For the possible commission of the crime of Tax Fraud, the Superintendence of Tax Administration intervened the commercial company J.I. Cohen.
The intervention was authorized by the Pluripersonal Court of First Criminal Instance in Tax and Customs Matters of the Municipality and Department of Guatemala, informed the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT).
In Panama, a bill that establishes exemptions for those natural and legal persons specialized in the operation of industrial recycling plants was approved in the third debate.
The purpose of this new regulatory framework is to stimulate with environmental tax benefits the establishment of recycling companies, which do not exist in Panama, seen as an ideal process to end the problem of garbage accumulation in the country, informed the National Assembly.
After the Mayor of Alajuela filed an action of unconstitutionality in Costa Rica to revert the exoneration of real estate taxes applicable to free trade zones, the business sector believes that legal certainty is being undermined.
On March 16, 2021 Humberto Soto, Mayor of the municipality of Alajuela, filed an action of unconstitutionality. This legal recourse has the objective of reverting the exemption that free zones enjoy for the payment of the real estate tax.
The National Assembly approved in third debate the bill that extends until December 31 of this year the validity of the tax amnesty, which initially arose in 2019.
The extension of a fourth General Tax Amnesty, which arose in 2019, approved, in third debate, the National Assembly and represents a savings of US$29 million to taxpayers, says an official source.
Chang y Compania and Mag Alcoholes, are two companies that during March were audited by local authorities, after the detection of the possible crime of tax and customs fraud.
Representatives of the Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria (SAT) informed that on March 10, the Juzgado Pluripersonal de Primera Instancia Penal en Materia Tributaria y Aduanera ("Pluripersonal Court of First Criminal Instance in Tax and Customs Matters") ordered the intervention of the company Mag Alcoholes, and on March 22, the Juzgado Quinto de Primera Instancia Penal ("Fifth Court of First Criminal Instance") ordered the intervention of the warehouse Chang y Compania.
By submitting to the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly a new text of the dual global income bill, the Alvarado administration intends to guarantee the tax exemptions that companies operating in the free trade zone regime already benefit from.
The dual global income bill that was sent last January 22 to the Assembly created confusion among the deputies.
Following the entry into force of the Sign Law, agencies engaged in providing printed advertising services estimate that the cost of billboards will increase by 30% due to the new tax payments to be made to the municipalities.
According to the Assembly, the purpose of the Law is to establish the legal framework to regulate the advertising and propaganda carried out by means of signs located in the municipalities of the country, based on urban, suburban and rural planning and development, as well as technological advances.
The Legislative Assembly is preparing to consider, in the first debate, a bill aimed at exempting inactive companies from the obligation to file an income tax return.
The file of this legislative proposal is number 22,307 and was presented by Deputy Pablo Heriberto Abarca. The initiative will be discussed in the Assembly, despite the opposition of the Ministry of Finance.
For the first time, the country's Courts of Justice sentenced six people to 10 years in prison for tax fraud against the Public Treasury, a sentence that corresponds to the case of a clothing importing company that defrauded over $575,000.
Carlos Vargas, general director of Taxation, indicated that during 16 years the taxpayer who was condemned used all the procedural guarantees until the last instance.
In order to tax the total amount of profits of individuals or corporations based in Costa Rica, regardless of where their profits are generated, a bill was submitted to the Assembly that seeks to amend the Income Tax Law.
Currently in Costa Rica a territorial income system is applied, which consists of taxing profits produced exclusively at the local level. If the Income Tax Law is modified, the situation could change.
In view of the emergency arising from the spread of covid-19, a bill was submitted to the Assembly proposing a 90-calendar-day suspension of the payment of municipal and national taxes.
The initiative also establishes the suspension for 90 days of the payment of electricity and drinking water, as well as mortgage and personal loans, among others, reported the National Assembly.
The reform proposal to Nicaragua's Energy Stability Law contemplates the elimination of the tax on the purchase and sale of electricity for users who generate their own energy and decide to market their surpluses.
On November 21, the Ortega administration sent to the National Assembly the initiative, which seeks to exonerate from the marketing tax, generators who sell their surplus electricity to Disnorte-Dissur.
A proposal is made to amend the law in order to limit the granting of criminal dispensation to one time only when the amount of the tax obligation defrauded is paid before the first instance sentence or during the investigation phase.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) will soon present a project to modify article No. 288-J of Law No. 70 dated January 2019, a proposal that is supported by the business sector.
Costa Rica is discussing a bill that proposes to charge an additional 0.5% on all premiums and prohibits deducting from income tax the 4% collected to finance the Fire Brigade.
For the directors of the Association of Private Insurers (AAP), the approval of the National Statistical System Bill, which is being discussed in the country's Congress, would put companies in trouble and cause a contraction in growth.
Although at the request of the business sector, President Varela vetoed the bill establishing an 8% tax on local and imported sugary beverages, Panama's National Assembly will insist on approving it.
The National Assembly approved in third session the new taxes, however, the business sector asked the Panamanian president at the end of February 2019 to veto the bill, which establishes a tax of 8% for sugared drinks of national production and imported and 10% for syrups and concentrates.