Since November 26, the Guatemalan authorities have the power to access taxpayers' bank information for tax purposes, so they can now corroborate that the bank income of companies coincide with the payment of their taxes.
After the resolution of the Constitutional Court was published in the Diario de Centroamérica on November 25, in which the appeal of unconstitutionality filed by Escalas Mercantiles S.A., which was intended to prevent the authorities from having access to the banking information of companies and individuals, the law that empowers the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT) to investigate taxpayers has come into effect.
As a result of the elimination of banking secrecy in Guatemala, the business sector announces that it will be alert to "respect due process and the confidentiality of taxpayers.
One year after having suspended access to taxpayers' bank information for fiscal purposes, at the beginning of August the Constitutional Court ruled definitively and revoked the suspension, so that in the coming weeks the changes will begin to apply.
One year after the suspension of taxpayers' access to bank information for tax purposes, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court ruled definitively and revoked the suspension.
The exemption of fines, interest and surcharges will will be in effect from May 20 and will last for three months for all taxpayers, whether natural or legal.
Diario de Centroamérica reports that "...The Agreement establishes terms to obtain between 100% and 90% exemptions.From that account, taxpayers who pay all their debts within the first month will receive a 100% reduction in fines, interest or surcharges; 95% for those paying in the second month, and 90% for the third month."
As part of an audit plan which will start this year and will include access to banking information, the tax authority will be verifying transactions of real estate sales.
From 2014 to 2015 the size of central governments remained constant at an average 18.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).
From the introduction of the report: "Macrofiscal Profiles: 6th Edition" by the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (Icefi):
2015 proved to be a period of low tax advance for the Central American region. On average, the size of central governments remained constant compared to 2014, at 18.5% of gross domestic product (GDP). However, not all nations maintained this trend in the same way. While the governments of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and El Salvador, some of the largest fiscally in the region, continued to increase their participation in the economy, reporting increases of 1.5, 0.7 and 0.7% of GDP, respectively, the Government of Guatemala - one of the smallest in the world became even smaller, being reduced by 1.2% of GDP. For its part, the Government of Honduras reported a small decrease of 0.2% of GDP, fully converged with its policy of fiscal austerity, while that of Panama had a transient contraction of 1.4%, reflecting a reorganization established by the new administration and that, according to the plans for 2016, will be reversed in full.
Legal tax engineering is a mandatory business practice for anyone who wants to be competitive in today's globalized world, and only those who are not entrepreneurs can afford to refuse to acknowledge this fact.
EDITORIAL
With the same firmness that we criticize businesspeople who evade taxes or bribe officials to get a contract, we must defend every business practice which is framed within the law to pursue the best use of available resources to generate wealth through the production of goods and services, which is what businesses do.
The new head of the Superintendency of Banks intends to resume the discussion in Congress of a bill which would regulate banking secrecy in the country by way of tax audits.
With the aim of improving tax controls, the Superintendency of Banks (SIB) seeks to reform national legislation for the regulation of banking secrecy in order to access "... Banking information of taxpayers, under guarantees of confidentiality."
Port authorities have to provide information to the Superintendency of Tax Administration regarding the goods and containers in their custody.
The Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT ) of Guatemala has issued a number of provisions establishing the data that must be provided - and kept up to date - by electronic transmission.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has released a plan for the design of international standards to prevent abuse of rules such as the one that lets companies avoid paying taxes in two countries.
Nacion.com reports that "The secretary general of the OECD, Miguel Angel Gurría, accompanied by the G20 finance ministers, today in Moscow presented an ambitious plan to combat the shortcomings of countries tax systems and halting tax evasion by multinationals. "
Mario Brol Samayoa has been convicted of money laundering, tax fraud, special case of tax fraud and customs fraud.
According to investigations by the Prosecutor, Brol Samayoa exported gasoline to countries such as Taiwan, Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, without paying Value Added Tax (VAT). "Because of this fraud the government failed to receive $91 million," according to the Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT) ".
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