From May 2019, foreign customers will have to declare to local system banks that their funds meet their country's tax requirements.
The Superintendence of Banks of Panama (SBP) approved Agreement 02-2019, which implements the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, which consists of expanding the required due diligence measures of banks with their customers.
The tax burden grew from 13.4% in 2013 to 14% in 2016, both due to the delayed effect of the tax reforms in Honduras and Nicaragua, as well as better management on the part of tax entities in Guatemala and Panama.
From the Regional Economic Report (IER) 2016-2017: Opportunities and challenges for Central America, by the SIECA:
In 2016, the ratio between total expenditure of central governments of the countries of the region and GDP remained almost unchanged from the previous year, going from 18.3% to 18.6%.
From the report "Macroeconomic Profiles: 8th edition", from the Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (Icefi):
The Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (Icefi) presented its most recent edition of the Macro-Fiscal Profiles of Central America, which contains an analysis of the fiscal situation of Central America and each of the countries of the region, at the end of fiscal year 2016, as well as the main lines contained in the budgets approved for 2017.The publication includes in this opportunity a revision to the main indicators related to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Objectives 2030 -ODS 2030- and raises the urgent need to make progress in a new fiscal agenda that allows the effective attention of these commitments in the short term.
The countries facing the greatest risk of fiscal unsustainability within three years are El Salvador and Honduras, followed by Costa Rica and with less risk, Nicaragua and Panama.
From the "EconomicOutlook"section of the V Report on the State of the Region 2016:
The pressure being put on Panama in the international context has finally forced it to make agreements to exchange tax information, with the most noteworthy being the agreement with Colombia because of the negative implications it has for the Panamanian banking sector.
Prensa.com reports that "...According to the Superintendency of Banks of Panama, at the end of 2015, deposits in the international banking center of Panama from Colombia totaled $6.251 billion, with the South American country being the main center for funds originating from foreign sources. "
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.
While the Northern Triangle countries strive to reduce or at least maintain constant levels of debt / GDP, Costa Rica and Panama move further away from fiscal discipline, the former at the greatest pace.
From the introduction of a report entitled "Macrofiscal Profiles : 4th Edition." by the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (Icefi):
As the region gets ready to start complying with the US law FATCA, OECD countries are already working on a Single Global Standard for automatic exchange of information.
FATCA could now be joined by the European OECD countries Single Global Standard for Automatic Clearing of CRS Information (Gatca), "... allowing tax information on their residents to be shared between them."
Many of the officials working in Central American governments are annoyed at the idea of the information they handle being accessible to citizens, and one way or another, they are impeding its availability.
EDITORIAL
"- Send a letter to Mrs Fulana, the person in charge of authorizing the release of information you have requested, stating the reasons for your request".
All of the OECD countries and others such as Costa Rica have agreed to the automatic exchange of tax information.
From a statement issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD ):
Paris, May 6, 2014
Bank secrecy for tax purposes is coming to an end because countries, along with major financial centers have committed to the automatic exchange of information between jurisdictions.
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. "
The Tax Justice Network of Central America is proposing the elimination or reduction of these incentives, which are equivalent to 4%-6% of the region's GDP.
According to the director of the Social Forum on External Debt and Development of Honduras (Fosdeh), Maurice Bourdet, a member of the Tax Justice Network of Central America (RCJF), governments in the region "are thinking about how to carry on being tax havens, which does nothing to help reduce inequalities. "
The project aims to encourage information sharing in order to strengthen measures to prevent money laundering by the drug trade.
Argentina's tax authority (AFIP in Spanish), proposed that a multi-lateral tax information agreement be implemented, which could be adopted by Central American countries and others in Latin America, if it is approved by the Inter-American Tax Administration Center (CIAT in Spanish).
The country known for its canal is making progress toward its objective to sign at least 12 DTA in order to comply with the OECD requirements and come off the organization's list of tax havens.
Signing double taxation agreements (DTAs) has the added benefit that it may make it easier for the countries with which the information sharing agreements are reached to invest in Panama.
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