A public document pursuant to the requisites of Article 18 of the Code of Commerce has to be completed by a public notary. Said document must request the issuance of the corporate identification number.

It is the responsibility of the notary who draws up the public document, prior to its preparation or at least before its presentation at the Registry, to:

• Verify that the proposed trade or commercial name for the company is not already registered.
• Prepare a study of the Registry for those cases where contributions of personal property or real estate are registered as part of the capital stock.
• Publish in the official daily newspaper, "La Gaceta" (National Press), the edict with the synthesis of the creation of the company (see more) . It is sufficient to present the paid receipt covering the publication.Pay at the Bank of Costa Rica (Banco de Costa Rica) or at any agency or branch, the revenue stamps or registry rights, pursuant to Article 2 of the Tariff Law of the Public Registry. The revenue stamps represent a tenth of the base salary as defined in the Law N° 7337 of May 5, 1993 , that is approximately $200. The payment of other revenue stamps is executed in agreement to the total Capital stock and the sum of ¢2,000.00 has to be paid for the concept of issuing the corporate identification card. All these payments can be made at any branch of Banco de Costa Rica.

If contributions to the company of personal property or real estate (subject to registration) exist, additional payments in regards to transfer taxes and the fees and revenue stamps in agreement with the fiscal value of the goods must be made. In the case of real estate, the percentage to be paid in transfer tax is 1.51% of the fiscal value; if the process is for personal property, the percentage to be paid is 2.51% of its value. For the payment of the transfer tax, it has to be completed in the pertinent form (F-151 at a cost of ¢90.00) and then paid. Additionally, the fees of the notary public have to be paid.

The requirements a), b), c) and d) have been fulfilled the following documents must be presented at the Mercantile Registry: the public documents, the paid receipt for revenue stamps and the notarial document indicating that the edict was submitted for publication, stating the number of the coupon which the National Press issues as evidence.

Requisites a) and b) have to be carried out by a notary public. Requisites c), d) and e) (in reference to the presentation at the Registry) can be executed by the notary or by the applicant.