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.
In Guatemala, the chambers of industry and commerce oppose the bill that proposes to create a special tax regime for agricultural activity.
The project "Law on Simplification, Updating and Tax Incorporation", which has been in Congress for more than two years, was scheduled for final discussion until September 10. See full bill.
Experts and authorities believe that the ruling by the Guatemalan Constitutional Court revoking the suspension preventing access to taxpayers' bank information for fiscal purposes could be reversed with another legal action.
In recent days, the issue has become more relevant in the country, because after a year of being suspended access to banking information for tax purposes, on August 6 the Constitutional Court finally ruled, authorizing the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT) to review the accounts of taxpayers.
One year after the suspension of taxpayers' access to bank information for tax purposes, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court ruled definitively and revoked the suspension.
Although poor social indicators and a low tax burden are a threat to the country's progress, for Fitch the Guatemalan economy has the capacity to overcome external adversities.
After the last visit of Fitch Ratings to Guatemala, representatives of the rating agency expressed the opinion that health, education and security indicators, together with the tax situation, are issues that should concern the country.
Calendar of payments of obligations corresponding to December 2018 and tax memorandum on the data update before the Superintendence of Tax Administration.
Tax calendar of obligations corresponding to December 2018:
Friday, 14th
Monthly Income Tax withholdings for Employees
Friday, 14th
Withholdings on income from real estate and furniture (interest)
Starting next month, companies and individual taxpayers in Guatemala will be able to enroll in the online electronic billing system, which for the moment is not mandatory.
This year the Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT), created an agreement which makes available to all taxpayers the ability to issue of Electronic Tax Documents (DTE) such as invoices, debit and credit notes, receipts and other documents authorized by the institution.
"Public debt in terms of simple average for the Central American region will continue growing, reaching 43.1% of GDP in 2018, after having registered 42.5% in 2017."
The Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (Icefi) estimates that for the current year the size of public expenditure of the Central Government in relation to the respective Gross Domestic Product of each country will be 21.4% in Costa Rica, 20.4% in El Salvador, 20% in Honduras, 18.4% in Nicaragua, 17.6% in Panama and 12.1% in Guatemala.
Calendar of payment of obligations corresponding to the month of July 2018 and tax memorandum on the classification as an expense of the ISO when it is paid extemporaneously.
From a memorandum by Tezó y Asociados:
In the course of 2017 and so far in 2018, the Superintendency of Tax Administration-SAT- has published on its website newsletters entitled "Institutional Tax Criteria" stating that it is doing so in order to facilitate compliance with theobligations of taxpayers.For this purpose, it is conducting dialogues with the participation of taxpayers, Audit Firms, Law Firms, etc.In one of those meetings, the participants presented, according to the respective bulletin, their differentpositions, doubts, comments and observations regarding the operation of the Solidarity Tax Solidarity -ISO- mainly in terms of its form of accreditation and the most frequent cases in which different points of view and criteria have been given by theparticipants.As a result of this activity, the SAT issued the Institutional Tax CriteriaNo. 3-2017 with the title "Forms of Accreditation of Solidarity Tax.
Calendar of payment of obligations corresponding to March 2018 and Tax Memorandum on how and when to use credit notes.
From a tax memorandum by Tezó y Asociados:
The VAT Law establishes that in specific cases, duly justified and in order toprovide taxpayers with timely compliance with their tax obligations, the Tax Administration is able to authorize, at the request of theTaxpayer, the issuance of other documents, additional to the Credit Notes that document returns, cancellations or discounts on operations already paid for.
Calendar of payments for obligations corresponding to February 2018 and Tax Memorandum on the regulations on factoring.
From a memorandum by Tezó y Asociados :
In the Diario de Centro América dated February 22, 2018, Decree number 1-2018 was publishedwhich contains the Law on Factoring and Discount Contracts, whichwill be in force from August 22, 2018.
The ICEFI states that the proposed reforms to the Free Zones Law in Guatemala encourage a public investment model based on tax privileges for specific groups of companies.
The Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (Icefi) reiterates its arguments against continuing an obsolete and ineffective model of attracting public investment based on tax privileges for specific groups of companies and encourages the initiation of the discussion on a general investment law. For this reason, it does not recommend to the Congress of the Republic the approval of the reforms to the Law on Free Zones contained in the legal initiative with the registry number 5174.
Calendar of payment of obligations corresponding to January 2018 and Tax Memorandum on the Administrative Labor Penalty Procedure.
From a Memorandum sent by Tezó and Associates:
Considering that the Labor Code, as of June 6, 2017, includes an administrative sanction procedure that has as its object the correction forbreach of the obligations established in the legislation in force in the matter ofwork, security and social welfare and that is the responsibility of the General Inspection of Work; The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare issued Ministerial AgreementNumber 285-2017, published in the Diario de Centro América on January 18, 2018.
Calendar of payments of obligations corresponding to December 2017 and Tax Memorandum on the minimum wages in effect as of January of this year.
From a Memorandum sent by Tezó and Associates:
On December 29, 2017, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare published Government Agreement No. 297-2017 in the Diario de Centro América, whereby the new minimum wages for agricultural, non-agricultural and export and maquila activities are established, effective as of January 1, 2018.