Set Up a Business in Costa Rica – Company Registration
Costa Rica can offer a lot of flexible practices in business, with its beautiful weather and cultural history that is very rich. Aside from that, Costa Rica’s destination is favourable if you want to start a business because of the benefits it brings. That includes tax advantages, good privacy, English fluency, and their timeline is fast and organized. The investors in Costa Rica are becoming more confident because it is quickly becoming Central America’s choice for the jurisdiction that companies and individuals that want to set up headquarters in Costa Rica. With the recent diversification that happened in Costa Rica, they are now a member of the World Trade Organization aside from creating incentives in order to boost trade and business in their country.
Incorporation in Costa Rica
The incorporation in Costa Rica goes by The Commercial Code of Costa Rica, which is responsible for regulating the opening and every day. A corporation in Costa Rica is called a Sociedad Anonima (S.A.), which is like a limited liability company in the USA. When this kind of corporation opens in Costa Rica, the S.A. abbreviation comes after the company’s name, which is very similar to the LLC companies. Other kinds of company are called the Costa Rica SRL or Sociedad De Responsibilidad Limitada Costa Rica.
Why Set Up a Business in Costa Rica?
Bilingual – Even if Costa Rica’s main language is Spanish, English is widely used as well. This allows the recording of your company name to be in English or Spanish.
Free trade – Costa Rica has a lot of Free Trade Agreements for a lot of countries which includes the USA, Chile, Mexico, and Canada. This also can provide a huge advantage for companies that involve importation and exportation of goods. Costa Rica has also started an agreement with other countries.
Great foreign investment package. They get:
- 100% exemption on importing raw materials, capital goods, and components
- They are exempted from tax profits for 8 years, and a 50% exemption for the next 4 years
- No export taxes, excise taxes and local sales, and profit repatriation taxes
- They do not have to pay municipal and capital taxes
- No capital repatriation or foreign currency management restrictions
- On-site customer clearance is fully expedited
- Selling to exports inside Costa Rica is allowed
- Up to 40% selling in the local market is allowed
Business Structure
You can choose from a few legal structures like general partnership, corporation, limited partnership, etc. The best choice would depend on the kind of company you are planning to start. In case you know about the Costa Rican Law, a local lawyer consultation is necessary.
Bank Account Opening
In order to open a bank account for your business in Costa Rica, you need the perquisites. However, you can choose from a lot of banks like HSBC, Scotiabank, and Citibank. They normally have English tellers making it easy for you to communicate with them.
