Independent professionals and heads of sole proprietorships complain about the obligation to declare invoices only for specific items. The SIN assures that the rule is complied with transparently.
At the doors of the offices of the National Tax Service (SIN), on 20 de Octubre street in La Paz, some 30 people in line protect themselves from the intense sun with the umbrellas they used just before for the rain. Most of them are "independent taxpayers" and wait their turn with doubts and complaints.
"I closed 2020 the NIT that I opened as an independent professional and it turns out that yesterday I get a notification saying that I have high fines; they did not take the closing of my NIT and now they want me to pay their mistake", claims Julia A. "I have three open processes and now they open me another one says that for a false invoice of 2014, how can it be? There is no way to defend yourself, they force you to present invoices of an item that they do not reach and you have no choice but to buy; in the end it is the same: you pay or you pay", laments consultant Ramiro H.
Similar complaints arrive daily at the offices of the SIN and other instances. According to the statistical report of the Ombudsman's Office, in the years 2019 to 2021, the institution attended 42 complaints against the National Tax Service. Of these, 20 -the majority- were for labor rights violations and 16 were for complaints and petitions from taxpayers who did not obtain answers.
"Most independent taxpayers do not file complaints because it does not do much good. You always lose before Taxes," Julia stresses.
Bolivian law - through the Tax Code, Law 843 and regulatory supreme decrees - establishes that any person, whether natural or legal, who habitually engages in the sale of movable goods, imports, performs works or provides services or renders services of any nature is a taxpayer of Value Added Tax (VAT). Generally, they are also obliged to register as taxpayers of the Transaction Tax (IT).
"When economic activities are carried out, natural or legal persons are obliged to register as direct tax payers and, in the case of legal persons, also as withholding agents of taxes payable by third parties. Registration implies obtaining a tax identification number (NIT)," explains a tax advisor who asks to keep his name confidential due to the nature of his activity.
"In every State people must pay taxes and our country is no exception. Therefore, every person or business that carries out an economic activity has the obligation to carry out its activities in accordance with current regulations. Obtaining a NIT gives you the legal security that your activity is legal and recognized by the State", explained the SIN in an institutional response to a form from Página Siete.
What obligations and benefits does a person who obtains a NIT have? "Among the most important rights that the taxpayer has is to be informed and assisted in the compliance of his tax obligations and in the exercise of his rights; among his most relevant obligations is to be registered in the National Taxpayers Registry in the activity that corresponds to him, in addition to determine, declare and pay correctly and on time his taxes, as established in the Commercial Code and Tax Code", was the institutional response.
The self-employed
"I am registered as a 'self-employed professional' and it turns out that in order to discharge taxes you can only present invoices related to 'stationery', light, telephone, water; that is to say basic services, as if I were an office and not a self-employed professional who works at home and whose tool and office is basically the computer. Besides, don't we eat, aren't our expenses daily life itself, such as the market, clothes or the pharmacy, don't we generate taxes that those businesses or services pay with all the invoices we present? It is absurd," questions independent journalist Cecilia Lanza.
She points out that, in addition, for the sector there is double invoicing derived from the annual tax. "Again, as if we were a company that generates profits, nothing could be further from reality. Practically everything that one has earned with effort ends up going to pay taxes. One ends up working for the SIN, when there is a large portion of society - smugglers, large, medium and informal traders - who do not pay a penny of taxes. The minimum percentage of those of us who pay taxes pay for the great majority and on top of that we are squeezed. That is why it is very difficult to undertake and trust in this country", he stresses.
The SIN assures that it is committed to the norm: "Article 8 of Law 843 establishes that the tax credit originates in purchases, acquisitions, hiring or definitive imports, linked to the taxed activity. Therefore, expenses that are not linked to the taxed activity cannot be considered for a VAT Tax Debit compensation."
"Now the modality of teleworking has made it more difficult to identify purchases or expenses linked to the taxed activity (for example, the internet service in a house serves both for work and for other things) and there is no objective way or specific rule that allows to do so. As long as the issue is not regulated, it is better not to compute the tax credits of these purchases for VAT (but they are useful for IUE or RC-VAT)", advises the expert.
"In Bolivia, the tax system is so complex and the tax burden so great, that many prefer to work informally or hide behind simplified regimes", he adds.
"A torture."
"This is the second time I open NIT. I closed it before for similar reasons: they took a lot of money from me unjustly, it's torture," Lanza laments. "And when I complained to the official on duty, he said that 'they had to meet monthly collection goals', so there were no reasons or arguments but to take money from the taxpayer. This is how we are: impotent, helpless".
The SIN maintains that through the Call Center 800103444, the service platforms and social networks it is in constant contact with taxpayers, with professional accountants and auditors, answering and clarifying tax queries". Meanwhile, queues continue at its offices.
The tax obligations that the NIT entails
The main obligations arising from the registration, which involves obtaining a tax identification number (NIT), are:
1. To liquidate and pay, every month, a 13% VAT on the sales of goods or services rendered.
2. To liquidate and pay, every month, 3% of IT on the sales of goods or services rendered.
3. In case of legal entities, to withhold in favor of the Treasury, every month, 13% of RC-VAT, 3% of IT, 12.5% of IUE.
4. In the case of natural persons -except those who work as independent professionals or tradesmen- liquidate and pay, every three months, a 13% of RC-VAT, with the benefit of deducting from this tax the 13% of VAT included in the invoices of personal consumptions.
5. In the case of legal entities, liquidate and pay, every year, 25% IUE on annual profits.
6. In the case of individuals who practice as self-employed professionals, they must liquidate and pay, each year, the IUE on profits, which are calculated on a presumptive basis and with the benefit of deducting from this tax up to 50% of the 13% VAT included in the invoices of personal consumption.
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