Many in Costa Rica are groaning at the specter of the newly approved ‘tax on legal entities,” better known as the corporate tax law, which is soon to go into effect.

If you have a car, house or other personal property held in an inactive or “shelf” company, you will be required to pay a yearly tax on the company, though inactive companies pay the lowest rate.

However, the government is giving people who meet certain criteria a one-time chance to transfer their property with no penalty and no tax during the first year of the law’s enactment, explained a report in Costa Rica’s business daily, El Financiero.

While some ambiguities still surround some aspects of the new law, which has not yet gone into effect, the one exemption permitted under the law is clear.

The corporate tax law “includes a time-limited exemption from the payment of this tax, as well as of the fees for transfers of property carried out during the twelve months after the law goes into effect,” explained El Financiero’s report.

Only companies that were inactive for at least 24 months prior to the law’s enactment will be eligible for the exemption. So, if your holding company qualifies, you can take advantage of this one-year window to transfer property into your name or into another company without any transfer cost or tax payment on the shelf company, detailed the report.

In addition, the new regulation allows companies that have outstanding payments due from when the tax was formerly in effect – between 2012 and 2015 – to pay up without facing any interest charges or penalties.

However companies that have lapsed in payment for three consecutive years will be dissolved and need to go through a special process to recover their holdings and titles; though this aspect of the law is still somewhat unclear, said analysts.

If you have pending payments under the previous iteration of the law, you are advised to check with your lawyer and/or accountant to be clear on how to proceed.

Once the law takes effect, the methods for paying the tax will be publicly announced, added the report.