In order to force companies to comply with the payment of taxes on sales made through electronic channels, as of June 2021 SAT will begin to use a digital platform that will analyze the information that appears on social networks.
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
The restrictions on mobility decreed during 2020 due to the outbreak of covid-19 and the change in consumption habits, boosted the growth of online sales in the Guatemalan market.
In July of last year, the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT) had already advanced that it would focus on the inspection of digital sales channels.
With the beginning of the new year, SAT has confirmed that it is preparing actions to collect sales taxes online.
Werner Ovalle, Customs Intendant of SAT, said to Prensalibre.com that through a platform "... we will analyze the information that appears in social networks, considering that electronic commerce is increasing. With this information that the program tracks -platform- it seeks to confirm that the supplier or distributor companies are paying their tax obligations, and that the goods that entered this article with some declaration, when it comes to imported goods."
The article adds that "... This will be the first initiative, which will be regulating and controlling electronic commerce in Guatemala, and will be in charge of the Inspection and Customs Intentions, and together they will create the foreign trade inspection department -exports and imports-."
Once the required foreign trade information is available, an audit of the taxpayer will be formulated. The audit would be focused on the reported movements, the declarations, and that their income and earnings are in accordance with the law, if they are foreign merchandise they are covered by the declarations, explained Ovalle.
Within the framework of the fiscal adjustment being discussed in El Salvador in order to sign an agreement with the IMF, local authorities intend to apply VAT, ISR and other specific taxes to companies that sell their products and services online.
At the beginning of March, the Ministry of Finance informed that El Salvador is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain a loan of approximately $1.3 billion.
Investing in automatic learning systems to offer the most appropriate products for each consumer and to strengthen the relationship between customers and manufacturers, are strategies that could improve the income of online stores.
With the arrival of a new commercial reality, e-commerce passed from being the future of several businesses, to the present of companies dedicated to the commercialization of all types of products and services.
After inconsistencies were detected between purchases reported by taxpayers and sales that the company declared to the tax authority, an investigation was initiated in Guatemala into the "La Barata" supermarket chain.
During the morning of December 7, representatives of the Public Ministry (MP) and the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT), held a press conference in which they explained some details about a new case of alleged tax fraud by the chain of stores "La Barata."
The Superintendence of Tax Administration announced that it will audit companies that pay less than the sector average, that do not invoice and that have sales in different social networks.
The country's tax authority has turned its attention to online commerce, since in this new business context and change in consumption habits, Internet sales have increased exponentially.
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