On November 1st , Legislative Decree number 875 was published, which contains the new regulatory body called SPECIAL AND TRANSITORY LAW THAT GRANTS FACILITIES FOR THE VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE OF TAX AND CUSTOMS OBLIGATIONS, composed of 13 articles and which regulates the extemporaneous compliance of the payment of such obligations.
All taxpayers have the obligation to pay all their tax and customs obligations, as required by the laws in force in the Republic of El Salvador; however, not all taxpayers have the economic capacity to make such payments when due, due to various circumstances that have arisen, such as the global inflationary crisis or cash flow deficiencies, among others. As a consequence, they fall behind in their tax payments, which may affect them in the long term, in addition to the consequences, including criminal ones, that this may entail.
In view of the above and in order to provide opportunities to all taxpayers to settle different debts they have with the Treasury and to cancel outstanding payments, this tax amnesty has been issued, even allowing tax debts to be amortised in instalments. It is worth mentioning that this situation also benefits the Treasury to the extent that it allows it to increase tax collection.
In the content of this special law, it is mentioned that all taxpayers may avail themselves of the benefits established therein, for which it divides them as follows: a) Taxpayers obliged to pay taxes under the jurisdiction of the Directorate General of Internal Taxes; b) Taxpayers obliged to pay taxes under the jurisdiction of the Directorate General of Customs; and, c) Taxpayers obliged to pay taxes whose debts are liquid, firm and enforceable.
On the other hand, said Legislative Decree provides a specific term for all taxpayers to avail themselves of the corresponding benefits; this term begins as from the entry into force of the Decree, until December 8 of the current year, during which payment shall be made by any of the following means: any legal tender, cashier's, management or certified cheques, Public Treasury Credit Notes, credit or debit cards accepted by the General Treasury Directorate and by presenting the corresponding tax returns or merchandise declarations, in the situations where it is appropriate to do so. The Directorate General of the Treasury shall grant a period of time for taxpayers to repay their debts taking into consideration the amount owed. In the event of non-compliance with the payment in instalments, after the term granted has expired, the benefits conferred therein will be lost.
The purpose of this amnesty is to make it easier for taxpayers to voluntarily cancel all outstanding Tax and Customs obligations. For this reason, it offers different means of payment and deadlines in order to meet these obligations to the Treasury, also exempting fines, interest and surcharges with the result that they are solvent before any institution.