A beneficiary's full name, and an account number or unique traceable reference, must travel with an electronic transfer to Costa Rica at any amount. Article 52 of Acuerdo CONASSIF 12-21 applies "por cualquier monto" and sets no minimum. The US$10,000 figures in Articles 53 and 54 are a separate reporting duty.
Costa Rica's anti-money-laundering regulation carries two rules that look alike and behave nothing alike. One sets a closed list of documents a person can be identified by. The other governs what has to travel with an electronic transfer, and it applies por cualquier monto, for any amount, with no figure attached. The US$10,000 numbers that turn up in searches belong to a third rule, about reporting. A separate instrument governs what the institution must publish, and how long it has to answer a complaint.
Key Takeaways
- Acuerdo CONASSIF 12-21 has been in force since 1 January 2022, and its Derogatoria única expressly repealed Acuerdo SUGEF 12-10.
- Article 33 sets a closed list of five valid identity documents and closes with the sentence "Los documentos mencionados deben estar vigentes."
- Article 52 applies to electronic transfers "por cualquier monto", local or from or to abroad. There is no minimum amount in it.
- Under Article 52 the originating institution transmits the beneficiary's full name and account number or unique traceable reference, and institutions at both ends hold policies on when to execute, reject or suspend a transfer without it.
- The US$10,000 figures in Articles 53 and 54 trigger reporting to the superintendencia within 20 días naturales of month close under Article 55. They are a different mechanism from Article 52.
Which instrument governs identification in Costa Rica today?
Acuerdo CONASSIF 12-21. The instrument it replaced, Acuerdo SUGEF 12-10, was expressly repealed by it.
The repeal is explicit rather than implied. The Derogatoria única of CONASSIF 12-21 reads "Deróguese la 'Normativa para el cumplimiento de la Ley 8204', Acuerdo SUGEF 12-10 a partir de la entrada en vigencia de este Reglamento", and it directs that references to the old normativa be read as references to the new one. Secondary sources still cite 12-10 freely, as though it were live.
The replacement changed its own name partway through, which is why a reader can meet three labels for two instruments. It was approved by the Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero in sessions 1637-2020 and 1638-2020 of 18 January 2021, published in Alcance 17 a La Gaceta 19 of 28 January 2021, and entered into force on 1 January 2022. It was then renamed from SUGEF 12-21 to CONASSIF 12-21 by sessions 1725-2022 and 1726-2022 of 18 April 2022, published in Alcance 83 a La Gaceta 78 of 29 April 2022.
What counts as a valid identity document?
Five documents, listed exhaustively, and the article ends by requiring all of them to be current. Article 33 does not describe categories of acceptable evidence. It names documents, and the list is closed.
| Who the person is | The document Article 33 names |
|---|---|
| A Costa Rican national | the cédula de identidad issued by the Registro Civil |
| A resident foreigner | a document issued by the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería |
| An accredited diplomatic or consular person | a document issued by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto |
| A non-resident foreigner | a passport, usable "solo lo podrán utilizar si se encuentra vigente y con la autorización de permanencia al día" |
| A non-resident foreign holder of a securities, investment or insurance account without a passport | an apostilled or consularised national identity document, plus a document bearing the TIN published for OECD Common Reporting Standard purposes |
The passport row carries a condition inside it. It applies to a non-resident foreigner, and only while the passport is current and the permanence authorisation is up to date. Both limbs sit in the same clause, so a valid passport on its own does not satisfy the row.
The article then closes with a single sentence that applies to everything above it: "Los documentos mencionados deben estar vigentes." The documents mentioned must be current. An expired document is not a lesser form of the same document under this article; it is outside the list.
Why does a beneficiary's name matter on a transfer of any size?
Because the article that governs it has no amount in it.
Article 52 opens "Para las transferencias electrónicas por cualquier monto, ya sean locales, desde o hacia el exterior": for electronic transfers of any amount, whether local, from abroad or to abroad. That phrase is the whole of the threshold question. The article covers a transfer from Australia to Costa Rica on the same terms as a transfer between two accounts in San José, and on the same terms whether the sum is small or large.
What it requires the originating institution to transmit falls into two halves.
| Side of the transfer | What Article 52 requires to travel with it |
|---|---|
| The originator | name, identification number, and account number or unique traceable reference |
| The beneficiary | full name, and account number or unique traceable reference |
The beneficiary limb is the one an arriving remittance is measured against. It asks for a full name, not a first name, a nickname or a shortened form, and it asks for it alongside an identifier for the destination account.
The second paragraph of the article is what gives that requirement teeth on the receiving side. The obligated subject, "en su calidad de entidad financiera originadora o beneficiaria", in its capacity as originating or beneficiary financial institution, must hold risk-based policies for determining when to execute, reject or suspend a transfer lacking that information. The Costa Rican institution paying the money out sits inside the rule, not downstream of it.
The regulation names three outcomes and does not choose between them. Execute, reject, suspend: which one applies is decided by the institution's own risk-based policies, which is why two institutions can treat the same incomplete transfer differently and both be inside the Reglamento. Article 33 is the other half of the picture. One article sets what information must travel with the money; the other sets what the person at the far end can produce.
What do the US$10,000 figures in Articles 53 and 54 actually trigger?
Reporting to the superintendencia, and nothing else in this chain.
The figures are real, and what each one sets is the point at which a Costa Rican institution owes the supervisor a report.
| Article | What it measures | The figure |
|---|---|---|
| 53 | a single operation, cash and electronic transfer from or to abroad | US$10,000 or the equivalent |
| 54 | multiple operations aggregated within a calendar month | US$10,000 or the equivalent |
| 55 | the period to report to the superintendencia after the month closes | 20 días naturales |
Article 55 adds a completeness rule to the reporting duty: information presented with errors, presented incomplete, or not meeting the conditions set "se considera como no presentada", is considered not presented, for the purposes of sanction. A report filed badly counts as a report not filed.
These are amount-triggered obligations that run from a Costa Rican institution to a supervisor, and they say nothing about whether a smaller transfer carries the beneficiary's name. Article 52 sets an information requirement with no figure in it at all. A transfer of a few hundred dollars is below every threshold in Articles 53 and 54 and is fully inside Article 52.
What a supervised entity publishes about its own services
Its prices, on its own website, kept current. That duty sits in Acuerdo SUGEF 10-07.
Article 8 requires a supervised entity to publish the characteristics and prices of each service, kept current and accessible on its website. Each price is published as a range, a minimum and a maximum, under headings the article itself sets. Those headings include "Canje de monedas", currency exchange, and "Comercio internacional", international trade. The duty runs to publication, not to any particular price.
Article 11 of the same Acuerdo sets the clock on a complaint. The entity has 10 días hábiles, ten working days, to resolve one, and where it needs longer it must say before that deadline what it will do and when. It places that responsibility on the entity "y no de terceros", and not on third parties.
Where does this leave the two ends of an Australia to Costa Rica transfer?
With one requirement that scales with the amount and one that does not.
The reporting thresholds are a supervisor's arithmetic, and they only reach an ordinary family transfer when the sum, or a month's worth of sums, reaches US$10,000. The information requirement in Article 52 reaches every transfer, and Article 33 fixes what the person at the receiving end can be identified by. Where Article 52 leaves an institution at a SUGEF-supervised entity to suspend a transfer under its own policies, Article 11 of Acuerdo SUGEF 10-07 is what puts a clock on the complaint that follows.
Where to look next
How international transfers work sets out the ordinary sequence a payment moves through and the points at which it can be held. Who maintains the codes on a transfer covers the identifiers a payment message carries and the bodies that define them. For the live figures, see the Australian dollar to Costa Rican colón page, or the Australian dollar to colón convert page.
Sources
- Acuerdo CONASSIF 12-21, formerly Acuerdo SUGEF 12-21, approved by the Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero in sessions 1637-2020 and 1638-2020 of 18 January 2021, published in Alcance 17 a La Gaceta 19 of 28 January 2021, in force 1 January 2022, and renamed by sessions 1725-2022 and 1726-2022 of 18 April 2022, published in Alcance 83 a La Gaceta 78 of 29 April 2022. Version consulted: documento 7, updated 10 November 2022. Article 33, the closed list of identity documents and the requirement that they be current; Article 52, the "por cualquier monto" rule, the originator and beneficiary information it requires to be transmitted, and the risk-based policies on when to execute, reject or suspend a transfer lacking it; Articles 53 and 54, the US$10,000 thresholds; Article 55, the 20 días naturales reporting period and the rule on information considered not presented; and the Derogatoria única
- Acuerdo SUGEF 10-07, version 5, updated 1 June 2025. Article 8, the duty to publish and keep current, accessible on the entity's website, the characteristics and prices of each service, with a minimum and a maximum price, under headings that expressly include Canje de monedas and Comercio internacional; and Article 11, the 10 días hábiles to resolve a complaint, the duty to state before that deadline what will be done and when if longer is needed, and the responsibility resting on the entity "y no de terceros"
- Acuerdo SUGEF 12-10, Normativa para el cumplimiento de la Ley 8204, read in the Derogatoria única of Acuerdo CONASSIF 12-21 that repeals it - cited only as the instrument expressly repealed, never as live law, with references to it directed to the newer Reglamento
General information about sending money to Costa Rica and about the identification rules that apply when it arrives. Not financial advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.
Common questions
Which identity documents does Costa Rica's regulation accept?
Article 33 of Acuerdo CONASSIF 12-21 sets a closed list. A Costa Rican national uses the cédula de identidad issued by the Registro Civil. A resident foreigner uses a document issued by the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, and an accredited diplomatic or consular person a document issued by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto. A non-resident foreigner may use a passport, allowed only while it is current and the permanence authorisation is up to date. The article closes by requiring that the documents mentioned be current.
Is there a minimum amount below which the beneficiary name is not required in Costa Rica?
Article 52 states none. Its wording covers electronic transfers "por cualquier monto", for any amount, whether local, from abroad or to abroad, and it requires the originating institution to transmit the beneficiary's full name together with the beneficiary's account number or a unique traceable reference. There is no figure in the article.
What happens when a transfer to Costa Rica arrives without that information?
Article 52 requires the obligated subject, "en su calidad de entidad financiera originadora o beneficiaria", in its capacity as originating or beneficiary financial institution, to hold risk-based policies for determining when to execute, reject or suspend a transfer lacking the required information. The regulation names the three outcomes and leaves the choice between them to the institution's own policies, so the outcome follows the policy rather than a result written into the article.
Does the US$10,000 threshold mean smaller transfers to Costa Rica are outside the rules?
No. Article 53 sets US$10,000 or the equivalent for a single cash operation or electronic transfer from or to abroad, and Article 54 applies the same figure to multiple operations aggregated within a calendar month. Those figures govern reporting to the superintendencia. Article 52 sits apart from them and applies for any amount.
What deadlines does a Costa Rican institution work to?
Two, on two different calendars. For reporting an operation above the threshold, Article 55 of Acuerdo CONASSIF 12-21 gives 20 días naturales, twenty calendar days, counted after the month closes, and provides that information presented with errors, presented incomplete, or not meeting the conditions set is "se considera como no presentada", considered not presented, for sanction purposes. For answering a complaint, Article 11 of Acuerdo SUGEF 10-07 gives 10 días hábiles, ten working days, and where that is not enough the entity must say before the deadline passes what process it will follow and when it expects to respond. That article places the responsibility on the entity providing the service "y no de terceros", and not on third parties.