Last week’s article about the requirement for inactive corporations to file Form D-140 has generated lots of emails and comments on our social media.
NOTE: When I wrote this blog, I had published Form D-140 from 2011 that was replaced by a new form in 2016. A reader on the social media said there were two forms, the reason we insisted with the tax office to give us the correct information. Unfortunately, the tax office has not been clear about this and it turns out that the 2016 form replaces the other.
You can download page 1 in English here and page 2 in English here. With this, it should be easy for you to fill out Form D140.
For up to date information (made on 2/22/2018) go to the November 2017 Update Corporation tax and form D140.
Do you own a corporation in Costa Rica? Then click on the banner below to view the services you will need, offered at very affordable prices.
Who?
Only inactive corporations have to fill out Form 140. That’s because active corporations already fill our the income tax form.
Find out if your corporation is active or inactive on the Consulta Situación Tributaria website. Scroll for Cédula Persona Jurídica and click. Then fill out the corporate ID number or the company’s name. Fill out your corporate ID number and click search. In the result, look for Actividades Económicas, there are two options
- No hay actividades económicas que mostrar” for an inactive corporation,
- Estado – A for an active corporation.
Here you can download the correct D-140-modification-2018 Formulario D140 Modificacion datos (FEB-2018).
Many expats do not read or write Spanish and do not know how to fill out the form. For this reason, I have made the effort to create the same form in English, which you can download by clicking on the image below. Click on the image, save to your computer and print out.
I suggest you do as follows: Download the Spanish form D-140 and print it out and present to the nearest tax office.
Economic activity D-140-modification-2018
In III – Economic activity, you need to fill out what the activity of your corporation is.
- If you use the corporation only as a holding company of the property where you live, you can fill out “Únicamente para uso de un bien inmueble como casa de habitación”
- In case the corporation is a holding company for a car, you can fill out “Únicamente para uso de bien mueble”.
- If the corporation is a holding corporation of raw land, you can fill out “Únicamente para uso de bien inmueble como lote sin construir”.
- When you use the corporation for a regular business, just state the type of business you use the corporation for.
Rental property
When the corporation holds an income generating investment property such as a rental unit, then you should be filing the corporation as an active corporation. Then you need to file income tax, which is a whole different topic. Contact your accountant to discuss.
Active corporations
Active corporations all file for income tax, so they DO NOT have to file Form D-140.
Personal filing
The filing of the form is personal. Check with your lawyer who has the power of attorney to file for the corporation. If you have not given anybody a power of attorney and you don’t want to either, have the completely filled out D-140 form apostilled by the nearest Costa Rican embassy in your country. Then you can send the form with anyone to the tax office and it is not necessary to go in person.
Make a copy of the form, so the tax office can stamp it as received.
When to file
a) Corporate ID ending in 1 and 2: During the month of February 2018. (this is only for those corporations that were registered in the National registry before October 31st, 2017 or those that were dissolved.
b) Corporate ID ending in 3: During the month of March 2018.
c) Corporate ID ending in 4: During the month of April 2018.
d) Corporate ID ending in 5: During the month of May 2018.
e) Corporate ID ending in 6: During the month of June 2018.
f) Corporate ID ending in 7: During the month of July 2018.
g) Corporate ID ending in 8: During the month of August 2018.
h) Corporate ID ending in 9: During the month of September 2018.
i) Corporate ID ending in 0: During the month of October 2018.
Do you own a corporation in Costa Rica and you haven’t presented form D-140 yet? Did you get your digital signature? Probably not! Then click on the banner below before the government takes your property.
Where
You can file Form D-140 in any of the Finance Ministry’s offices; download a directory of all locations here.
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