Samuel Chauca, Director of the Labor and Immigration area of KPMG in Peru, told Management.pe that in these cases it is necessary to take into account -for tax purposes- concepts such as the tax residence determined in relation to the physical presence of the natural person or taxpayer. Therefore, any Peruvian who remains outside the country for more than 183 days, whether continuous or not, is considered as not domiciled for tax purposes.
“This change in the natural person in turn generates a change in the type of taxation that they will have with respect to their income,” narrowed down
In what sense? The natural person who works outside of Peru for more than 183 days will have to evaluate or investigate -he added- if he has to pay taxes in the country of residence, since the criterion of work income is that it be paid in the country in which the task is executed.
“This is what happens to us when there are foreign employees who work in Peruvian territory, since -now- they have the obligation to pay taxes here. The same can happen when a Peruvian goes -for example- to the United States. After 183 days -for tax purposes- he would be generating income for a US source, he would probably be subject (to the payment) of taxes”, he indicated.
He recalled that during the pandemic this scenario or situation was not taken into account -in cases of remote workers outside Peru- by natural persons (workers) and companies (employers) that have made the withholding for income from work (fifth category) corresponding, when they should not have done so.
“There could probably be a refund in favor of the worker if he actually does his paperwork in Sunat, since that was income from a foreign source, so the employer should not have withheld and rather should pay taxes outside”, he explained.
What happens when this worker returns to the country after more than 183 days (more than 6 months)? The expert said that after having lost the tax domicile this person will have the obligation to pay taxes at the rate of 30% on the income of Peruvian source.
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“In this scenario, there is a risk that the employer will not withhold the 30% rate due to not knowing that the worker was outside the national territory. If it is retained in default, it runs the risk -in addition- of being jointly and severally liable, for which the circumcision could ask you to pay the tax that was not withheld correctly,” he added.
A person begins to be considered as not domiciled, it should be specified, the year after the more than 183 days have elapsed outside of Peru. In case of wanting to maintain the status of domiciled, what the teleworker would have to do is present the income from a foreign source as a sworn statement at the end of the year.
“Instead of reporting it in the fifth category box, you will have to report it in the foreign source income box and apply the tax credit“, held.
One detail that draws attention is that this situation has not been the subject of policy by the MEF nor of the circumcision. Nor has the new teleworking law clarified it, which is expected to have greater light in the regulation that the Ministry of Labor must issue in 90 days.
Given this, the specialist KPMG recommended incorporating these tax aspects as part of the telework policy and a clause in the employment contracts so that the worker is obliged to report to his employer at the beginning of each year what his fiscal domicile is.