Alternative dispute resolution methods: regarding tax transactions, mediation is the only and exclusive way to settle them, according to the provisions of the Tax Code.

Exclusion of tax transaction: it is not possible to settle or reach agreements in a mediation process on disputes related to the following assumptions:

Debts arising from unpaid or undeclared tax returns.

Obligations relating to taxes that were effectively withheld or collected by the taxpayer but not delivered to the IRS promptly.

Claims seeking total or partial annulment of regulations, ordinances, and resolutions, among others, issued by the IRS.

Tax obligations that are under control and are subject to persuasive measures, and for which no communication of differences or draft minutes have been notified. The settlement of differences process is considered a tax determination process.

Concessions in tax matters: the following elements are not susceptible to settlement in tax transactions:

An abstract interpretation of legal provisions.

Facts whose accreditation in the administrative or judicial procedure is specific due to the existence of direct evidence.

Facts that are not directly related to the determination of the tax obligation that is the subject of the mediation process or its collection.

Interest waiver or interest rate reduction: the IRS may waive interest or reduce the interest rate according to the cost-benefit report issued for this purpose in the following cases: i) tax obligations that are under determination process; and ii) tax obligations contained in administrative acts, before or after they have become final or enforceable.

If the coercive process has been initiated, the IRS may waive up to 100% of the interest or reduce the interest rate, provided that the obligation is considered challenging to collect and the taxpayer expresses their willingness to pay the total capital amount immediately.

Rejection of mediation request: the IRS may reject participating in the mediation process, as this is a voluntary procedure for conflict resolution and/or if the object to be mediated is excluded from the scope of the transaction. The IRS has 30 days to express its decision (from the date of notification of the mediation request). In the case of interprocess transactions, the deadline mentioned above does not apply, and the competent judicial authority will determine the terms.

Agreement period: although the IRS may grant the taxpayer a period of 24 months, in monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual instalments, to fulfil the obligation payment, provided that the first instalment is equal to 20% of the tax obligation balance, the periodicity of the referred dividends will not apply to payment facilities requested by the taxpayer within a tax mediation process.

According to the resolution, ultimate beneficiaries are natural persons who hold at least 10% of the capital, votes, dividends, or exercise any other form of control over a legal person or any natural person in charge of making strategic decisions for the legal person. For trusts or legal structures, ultimate beneficiaries include natural persons who hold positions of the settlor, trustee, beneficiary, or any other natural person who exercises absolute effective control over the assets, results, or profits.

Legal persons or structures, through their legal representatives, are required to identify their ultimate beneficiaries, update information related to them, identify each member of their chain of ownership and submit the necessary annexe to the IRS within the deadlines, forms, and conditions provided. They must also ensure the availability of information on ultimate beneficiaries for the previous 5 years before the date of cancellation or extinction. The IRS may request additional information as necessary.

Ultimate beneficiaries, in turn, must disclose their updated information, including their names, surnames, identity documents, date and place of birth, jurisdictions of tax residence, and tax identification numbers, to the legal representative through the document prepared by the IRS for this purpose.

Furthermore, they must indicate the nature of their control over the person or legal structure and provide supporting documentation of their status as the ultimate beneficiary. This information must be provided annually, with a cut-off date of December 31 of each year, within January of the following fiscal year, whether or not there have been changes since the last submission. If there are changes in the ownership or control of persons or legal structures, such changes must be reported within the following calendar month.

Information quality: the information provided must be complete, meaning that all required fields in the annexe have been filled out; adequate, meaning that it is sufficient to identify the ultimate beneficiary of the person or legal structure and the means through which that natural person exercises ownership or control; and accurate, meaning that the information must be precise to the identity of the ultimate beneficiary, using documents obtained from an independent source, among other things. In addition, the data must always be up-to-date, so the annexe must be submitted to the SRI annually within the following month of any changes to the information.

Professionals: legal, economic, accounting, administrative, and other professionals must comply with the obligations contained in the resolution whenever they act on behalf of a client in:

Buying and selling real estate.

• Managing their client’s money, securities, savings accounts, or other assets.
• Organizing capital and contributions for creating, operating, maintaining, or administrating legal persons or structures.
• Creating, operating, administering, or transforming legal persons or structures, and buying and selling commercial entities.

These professionals must keep their client’s information for 5 years from the date their relationship with their clients ends and supply it to the SRI if requested. This does not affect the professional secrecy between the professional and their client.

Registration of ultimate beneficiaries: the information contained in the registration of ultimate beneficiaries will be reserved and confidential. State entities may only access the information in the registration of ultimate beneficiaries necessary for exercising their powers.

Information retention: the legal representatives of legal persons or structures must retain the information that supports the annexe containing information about their ultimate beneficiaries, as well as the due diligence procedures they apply, for 5 years from the date of submission of the annexe on ultimate beneficiaries.

Sanctions: in the event of sanctions being imposed, they do not exempt the offender from complying with the obligations generated by the resolution. The sanctioning procedure, including expiration and prescription, as well as administrative remedies, will be governed by the Tax Code.

Additional provisions:

• State institutions with access to information about ultimate beneficiaries of legal persons or structures from sources other than the SRI’s records will inform the SRI of such information for verification and, if necessary, updating. Similarly, anyone with information about ultimate beneficiaries that differs from that contained in the SRI’s records may communicate this to the abovementioned entity. Total confidentiality and secrecy will be maintained.
• The SRI will implement the system for the Registration of Ultimate Beneficiaries within 24 months from the date of entry into force of this Resolution, that is, September 30, 2022.
• Compliance with the obligations contained in the resolution will be enforceable 3 months after the SRI notifies that it has completed the Registration of Ultimate Beneficiaries implementation process.
• Taxpayers who must submit the “Annex of Shareholders, Participants, Partners, Board Members, and Administrators” will continue to do so until the Registration of Ultimate Beneficiaries is implemented.

En el Segundo Suplemento del Registro Oficial número 157, de fecha 27 de septiembre de 2022, el Servicio de Rentas Internas hace un recordatorio a todas las personas naturales o jurídicas obligadas a emitir comprobantes de venta, retención y documentos complementarios de forma electrónica (en adelante referidos como “comprobantes”), lo siguiente:

• Los comprobantes preimpresos autorizados antes de la fecha de publicación de la Resolución número NACDGERCGC22-00000024, la cual contiene las “disposiciones en torno a la emisión de comprobantes de venta, retención y documentos complementarios, de manera electrónica, así como respecto de la obligatoriedad de emisión de los comprobantes de retención electrónicos en la “VERSIÓN ATS””, publicada en el Segundo Suplemento del Registro Oficial número 80, de fecha 09 de junio de 2022, tendrán vigencia hasta la caducidad concedida en la autorización.
• Las autorizaciones de comprobantes preimpresos concedidas a partir del 09 de junio de 2022, tendrán vigencia hasta la caducidad concedida en la autorización, siempre que el sujeto pasivo cuente con la autorización para emisión de comprobantes electrónicos antes del 30 de noviembre de 2022, caso contrario, los comprobantes, tendrán vigencia únicamente hasta el 29 de noviembre de 2022.
• A partir del 30 de noviembre de 2022, únicamente los sujetos pasivos que se encuentren en ambiente de producción de comprobantes electrónicos podrán obtener la autorización para emisión excepcional de comprobantes preimpresos.
• Los documentos preimpresos serán utilizados excepcionalmente en casos de fuerza mayor o caso fortuito y no podrán exceder el 1% del total de comprobantes emitidos en el ejercicio fiscal anual anterior. En caso de incumplimiento de esta disposición se impondrán multas a los sujetos pasivos, de acuerdo con lo establecido en las normas tributarias.