Salvadoran Congress approves brief tax amnesty program

• The new amnesty program applies to tax and customs obligations.
  
  
• The program will only be in force briefly, until 8 December 2023.
  
  
• Taxpayers that should have declared or paid taxes or customs duties for tax periods before 30 September 2023 will want to consider participating in the program.

The Salvadoran Congress has approved a tax amnesty program that allows taxpayers to comply voluntarily with their tax and customs obligations. The program is in force until 8 December 2023.

The amnesty program applies to taxes administered by the General Directorate of Internal Taxes and the General Directorate of Customs, as well as the collection processes administered by the General Directorate of Treasury.

All taxpayers that should have declared or paid taxes or customs duties corresponding to tax periods before 30 September 2023 qualify for the amnesty program. Taxpayers with debts determined according to Section 74-A of the Tax Code may also qualify for the amnesty program.

Taxpayers that pay the original or additional taxes due during the amnesty period will not be liable for interest, surcharges, or additional fines, depending on their facts and circumstances. Debts that have been sent to the Attorney General's Office for administrative or judicial collection could qualify for the Program.

The Program also allows taxpayers to request a grace period of up to nine months to pay the original or additional taxes due.

Additionally, the Program allows taxpayers that benefited from previous amnesty programs but did not pay their obligations during the corresponding period to apply for the new program. The Program, however, requires them to pay penalties, which may be paid in installments. In this case, taxpayers may request a grace period of up to eight months to pay the taxes and penalties that they owe.

Penalties that may be forgiven under the amnesty program would be those imposed under Section 238 letters (a) to (d) and Sections 246, 247, 252, 253 and 254 of the Tax Code.

For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following:

Ernst & Young, El Salvador
 

• Rafael Sayagués
  
  
• Héctor Mancía
  
  
• Carlos E. Gaitán
   

Published by NTD’s Tax Technical Knowledge Services group; Carolyn Wright, legal editor

For a full listing of contacts and email addresses, please click on the Tax News Update: Global Edition (GTNU) version of this Alert.