Costa Rica Company Incorporation

If you plan to do business in Costa Rica, purchase a vehicle or real estate, you might as well form a company or companies as soon as possible. However, before doing so please have the following basic considerations in mind:

• It is not that the lawyer wants to make an additional fee at your expense, if the Costa Rican legal system offers this advantage it is not intelligent not to use it.
• When you incorporate in Costa Rica you form a local company that can conduct all sorts of legal commercial activities in the country and offshore. You have the option of forming a new corporation or buying a ready-made shelf company or corporation.
• The main advantage of forming a new corporation is that it has limited liability, which in very simple terms means that the inevitable risk involved in daily business transactions, will not affect your personal assets or assets owned by other companies that you control.
• Take into consideration that the incorporation process in Costa Rica is handled exclusively by an attorney at law who is also authorized as a Notary Public.
• The incorporation process lasts about 2-3 weeks after the formation of the company deed is properly signed by the beneficiaries.
• The use of Costa Rican companies can seem complicated at first but if handled by an experienced asset protection lawyer it will be the first step towards your success in.
• If you buy a vehicle or real estate under your name and not using a Costa Rican corporation, anybody can conduct a title search with your passport number in the National Registry and find out what assets you have, how much they cost, how much you owe, how much you pay monthly, etc.
• If you run a business using your personal name as the employer, your personal name and assets will be exposed to labor lawsuits in a country that has a protectionist approach towards employees.
• It is ideal to own valuable assets under a separate corporation each, in the event that one of them is involved in a legal dispute; the other assets are safe from lawsuits.
• If you bought your car or house using for each an independent corporation, when you decide to sell them, the sale process will be facilitated as the buyer could just receive the control of the corporation and avoid expensive transfer taxes and legal fees.
• What is a Shelf Company? Also, know as shelf corporations or ready-made companies, they are limited liability corporations that are already incorporated in Costa Rica and that can be used immediately to purchase a property, sign contracts, purchase a vehicle, obtain a local telephone line, lease a property, etc.
• Why should someone purchase a shelf company versus going through the normal incorporation process? The answer is very simple, when we are contacted by our clients, we normally listen to their business needs, and based on that and their seriousness to start, we recommend them to start the incorporation process as soon as possible. The incorporation procedures will take from 2-3 weeks and many times business opportunities can’t wait, so if you listen to us and form a Costa Rican company with time, you will be proceeding the right way, saving money and properly protecting your assets. However if you can’t wait and you need to conduct immediate business transactions in Costa Rica, we offer the option of shelf companies that have not had any activity for our clients to acquire them.

Costa Rica Companies Incorporation Process

Because the mission of GLC Abogados is to protect the interests of our clients, our efforts are centered on the clear explanation of the Costa Rican incorporation process which is seen by our firm as the initial key aspect.

Our service: There are two main types of corporations, the S.A. (Sociedad Anónima) and the S.R.L. (Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada), both offer the benefit of being a limited liability corporation. The first one is operated by 4 directors, while the second one can be operated by one person simplifying the operation for international beneficiaries.

We strongly suggest you contact our legal team so that you can explain to us your specific needs, and together we can form a personalized legal structure.