The new perception regime that will come into force on April 1 forces food and mass consumption wholesalers to charge their customers an advance of 3%.
Since the first day of April, the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) will try to capture some of the Value Added Tax (VAT) that is lost due to informal trade. That day will start a new regime of perception for food products, beverages and consumer goodswhich will only involve taxpayers who have the quality of responsible persons registered with the agency.
Although this regime had been launched on March 10, the AFIP already had to modify it through a resolution published in the Official Gazette to specify who will be affected by the new modality. The original wording involved all sales of consumer goods and food, except meat, fruit and bread, which included industrial processes. now alone The trade will be reached, and basically, the wholesale intermediaries.
From the first day of next month the wholesaler will have to withhold 3% VAT from its retail client (in the case of products that are taxed at 21%) or 1.5% (if the merchandise is reached with 10.5%). The invoices will have to have a floor of $100,000. In the original text, almost all of them were included, because there was talk of a minimum perception of $60. Now the floor is $3000 and the balance that is generated will be in favor of the retailer for that month.
The problem that wholesalers noted is that the perception is made at the momentand is paid within the monthly fiscal period, but the retailer can settle it only the following month. That is to say that, meanwhile, the seller will have to take the money out of his own pocket until his client settles the debt.
As some accountants admit, the measure more than anything points to intermediation, especially in cleaning items, where there are high levels of irregularity. Is usually only a part is billed of operations to keep the relationship with the treasury in order.
Advisors who know the market say that in some cases of 10 items, only 2 are billed. But in reality, although VAT is affected, black trade seeks to avoid paying Gross Income which, because it is a cascading tax, is paid in each section of the chain without the possibility of downloading for merchants.
Somehow, The collecting entity senses that several VAT points are being lost in the commercial chain and is trying to collect something in advance.
It is clear that the wholesaler is not going to want to finance his client the tax advance, so it is probable that he will try to charge it by raising the price and he in turn will seek to download it to the final consumer. Another alternative is that the retailer asks to “launder” a higher proportion of the billing to generate more tax credit in their favor with which to cover that increased cost.
But made the law made the trap: It is already anticipated that wholesalers will not issue invoices for more than $99,999 and will divide operations so as not to have to practice collection.
On the other hand, The accountants now demand that the body led by Carlos Castagneto issue a clarifying resolution on the type of products which will be reached. The resolution talks about food and beverages, and consumer products, but does not provide further details.
Source: Ambito
