For the first time, the Justice orders the AFIP to suspend a tax due date

The judicial definition came after the president of the Professional Council of Economic Sciences of the City of Buenos Aires (CPCECBA), Gabriela Russo, made insistent requests to the head of the Federal Administration of Public Revenues, Mercedes Marcó del Pont, of to postpone the deadlines for July 12.

Russo stood out in dialogue with Ambito that “in 2020 the Council had presented a precautionary measure but since the AFIP granted us the term that we asked for, the measure remained abstract.” The head of the Professional Council indicated that it is the first time that Justice issues a ruling of this type. Now the professionals go for more. Russo anticipated that will present a bill to the Chamber of Deputies to modify the Tax Procedure Law so that it is established that the maturities have to operate 60 days after the AFIP applications are enabled.

The conflict with the professionals is due to the limited time they had, according to them, to carry out the proceedings from the moment in which the collection agency put the applications into service on its website.. The authorization was on May 15, while the original expiration date was scheduled for the 13th of this month. The accountants consider that there is a tacit agreement that two months should pass from the moment they can start uploading the data.

There are all sorts of unforeseen variables that influence the task. For example, generally, when new applications are launched, the use shows that they require adjustments. There are also other imponderables, such as the fact that the AFIP site is usually blocked when there is a lot of demand. These are elements that end up affecting the task of tax advisors who usually work on Sundays or holidays to arrive on time.

To all this, the AFIP recently suspended the use of some programs that allow importing and exporting data for computer security reasons, with which the accounting firms are forced to make the loads manually..

The ruling, on the other hand, generates a judicial precedent for future actions. Judge Marra Giménez accepted the legitimacy of the Professional Council as an organization to make a class claim, on behalf of the accountants, and granted, in principle, legitimacy to the request. She ordered to suspend the deadlines and that the AFIP publish its resolution on the web.

Tax experts consulted by Ámbito considered that the most logical path that the AFIP should follow is to order a new expiration date in line with the request of the accountants, so that the legal action becomes abstract and falls. AFIP sources consulted, so far have not said anything about the news. One of the possibilities is that the agency appeals the measure of the judge.

Mario Volman, a tax specialist at the University of Buenos Aires, considered that the AFIP should order a new expiration from July 15. “This is not intended to harm anyone,” he said, and recalled that last year the expiration of the Income Tax and Personal Assets was August 18.

The problem arises about the scope of the failure. Because it is a protection claimed by the council that represents the accountants of the Federal Capital, it only reaches those registered in the City of Buenos Aires. The accountants of the rest of the country continue with the original dates. What can happen is that a taxpayer who is domiciled in a province and is advised by a professional registered in the Federal Capital, will have more time.

Sebastián Domínguez, a partner at SDC Tax Advisors, stressed that the measure “is only for professionals.” He believed that “the logical thing would now be for the AFIP to issue a resolution changing the deadline to July 12 as requested by the Council, and then the legal action becomes abstract.”