Offshore Corporations

A Costa Rican corporation can engage in a variety of different business transactions in Costa Rica and around the world. The articles of incorporation of the corporation will specify in which area of business the corporation would like to be dedicated and can include various sectors of business.

Costa Rican corporations have also been extremely popular for gaming entities around the world. This is mainly because gaming is legal in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican government has realized this and has tried to prevent abuse of their corporations by being picky about which types of business a corporation would like to pursue.

Costa Rican corporations can also hold bank accounts. Costa Rica also has strict rules on non disclosure of bank accounts; these laws are currently being challenged by US institutions so certain privacy laws could change in the future.

Costa Rican corporate structure allows any person or persons to control a company without a person’s actual name appearing on public records. Even though there are names that appear on the corporation as president, secretary, treasurer and fiscal the actual ownership of the corporation is the person who actually bears the shares of the corporation. This is illegal in the US but completely legal here in Costa Rica.

Since it is a foreign corporation as far as the IRS is concerned it does not pay taxes in the US or anything it earns outside of Costa Rica. A yearly report must be filed to the Costa Rican tax department in September even if no income was made, otherwise the corporation can be fined.

There are advantages to owning land with a corporation such as reduction of personal liability and taxes. A corporation can be owned by a group or one sole shareholder. This is a simple and inexpensive way to hold assets.