Just one week after the new government took office and announced the economic and social emergency, the bill sent by the Executive to Congress, called solidarity and productive reactivation, has generated various reactions. On this occasion, reference will be made to the most relevant points related to foreign trade.
Transactions, imports and exports
Article 1 of the project establishes the declaration of a public emergency that covers issues related to the fiscal situation and, obviously, related to international trade in terms of its impact on transactions, imports and exports.
Delegation of powers to the EP
Next, and in line with the above, Article 2 makes a consideration regarding the bases for delegating powers to the EP, with the aim of encouraging productive activities and regularizing tax and customs debts.
SMEs
This brings us to Title IV of the project, which legislates on the regularization of tax obligations, highlighting what concerns here customs tax debts, mainly of SMEs; which may request to be incorporated into a regularization regime of their debts that includes forgiveness of interest and fines, for which they must comply with the requirements detailed in art. 8; provided that the fines in the case of those applied in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Code, are not final at the time of seeking to be incorporated into the regularization regime (paragraph a)
However, in the following paragraphs, the incorporation into refinancing is allowed for SMEs that obtain the Mipyme certificate at the time of publication of this regime, thus including debts from expired plans linked to additional charges for import and export taxes and settlements of taxes corresponding to infractions and amounts that should be returned to the treasury; although obligations arising as a consequence of infractions linked to regimes that grant tax benefits are not included here.
Article 10 then determines that compliance with this regime implies the suspension of ongoing customs criminal proceedings that do not have a final judgment. In such cases, the cancellation of debts will result in the extinction of the customs criminal action. In the case of customs violations, the extinction of actions and penalties will proceed with the total cancellation of the debt. Failure to comply with the payment facility plan will result in the resumption of criminal actions and the calculation of the statute of limitations.
Art. 11 determines a series of conditions to be taken into account for all subjects who wish to join the regime provided for, and it is convenient to expressly transcribe what is indicated there.
ARTICLE 11. – The following exemptions and/or pardons are established, with general scope, for subjects who are subject to the exceptional regularization regime provided for in this Chapter and as long as they comply with the payments provided for in the previous article:
- a) Fines and other sanctions provided for in Law No. 11.683 (to 1998) and its amendments, in Law No. 17.250 and its amendments, in Law No. 22.161 and its amendments and in Law No. 22.415 (Customs Code) and its amendments, which are not final on the date of acceptance of the regularization regime provided for in this Chapter;
- b) ONE HUNDRED PERCENT (100%) of the compensatory and/or punitive interest provided for in articles 37 and 52 of Law No. 11.683 (to 1998) and its amendments of the capital owed and attached to the regularization regime corresponding to the personal contribution provided for in article 10, paragraph c) of Law No. 24.241 and its amendments, of the self-employed workers included in article 2, paragraph b) of the aforementioned legal norm;
- (c) Of the compensatory and/or punitive interest provided for in articles 37, 52 and 168 of Law No. 11.683 (to 1998) and its amendments, the compensatory and/or punitive interest on fines and customs taxes (including amounts that should be returned to the national treasury as export incentives) provided for in articles 794, 797, 845 and 924 of Law No. 22.415 (Customs Code) in the amount that, by total interest, exceeds the percentage established below for each case:
- Fiscal period 2018 and monthly obligations due as of November 30, 2019: TEN PERCENT (10%) of the capital owed.
- Fiscal periods 2016 and 2017: TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT (25%) of the capital owed 3. Fiscal periods 2014 and 2015, FIFTY PERCENT (50%) of the capital owed
- Fiscal periods 2013 and prior, SEVENTY PERCENT (70%) of the capital owed
The above are just some of the highlights of this project related to foreign trade activities and customs operations, in terms of taxpayers who are in situations of customs debts and customs proceedings and who can be incorporated into the payment facilities in the manner proposed by this project. To do so, specific cases must be considered and the feasibility of each particular matter must be studied to determine the pertinent legal possibilities that assist them.
By: Dr. Guillermo Sueldo
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
