office: (506) 2100-6593
www.news.outlierlegal.com
Irina Just September 30, 2017
Those corporation taxes can be paid at BNCR also – I did. On line. I believe our D-140 form is due in February (ending in “9”) – Correct? We’ll contact you then to help with it – or do you think we can do it ourselves?
rafavalverde October 2, 2017
Irina,
I think people with sufficient command of Spanish will be able to do it themselves.
Allison Spencer October 11, 2017
Hi Rafael, We are looking at our corporation papers and is the number we want to refer to the “Cedula Juridica” number?
rafavalverde October 11, 2017
Allison,
You are correct, the Cédula Jurídica is the number of your corporation which you can use for paying the taxes of the corporation and complete the form D-140
Laurie Gould-Blizzard November 12, 2017
I was told that the Tributacion can not handle the D140s’ at the moment –That they will start again in Feb. My In-active Corp ends in 4—-Is this a FACT? I would be going in Heredia—??
rafavalverde December 11, 2017
Laurie,
Indeed, Tributación issued a moratorium for the D-140. The moratorium is currently effective.
Walter S. Freeman January 9, 2018
I think some of this is out of date. The moratorium has lapsed and there is a new schedule to resume filing of the D-140 for inactive corporations. Could you post this?
B February 17, 2019
Can anybody in the corporation take care of this or does it need to be the president?
danielduartes February 25, 2019
B,
It does not have to be president or general manager who process the payment of the taxes. Anyone can do it.
B February 17, 2019
Has anybody heard about the new resolution Central Banco has come up with?
danielduartes February 25, 2019
B,
Please clarify what you mean with your question.