The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) reiterated its rejection of the bills presented by the Congressfor the temporary reduction of the General Sales Tax (IGV) from 18% to 8% for restaurants, hotels and tourist accommodation.
Through its official Twitter account, the ministry specified that it gave an unfavorable opinion on these initiatives, since it considers that a reduced VAT rate distorts and makes its application difficult, makes the tax system more complicated (by generating three additional regimes) and encourages “dwarfism”. ” business and informality.
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“Most companies that are restaurants and hotels are not taxpayers of the IGV. According to statistics from the National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration (Sunat) in 2021 there were 114,000 taxpayers in these areas, but more than 50% were registered in the RUS, a regime that is not affected and does not pay VAT.”, commented the MEF.
He added that most restaurants and hotels cater to the local population and not tourists. And to date they would have been registering billing levels similar to those of the pre-pandemic, which would indicate a recovery in the sector.
fake billing
The Ministry of Economy and Finance warned that the tax treatment that the projects would grant to the IGV fiscal credit would create incentives for false invoicing, since it would give the invoices monetary liquidity.
“It is estimated that said project would have a fiscal cost of S/ 690 million. This estimate does not include the quantification of the increase in tax fraud associated with this project”, he referred.
In this sense, he highlighted that the countries of the region apply the general rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) to restaurants, such as Argentina (21%), Chile (19%) or Mexico (16%). “An exception is Colombia, which does not apply VAT to restaurants, but the National Consumption Tax equal to 8% of the sale value and does not grant the right to a tax credit.”.
The MEF also recalled that the Government implemented a series of temporary tax relief measures for restaurant and hotel companies, such as extensions for the declaration and payment of taxes, suspension of payments on account, RAF, accelerated return of the ITAN, among others.
It should be noted that the Economy, Banking, Finance and Financial Intelligence Commission of Congress approved on June 8 the opinion on bills 714/2021 and 2148/2021, which proposes the “Law that promotes economic reactivation measures for micro and small businesses in the following categories: restaurants, hotels and tourist accommodation” and that establishes a special and temporary rate of the General Sales Tax (IGV), called “8% of the IGV to rescue employment”.
