The Republic of Panama recently approved Law No. 52 of October 27th, 2016 (the "Law"), which establishes the obligation of keeping accounting records for determined legal persons starting from January 1st, 2017.
The Law establishes that all corporations and private interest foundations, as well as limited liability companies, even if they do not perform operations in the Republic of Panama, must keep their accounting records in any of the following places:
1) In any place within or outside the Republic of Panama, as determined by their management entities; or
2) In their Resident Agent/s office.
In the event that the accounting records and supporting documentation of an entity are kept outside the Republic of Panama, the latter must provide, in writing, to its Resident Agent in Panama the following:
1) Physical address where the accounting records and supporting documentation are kept;
2) Details of the Contact person.
The Resident Agent shall keep a register of such information, which comprises copy of the share register of the legal person. Any change of the information provided to the Resident Agent must be notified within a period of fifteen working days counted from the corresponding change.
The legal person is under the obligation to keep the accounting records and supporting documentation for a period not exceeding five (5) years, counted from the last day of the calendar year within which the transactions for which these records are applicable were completed or the last day of the calendar day in which the legal person ceased its operations.
In the event that the accounting records and supporting documentation be kept outside of the Republic of Panama, and be required by the competent authority of Panama, the same must be provided to the Resident Agent, within a period not exceeding fifteen (15) working days, as of its request.
In the other hand, the Resident Agent is under the obligation to keep copy of the share registers of those corporations for which it acts as such. This copy must be provided to our law firm by the client.
Our accounting firm is available to assist you with the attainment of the accounting services you require.
