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."
After the announcement of the intention to increase the tax on the distribution of cement and fuel in Guatemala, businessmen believe that in this scenario of incipient economic recovery it is not a good idea to increase the tax burden.
In order to face the effects of the economic crisis generated by the covid-19 outbreak, Guatemalan authorities are already beginning to discuss the fiscal policy to be applied in 2021.
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.
Guatemala's private sector filed a legal action against the Superintendence of Tax Administration, arguing that the entity had indicated that it would defer tax collection if the restrictions remained in place, but did not do so.
Implementing a rescue plan in which SAT makes tax collections more flexible and IGSS assists employees is part of the proposal of Guatemalan businessmen in the commercial and service sector, given the crisis that has been generated by the health emergency.
The Superintendence of Tax Administration declared the days between March 24 and April 14 as non-working days for the purposes of calculating the periods established in the tax legislation.
On March 24, Resolution of the Superintendence of Tax Administration Number SAT-DSI-280-2020 was published in the Official Journal, in which the days of March 24, 25, 26, 27, 30 and 31, 2020, and April 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13 and 14, 2020, inclusive, were declared non-working days for purposes of deferring the computation of the terms established in the tax legislation and the internal administrative procedures of this entity.
The Legislative Assembly approved in second debate a bill that aims to tax in the country the sale and self-consumption of imported or locally produced cement.
The initiative, which was approved in the first debate in the Assembly in mid-February and is still pending approval by the Executive Branch, establishes that the tax will be on imported cement produced nationally, in bags or in bulk, for sale or self-consumption, of any kind, whose destination is the consumption and marketing of the product nationally.
In order for Guatemalan producers to compete under the same conditions as neighboring countries, the government is preparing a bill that seeks to exempt agricultural inputs from VAT.
The initiative, known as the "Fiscal Equity Law", is being prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (Maga), because, according to the institution's top official, other Central American countries do not charge value-added tax (VAT) on agricultural inputs.
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).
In Guatemala, the Superintendence of Tax Administration completed the computer development phase of the platform, which will manage the new Electronic Regime for the Return of Tax Credit.
This computer development includes the registration for exporters who wish to adhere to this new Regime, as well as the implementation of the Electronic Form for Request for Return of Tax Credit Electronic Special Regime (SAT-2251), informed Agexport.
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.
The Guatemalan Congress approved a bill that contemplates the creation of a special tax regime for agricultural activity.
Although this bill was involved in controversy days ago, as the chambers of industry and commerce expressed their opposition, Congress decided to approve the bill. See full bill.
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.
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