Executive will put an end to the use of “ghost invoices”

As part of the legislative powers granted by Congress, the Executive Branch approved a series of measures to promote voluntary compliance with tax, customs and non-tax obligations of taxpayers, as well as to combat evasion.

In that sense, as part of the fight against evasion, a procedure will be implemented to identify taxpayers who issue receipts or tax documents but do not show they have economic resourcesfinancial or material that justify it, known as “ghost invoices”.

In this regard, the Minister of Economy, Oscar Grahamexplained that there is a large number of non-real operations that occur under current legislation and the efforts of the tax administration to combat said practice of evasion are insufficient.

Therefore, these taxpayers will be attributed the status of “subject without operational capacity”, and under that label, the receipts they issue may not be used to generate tax credits or any other benefit derived from the IGV in favor of their clients. Nor may they be used as part of the costs and expenses for Income Tax purposes.

Profile system

Another approved measure revolves around the creation of the compliance profiles system, through which Sunat will assign a rating to each taxpayer considering aspects such as the frequency and amounts of their tax payments, timeliness in the presentation of information, and if they maintain coercive debts, etc.

“The best qualified taxpayers will have access to advantageous tax conditions, such as not presenting guarantees in case they request installments, and access to special schedules for their declarations and payments., among others. On the other hand, the worst-qualified taxpayers will be required greater guarantees, and will face periodic controls and audits,” noted Graham.

Once implemented, Sunat will notify taxpayers of the ratings. This data will be accessible by third parties through its institutional portal, and in the event of disagreement, taxpayers will have 10 business days to submit their objections.

Along these lines, the head of the MEF recognized that the initiative will favor punctual taxpayers, considering that Sunat used in recent years mechanisms to “generate risks to those who fail to comply” – read, sanctions – and provide facilities to good taxpayers, but “no improvements were observed in the levels of compliance.” It is there where the profiles system will optimize the use of resources in the examination.

returns

Finally, it was approved to establish as a general rule that, when appropriate, the tax refunds that Sunat makes to taxpayers, these are made through payment in current or savings account in national currency in the entities of the financial system or in the Bank of the Nation.

“This measure will allow both Sunat and taxpayers not to assume the high costs generated by the use of the modalities in force until today for tax refunds, such as issuance processes and interbank transfers,” Graham concluded.