In Nicaragua, to operate at a national level, as well as to import and export, companies and individuals that carry out commercial activities must be registered in the Single Registry of Taxpayers and obtain a Taxpayer Identification Number (known as RUC in Spanish).
To obtain the RUC number, the legal representative of the entity or its attorney or special designee must appear before the Revenue Authority of its domicile (will be the closest to the address where it carries out its economic activities) and submit its application together with a series of documents that could change according to the type of entity.
The second phase consists on the authorities reviewing of the filed documents, which actually could take between two and six weeks, and then notifying the applicant about the approval or denial of their registration.
Once the approval of the registration has been notified, the applicant must appear before the income administration to withdraw the documents that accredit him as a taxpayer, including the RUC card.
The RUC, being the identity number of legal persons, is required in transactions with the government and with private companies, such as requesting permits, concessions, licenses, opening bank accounts, loans requesting, signing contracts, among others. The Taxpayer Identification Number grants legal personality to companies, empowers them to acquire rights and contract obligations.
Consequently, any company that wishes to carry out activities for the purchase and sale of goods, as well as the provision of services, import or export activities and maintain relations with the Government or financial institutions, must be registered before the General Directorate of Revenues in order to Obtain its Taxpayer Identification Number (RUC).
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