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 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.
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.
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."
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 this scenario of economic crisis, falling tax revenues and the need to finance recovery programs, in Guatemala and Costa Rica it is already proposed to increase current taxes and create new ones.
Guatemalan authorities are already beginning to discuss the fiscal policy they will apply in 2021, when the economy will have to face the effects of the economic crisis generated by the covid-19 outbreak.
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.
Facing the proposal of the authorities to abolish the banking secrecy in the country, businessmen of the industrial sector are opposed, because they argue that there are already legal procedures in the country to do it through a judge.
At a press conference on February 11, Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves defended the proposal to access sensitive information from taxpayers and said that by lifting banking secrecy they were seeking to tackle tax evasion.
The Central American country was excluded from Russia's list of nations that do not exchange information for tax purposes, on which it had been on since 2016.
The confirmation announcement was made by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov during the presentation of the credentials of Panama's new ambassador to the Russian Federation, Efrain Villarreal, reported the Panamanian Foreign Ministry.
The French government reported that it removed Guatemala from the list of countries that do not cooperate with the exchange of fiscal information, but kept Panama.
The European country's authorities reported that Guatemala was removed from the list because it ratified the convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
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.
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.
One year after the suspension of taxpayers' access to bank information for tax purposes, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court ruled definitively and revoked the suspension.
Since April 21, the agreement that avoids double taxation and mitigates its effects has been in force, as well as helping to eliminate barriers to trade and prevent tax evasion.
On March 21, Law 9644 was published in La Gaceta, corresponding to the agreement between the Republic of Costa Rica and the United Mexican States, which avoids the double taxation of income and wealth taxes.
The Panamanian government assures that if the law that criminalizes tax evasion is not approved, the country will be exposed to enter the FATF grey list again in 2019.
From the Ministry of Economy and Finance press release:
The Ministry of Economy and Finance considers that it is necessary for Panama that the National Assembly approve the law that increases tax evasion to a criminal offence and as a precedent for money laundering.