NewsWhore
07-11-2011, 05:10 PM
The director general of the Department of Taxes (DGII), Juan Hernandez says that companies that closed their accounts on 31 December 2010 are due to pay the difference increases in the taxation on businesses. The government pushed a bill through Congress that raised the tax from 25 to 29% in June. As reported in El Dia, the government plans to collect an additional RD$4 billion through this retroactive tax.
Business representatives disagree. They say that companies that closed their fiscal year on 31 December 2010 should not have to pay tax for 2011 because this would be in violation of the 2010 Constitution.
El Dia reports that the 2010 Constitution establishes in its Art. 110: "Non-Retroactivity of the Law. Laws shall only be binding and applicable to future events. They shall not be applied retroactively unless favorable to the accused in a criminal proceeding or to those serving a sentence. In no case shall public authorities or the law affect or change the legal certainty resulting from situations established under previous legislation."
Tax Increase Law 139-11 establishes in Art. 297 that companies have to pay 29% on gross taxable income from fiscal exercise 2011.
Speaking during a workshop "Strengthening Tax Administration and Tax Fraud" held 8-10 July in Bayahibe, DGII director Juan Hernandez said that the taxation increase applied to companies that close the year on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December. He said that companies that filed taxes on 31 December have to make an amendment in the taxes they filed and pay the difference. He says this occurred in 2007, when the income tax was reduced from 27 to 25%. He said that in that year, companies that had closed requested refunds of what they had paid from the DGII, and the DGII acknowledged and issued RD$150 million in tax refunds to one company.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
Business representatives disagree. They say that companies that closed their fiscal year on 31 December 2010 should not have to pay tax for 2011 because this would be in violation of the 2010 Constitution.
El Dia reports that the 2010 Constitution establishes in its Art. 110: "Non-Retroactivity of the Law. Laws shall only be binding and applicable to future events. They shall not be applied retroactively unless favorable to the accused in a criminal proceeding or to those serving a sentence. In no case shall public authorities or the law affect or change the legal certainty resulting from situations established under previous legislation."
Tax Increase Law 139-11 establishes in Art. 297 that companies have to pay 29% on gross taxable income from fiscal exercise 2011.
Speaking during a workshop "Strengthening Tax Administration and Tax Fraud" held 8-10 July in Bayahibe, DGII director Juan Hernandez said that the taxation increase applied to companies that close the year on 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December. He said that companies that filed taxes on 31 December have to make an amendment in the taxes they filed and pay the difference. He says this occurred in 2007, when the income tax was reduced from 27 to 25%. He said that in that year, companies that had closed requested refunds of what they had paid from the DGII, and the DGII acknowledged and issued RD$150 million in tax refunds to one company.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)