The occasional rental of houses, apartments, chalets and vacation rooms that are offered through mobile applications, platforms or social networks are already subject to verification and inspection by the Guatemalan treasury.
In 2022, the Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT) reported that several measures and the process were being prepared to collect taxes from companies that provide the streaming service in Guatemala, in addition to real estate leasing services, transportation of people and transportation. parcels and similar.
In this context, the SAT recently reported that it has detected taxpayers who rent properties after announcing them digitally, without being registered in the Unified Tax Registry (RTU) or being subject to any tax. Others are registered, but have omitted to pay taxes, have submitted declarations with zero value, are underfilers or are on the threshold of exceeding the income of the Small Taxpayer regime that the law allows.
The indicated information was obtained through data cross-checking and geolocation risk models carried out by the Inspection Department, in addition to monitoring the landlords’ advertisements on electronic platforms and several types of fraud have been identified, in addition, they were detected around of 2,300 properties that are offered for this type of service.
Detected typologies
No affiliation
In the first example, a person was mentioned who does not have the appropriate economic profile, her occupation is a housewife, she has no registered establishment and her age is 27 years. However, she makes rentals on applications and social networks, she rents 2 chalets on the Pacific beaches and another in the capital city. In addition, she owns several properties registered in her name, 1 house in an exclusive area and 2 more in other municipalities, in addition to a considerable number of vehicles. Therefore, we proceed to determine the origin of her assets.
A foreign person without a registered establishment was also detected; he owns properties according to the registry and offers rentals on APPs and social networks. For example, he rents a villa on the Pacific beaches for US$2,340 on weekends and most of the time it is occupied, so he generates a considerable amount of income and since he does not live in the country he does not pay taxes, but There are agents and managers of the properties you rent.
Filers at zero or with omissions
In this case, it is an Individual person, who is affiliated with the General Regime of the value added tax (VAT), appears as a provider of professional services, but the establishment that is rented on the Pacific beaches is not reported. US$1,200 every weekend, which is offered through applications and social networks.
It was detected that it has a high demand because there was no availability on any weekend for 4 months, but it presents some declarations with zero value and others are omitted.
Underfilers or those who exceed small taxpayer limits
In this example, a taxpayer was detected that is a public limited company affiliated with the general VAT regime, its line of business is various businesses and it has a rental establishment, with rental of several vacation homes, chalets, villas and apartments that are promoted in various media. .
High demand was also observed because, according to the SAT, there is no availability on weekends in the last two months.
In this case mentioned among the examples, it was detected that it declares income less than that received, since, according to the entity, each week they rent each villa for Q5 thousand for 13 people, and due to the high season they show occupancy every weekend .
As a result, they estimate that the approximate monthly income is Q65 thousand, but they declare Q8 thousand 700.
Small taxpayers who exceed the maximum limit allowed
Also mentioned is an individual registered as a small taxpayer, with an advertising design business, but who owns and rents houses on a beach and an apartment in the capital city, through different means.
The SAT detected that the apartment in the city is rented for Q450 per night, apart from a chalet in Monterrico that is rented for Q2,800 per night, with very high demand. As verified by the treasury, an average monthly income of Q11 thousand 500 is reported, which would represent Q138 thousand per year, but they detected monthly income of Q28 thousand 700, which would be equivalent to Q340 thousand per year.
This amount exceeds the maximum annual limit allowed by the Small Taxpayer regime set at Q150 thousand.
Actions and recommendations
Superintendent Marco Livio Díaz and the Superintendent of Inspection, Óscar Hernández, called on people to regularize their tax situation and avoid being subject to inspection actions; and to the population, to report the non-billing for their service purchases. These are the main recommendations of the collecting entity:
To taxpayers who fall into each of the scenarios described, it calls on them to regularize themselves before the entity and to comply voluntarily.
Those who are identified will be asked for information on bank deposits received, as well as their financial information to determine the omission of declarations.
People who rent these places must demand the invoice since this tax document can generate legal effects. You can report through the SAT portal or call the 1550 call center.
Register here for the virtual masterclass for digital subscribers “Low investment franchises in Guatemala: Where to start?” this Thursday, March 21 at 6 p.m.
#SAT #begins #supervise #vacation #rental #properties #social #networks