On March 29, 2023 General Resolution N.º 5339/2023 issued by the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos – AFIP-) (https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/283581/20230329) was published, by which it suspends, up to December 31, 2023, inclusive, the application of the benefits obtained through the certificates of exclusion of the Income Tax and Value Added Tax collections, for the final importation of goods.
The adopted measure, in force since its publication date, will generate a strong impact in the companies’ liquidity, what will determine the filing of legal proceedings tending to neutralize the effects of the suspension, bearing in mind the affected rights.
The suspension decided by the Resolution shall not apply to the following import for consumption transactions:
1. Those carried out by Micro and Small Companies holding a certificate on such condition.
2. Those carried out on account and order of the National Government.
3. Those exempted from the imposition of national taxes by the General Budget Act of the National Administration for the period 2023.
For the rest of the companies that obtained certificates of exclusion, after following the procedures set forth in general resolutions 2226/2007 and 830/2000 respectively, genuinely expecting not to suffer collections at the time of completing the import of goods transactions, shall now “ignore” the certificates issued in their favor, as a consequence of the decided suspension.
The Resolution sets forth that, collections carried out as from the effectiveness of the regulation, shall be treated as follows:
· Income Tax collections shall have the nature of a deposited tax, and they may be computed in the tax returns of the relevant fiscal period.
These collections may not be computed for the determination of Income Tax advance payments made according to the Regime set forth in General Resolution Nº 5211, even when an optional regime of determination and deposit is used as specified in Title II of said regulation.
· Value Added Tax collections may be computed as from the ninth fiscal period following the date of the customs clearance.
As we informed before, there are several principles and rights affected by the suspension set forth in the Resolution, which, certainly, will give rise to different kind of legal actions, with the purpose of neutralizing the effects of the decided suspension. All this is worsened by the additional cost of suffering tax collections which, since they cannot be immediately computed, will be diluted by the high inflation indexes.