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.
In order to update the Intergovernmental Agreement for the Effectiveness of the Tax Compliance Law on Foreign Accounts, signed by both parties in 2013, the governments of both countries signed a complementary agreement to FATCA.
According to the Ministry of Finance of Costa Rica, with the subscription of the complementary agreement, the legal basis of the FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) will be updated with the provisions of the Agreement with the Government of the United States of America for the exchange of information on tax matters, which will enter into force next September.
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.
Arguing that the country did not implement the reforms to which it had committed itself within the agreed time frame, the European Union decided to include it again in its list of non-cooperating territories in fiscal matters.
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.
In Costa Rica, the Legislative Assembly approved in first debate a bill to avoid fines for errors in the declaration of the shareholders' registry for two months.
In its first debate, the file 21,758 Law of Moratorium for the Application of Sanctions corresponding to the ordinary declaration of the 2019 period, related to the transparency and final beneficiaries’ registry, provided for in the Law to Improve the Fight against Tax Fraud, was approved. The initiative gives an extension for shareholders of corporations to submit their lists, before applying sanctions, reported the Legislative Assembly.
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).
An agreement was signed to create a working group on fiscal and financial transparency cooperation, with the aim of removing Panama from the French list of non-cooperating countries in tax matters.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance of Panama reported that the working group will contribute to strengthening cooperation, improving the exchange of fiscal information, promoting financial transparency and the fight against money laundering, focusing on finding more efficient mechanisms and practices for the exchange of information for fiscal purposes, within the framework of the provisions of the tax agreements in force between the parties, including all aspects of the process, from the preparation and sending, to the receipt and response of requests for exchange of information.
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.
Arguing that the country "fulfils all its commitments in terms of fiscal cooperation", the European Union decided to remove it from its list of nations and territories considered as non-cooperative.
Albania, Costa Rica, Mauritius, Serbia and Switzerland have implemented, ahead of schedule, all the reforms necessary to comply with the principles of good tax governance of the European Union (EU).
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