Everyone doing business or owning assets in Costa Rica using a company is required to have legal books.
The books, referred to in Spanish as libros legales, are obtained at the stationery store and then taken to the tax authority, Dirección General de Tributación or DGT for short. To obtain the agency’s blessing on the books, company operators fill out a form called Solicitud de Legalización de Libros. This translates into English as application to legalize books.
Tributación puts a notation and legal stamps on the first page of each book.
Legalizing books for the first time usually goes hand-in-hand with filing Form D-140 called Declaración de Inscripción, Modificación y Desinscripción en el Registro de Contribuyentes. This translates into English as declaration of enrollment, modification, and disenrollment in the tax contributor’s registry.
Whether a company is active and paying taxes each year or just holding property (and not required to file an income tax return or pay tax), the company is required to have legal books.
Most people have heard of these books, but have no clue as to what they do and why they are important. Very often they have been misplaced and, unbeknownst to the owner, serve as a home for hungry termites.