Within the framework of the fiscal adjustment being discussed in El Salvador in order to sign an agreement with the IMF, local authorities intend to apply VAT, ISR and other specific taxes to companies that sell their products and services online.
At the beginning of March, the Ministry of Finance informed that El Salvador is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain a loan of approximately $1.3 billion.
After IC Power Asia Development sued the Guatemalan State for violating its rights under the Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Guatemalan government.
On February 20, 2018, the Israeli entity IC Power Asia Development LTD. (former owner of Energuate) sued the State of Guatemala as a result of an inspection carried out by the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT), to verify the liquidation of Income Tax (ISR), informed the Ministry of Economy (Mineco).
In order to access the $1.75 billion credit requested from the IMF, the Costa Rican government proposes to tax financial transactions, increase the tax on the profits of companies and individuals, and increase the tax on real estate.
On the afternoon of September 17, and in the context of a severe economic crisis that had been going on since before the beginning of the pandemic, the Alvarado administration presented the plan with which it intends to mitigate the fiscal impact of the Covid-19 crisis, a proposal to negotiate an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain a credit of $1.75 billion.
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 order to give individuals and corporations the opportunity to catch up with this obligation interrupted by the pandemic, authorities extended until July 17 the deadline for declaring income tax payments.
The term to cancel this commitment with the Panamanian State expired on March 31, 2020, and an extension was added until May 30, given the circumstances with the effects of covid-19, the difficulties presented by many companies and the time needed by public accountants to submit such statements, explained the representatives of the General Directorate of Revenue (DGI).
Faced with the health crisis affecting the Salvadoran economy, businessmen from the industrial sector asked the government to postpone income tax declarations until June 2020.
Another of the specific requests of the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists (ASI), is the prompt refund to exporters of Value Added Tax, through Treasury Notes.
In Costa Rica, modifications to the salary tax brackets establish that income of up to $1,394 will be exempt from collection of the tax, and those exceeding $1,394 and up to $2,046 will pay 10%.
On June 25, the Ministry of Finance published in La Gaceta the new income tax brackets to be applied to salaries between July 1 and September 30, 2019.
The publication details that the tranches will remain like this:
Until April 26 will be in public consultation the regulations of the Income Tax Law in Costa Rica.
From the Ministry of Finance statement:
April 12, 2019. As was done with the first proposal of the regulation to the Law of Value Added Tax (VAT), the Ministry of Finance made available on its website, the first draft of the project "Modifications and Additions to the Income Tax Law Regulation", which regulates Title II of the Law to Strengthen Finance, No. 9635, of December 3, 2018.
In Honduras, rebates and discounts applied to sales should be detailed on the invoice, a change with which the business sector would disagree if the government decides to collect taxes on the discounted amount.
On March 1, the changes to the invoices, which were imposed by Agreement 817-2018, came into effect. Among them, it is important to note that the fields for discounts and rebates must be included in the format of the document.
In the midst of Nicaragua's political and economic crisis, the National Assembly approved a tax reform that increases the income tax of large taxpayers from 1% to 3%.
On the morning of February 27th, the reform of the Tax Concentration Law was approved, which also contemplates raising from 1% to 2% the income tax for medium sized companies with higher incomes.
Reducing the income tax exemption threshold for individuals, increasing property taxes and raising VAT from 13% to 15% is part of the institution's proposal, arguing that in the country "the tax/GDP ratio is relatively low."
In the medium term, the positive effects on confidence and progress of structural reforms, including those related to OECD membership, should reduce risk premia and stimulate investment, boosting growth to 3.25%, reported the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In Nicaragua, the government plans to increase employer, labor, and state Social Security contributions, and to approve a tax reform that would increase taxes for medium and large companies.
Although the country has been in a serious economic and political crisis since April 2018, when the government tried to implement reforms to the Nicaraguan Institute of Social Security (INSS), the Ortega administration is once again trying to make changes to the institution, this time through an administrative resolution.
The new tax reform proposal presented by the Ministry of Finance of Costa Rica includes the creation of a global income system to impose and collect a tax on the profits of companies and individuals.
Taxing all of the profits of natural and legal persons, including those currently paid separately by the identity code income method, is the principal new feature of the new tax reform plan presented by the Ministry of Finance.
In Costa Rica, the new proposal from the Solis administration's imposes tax on a greater amount of goods and services, such as air tickets, books, packaging and bottling, but with differentiated rates.
As the government's initial idea to convert the sales tax into a value-added tax and raise it from 13% to 15% did not prosper, the Ministry of Finance decided to expand the range of goods and services to be taxed, in order to compensate part of the funds that could not be raised from raising the rate from 13% to 15%.
On average, companies in the region pay 45.8% tax on profits, while companies in OECD countries pay 41%.
From the study Evolution of the fiscal situation in Central America, by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the Central American Isthmus (FECAMCO):
FECAMCO has carried out a study with the objective of showing the fiscal situation in Central American countries and raising awareness in governments about the efficient use of taxes that are collected from the payment of citizens to guarantee solvency of the states.
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