AFIP will order credit card companies to act as withholding agents, according to the head of the agency, Alberto Abad. For now, it is unknown whether digital companies will pass on the new tax cost to the price of their products.
Argentina's Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) announced that it will begin charging taxes to digital service platforms such as Netflix (movies), Spotify (music) or Airbnb (accommodation).
The tax authority will order credit cards to act as withholding agents, as explained by the head of the organization, Alberto Abad, during a press conference he gave in the province of Córdoba. For now, it is unknown whether digital companies will transfer the new tax cost to the price of their products.
"The intermediary disappears, and whoever brings the two ends together makes a big deal. The cable channel that competes with this service pays taxes, so why not a platform?" said Abad.In our view, the element that unites all this is the dematerialization of the tax base.. Where do we charge Netflix? Where do we charge Uber? Where do we charge Airbnb? This has an impact on the financing of countries, and financing is associated with the quality of life of citizens," said the head of the AFIP when referring to the problem of taxing this type of companies and intangible products.
At the end of 2014, the government of the Buenos aires city The company won the legal battle and imposed a 3% tax on the purchase price of their products on Netflix, Spotify and other companies that provide services in the country but do not pay taxes because they are based abroad, as an advance payment of Gross Income Tax. It has been in effect since February 2015.
Last December, the Legislature of the province of Santa Fe The law approved the collection of a 3.6% tax on gross income from companies that sell audiovisual entertainment electronically, including Netflix. 25% of the amount collected is allocated to the development of the province's culturally-based industries. Rubén Galassi, a socialist provincial deputy and author of the initiative, based the decision on the fact that corporations such as Netflix are "multinationals that do not generate jobs in the country and do not pay a single cent" in taxes in the province. "With this law, the provincial Executive is authorized to establish mechanisms so that these types of companies also pay taxes."
En United StatesPlatforms such as Netflix pay taxes in Pennsylvania, Chicago and Minnesota, for example, with a fee ranging from 6% to 9%; several Canadian cities also do so.
Source: Telam
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