Public utility status revoked for two associations for failing to submit annual reports

The Executive Branch has revoked the declaration of public utility of the Asociación Administradora del Acueducto de Volcán de Buenos Aires de Puntarenas and the Asociación Hogar Madre del Redentor, both for failing to submit the annual reports required to maintain the benefit. The measure was formalized through executive decrees N° 45971-MJP and N° 45970-MJP, published in La Gaceta N° 214 on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, within the decrees of the Executive Branch. The signatures correspond to President Laura Fernández Delgado and the Minister of Justice and Peace, Gabriel Aguilar Vargas.

The legal framework of the revocation

The two decrees are based on Article 32 of the Associations Law N° 218 of August 8, 1939, and Articles 27 and following of the Regulations to the Associations Law, Executive Decree N° 29496-J, published in La Gaceta N° 96 on May 21, 2001. This regulation empowers the Executive Branch to declare associations whose activities contribute to solving a social need as being of public utility, and to revoke the benefit when the reasons supporting it disappear.

Numeral 33 bis of the regulation establishes the cause applied in both cases: the failure to submit the annual labor report. The procedure includes a single ten-business-day warning and a reasoned resolution as a result of the repeal process, governed by the General Law of Public Administration N° 6227.

The Volcán de Buenos Aires de Puntarenas aqueduct

Executive Decree N° 45971-MJP, signed in San José on September 29, 2026, revokes Executive Decree N° 33406-J of September 22, 2006, published in La Gaceta N° 209 on November 10, 2006, which had declared the aqueduct management association of public utility.

• Entity: Asociación Administradora del Acueducto de Volcán de Buenos Aires de Puntarenas.
• Legal ID (Cédula jurídica): 3-002-224501.
• Registration: July 9, 1998, file 9840, volume 451, entry 13698.
• Reason: failure to submit the annual labor report, with no valuable elements justifying the omission.

The association is the manager of the aqueduct that supplies the community of Volcán de Buenos Aires, in the province of Puntarenas. The decree orders the notification of the act to the Ministry of Finance, the General Directorate of Taxation, and the National Property Registry so that they may proceed according to their competence, and it takes effect from its publication.

The Hogar Madre del Redentor

Executive Decree N° 45970-MJP, signed on October 1, 2026, repeals the declaration granted through Executive Decree N° 32123-J of October 12, 2004, published in La Gaceta N° 233 on November 29, 2004.

• Entity: Asociación Hogar Madre del Redentor.
• Legal ID (Cédula jurídica): 3-002-204594.
• Registration: July 6, 1989, volume 375, entry 1048, file 3387.
• Reason: incomplete submission of the 2024 management report and the requirements report to maintain the declaration.

In this case, the file states that the association did not provide valuable elements to justify the non-compliance, thereby triggering the cause under subsection e) of numeral 33 bis of the regulation. The decree also mandates notification to the Ministry of Finance, the General Directorate of Taxation, and the National Registry, and comes into effect upon its publication.

Loss of benefit and contrast in the same edition

The declaration of public utility is what enables the income tax exemption for income and assets entirely destined for public or charitable purposes. In the same edition, the granting decrees No. 45973-MJP, No. 45977-MJP, and No. 45917-MJP expressly include that exemption clause and reiterate the duty to submit an annual management report to the Ministry of Justice and Peace.

The contrast shows the criteria applied by the ministry: while three associations receive the benefit, two lose it due to the same obligation that the others commit to fulfill. The revocation decrees do not set any deadline for regularization nor do they provide for a new warning, meaning the exclusion takes effect from the publication of the act.

The decision directly affects the communities served by the Volcán de Buenos Aires aqueduct in Puntarenas, which depend on a non-profit association for the management of the water service, and the Hogar Madre del Redentor, an entity registered since 1989. With the repeal, both organizations cease to have the state support that underpinned their preferential tax treatment and become subject to oversight by the General Directorate of Taxation regarding income not destined for public or charitable purposes, as provided in articles 103 and 104 of the Code of Tax Norms and Procedures.

Source: La Gaceta, No. 214 of November 11, 2026, Executive Branch (Decrees), pp. 4-5 (official reference: Executive Decree No. 45971-MJP and Executive Decree No. 45970-MJP).