He Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) presented an additive to the bill Accountability which aims to facilitate the VAT discount for foreign tourists Uruguay It is usually applied in the summer seasons to promote the tourism sector, and extend it to the electronic payment system.
tourism in Uruguay is still struggling to finish recovering from the effects of the pandemic. Covid-19 and the recent impact of the exchange difference with Argentina —which affects both internal tourism, as Uruguayans look for cheap destinations on the other side of the border, and inbound tourism, as Argentines find local proposals expensive.
For this reason, all support or promotion measures to the sector are welcome, such as the VAT discount that is applied to the purchases and consumption of foreign tourists during the summer season. The problem is that this benefit is only enabled by law for operations that are paid through debit or credit cardexcluding increasingly popular alternatives such as payments through applications and electronic wallets.
A change in the payment system
Warning this situation that can become an inconvenience for foreign tourists, the MEF presented a additive to the Accountability project which incorporates other alternative instruments issued abroad for which the VAT benefit could apply in the near future. An example is that of the fast payments by direct transfer.
“The objective is to give other tools to non-residents so that they come to Uruguay and can pay for what they consume with more modern media“, explained in Parliament the president of the BCentral Bank of Uruguay (BCU), Diego Labat.
Ultimately, the proposal aims equalize tax treatment regardless of the payment method used for the transaction, allowing access to the VAT discount benefit on all operations with media broadcast abroad.
This will be of great importance—if approved—especially for tourists coming from Brazil, where more than 25% of payment transactions are carried out with direct person-to-person mechanisms, through the Instant Payment System (PIX), a platform created by the Central Bank of the northern country. Although this growth trend in electronic payments can be observed in several countries in the region.
“It seemed important to us update the regulations so that tourism can receive this type of payments,” Labat said in this regard.
For her part, the director of the Tax Consulting of the MEF, Pía Biestro, He stated that “the purpose of the modification is to incorporate a new means of payment. Today this power is not being exercised (refund of 22 VAT points), although it is always put into practice when the summer season begins.”
Source: Ambito
