How companies do to PAY LESS TAXES in the face of the crisis

The Income Tax of companies must be calculated with the accrual criteria, that is, it is not expected at the time payments and collections are made. But there are special rules for the imputation of income and expenses that allow tax planning within the current laws. Y This will be necessary more than ever at the end of the 2020 financial year, the year of the coronavirus.

These legal clauses change the criteria in some cases, allowing to consider the profits and costs as effectively perceived.

In this sense, the accountant José María Caruso, specialist from the Buenos Aires Professional Council of Economic Sciences (Cpcecaba) and Santiago Cairoli, from the Auren study, They listed the following cases in which income must be imputed according to what was received in the same year that the sworn declaration of Income Tax is made:

– Sums received judicially: When the collection of credits, both capital and interest, is judicially managed, the amounts received will be imputed firstly to the capital and, once this has been covered, to the interests, unless the parties have agreed on another way to impute the payments.

– Gain or loss of termination of operations.

-Extra discounts and rebates on merchandise debts, interests and operations related to the taxpayer’s activity: they will affect the fiscal year in which they are obtained.

-Gan by definitive removal of liabilities in insolvency proceedings: may be imputed proportionally to the fiscal periods in which the agreed bankruptcy installments expire or, in equal and consecutive installments, in the four fiscal periods whose closing date occurs after the date of final homologation, when the latter term is less . The maximum amount of net profit to be imputed according to this option may not exceed the difference that arises between the amount of the withdrawal and the accumulated losses at the beginning of the period in which the agreement was approved.

-Recovery of expenses: recoveries of tax deductible expenses in previous years are considered tax benefits for the year in which such event took place.

-Private retirement insurance: when the benefits derived from the fulfillment of the requirements of the plan or the redemptions for the withdrawal of the insured from the plan for any reason are collected.

– Profits of the deceased in the event of death: in the case of companies that receive inheritances, the profits produced or accrued but not collected until the date of their death will be considered in one of the following ways, at the option of the interested parties: in the last affidavit of the deceased, or in the sworn declaration of the succession, surviving spouse, heirs and / or legatees, in the year in which they receive them.

-Leases in kind: the value of the products received must be declared as profit, meaning by that of its realization in the fiscal year or, failing that, the place price at the end of it. In the latter case, the difference between the sale price and the place price will be computed as profit or loss for the year in which the sale was made.

-Applicable accrual method: you can choose to impute the profits at the time of the corresponding enforceability, as long as the profits originate from the sale of merchandise carried out with financing terms of more than ten months computed from the delivery of the good or equivalent act, considering that this The latter is configured with the issuance of the invoice or document that fulfills the same purpose.

The option for goods not included may also be exercised when the agreed payment installments become due in more than one fiscal period, as well as in the construction of public works whose execution period covers more than one fiscal period and in which the payment The construction service begins after the works are completed, in installments that become due in more than five fiscal periods. The option must be maintained for a term of five years and the operations must be accounted for in separate accounts.

–Sale and replacement: in the event of replacement and alienation of a depreciable personal property, you can choose to impute the profit from the sale to the tax balance or affect the profit to the cost of the new good, in which case the amortization must be practiced on the cost of the new good decreased by the amount of the affected profit.

It may also be applied to real estate affected by exploitation or destined for leasing or leasing, when such destination is at least 2 years old at the time of sale and provided that the amount obtained in the sale is reinvested in the replacement asset or in other fixed assets affected to those destinations, even if it were land or fields.

The option to affect the benefit to the cost of the new good will only proceed when the sale and replacement are made within the year.

–Unjustified equity increases: when its origin is not proven by the interested party, increased with the amount of money or goods that have been disposed of or consumed in the year, they are considered profits for the fiscal year in which they are produced.

Regarding the deductibility of expenses for Income Tax, Caruso and Cairoli indicated the following points for tax planning:

–Tax differences from adjustments, together with their interests, will be computed in the tax balance of the year in which they are due by the AFIP.

–Organizational expenses: the affectation to the first exercise or its amortization in a term not greater than five years is allowed, at the taxpayer’s option.

–Bad Credit Allowance: the deduction of penalties and provisions against bad credits is allowed “in justifiable amounts according to the uses and customs of the branch”.

The taxpayer can choose between the allocation of the provision to the profit and loss account or a provision fund set up to face contingencies of this nature. Once the taxpayer has opted for the pension system, its variation will only be possible with the prior authorization of the AFIP.

Normal provisions shall be considered those established on the basis of the average percentage of losses produced in the last three years, in relation to the balance of credits existing at the beginning of each of the years mentioned.

Whatever the method adopted for the punishment of bad credits, deductions of this nature must be justified. and correspond to the year in which they occur, being able to deduct the losses due to bad debts when any of the bad debt indices stated in the decree are verified:

-Credit verification in the preventive contest.

-Declaration of the bankruptcy of the debtor.

– Reliable disappearance of the debtor.

-Initiation of legal actions for collection.

-Manifest stoppage of the debtor’s operations.

-Prescription.

In the cases in which, due to the low significance of the balances receivable, it is not convenient to carry out legal proceedings, and as long as they do not qualify in any of the other indexes, bad credits will be computed provided that the following requirements are concurrently met:

-The amount of each credit must not exceed the amount set by the AFIP taking into account the activity involved. Currently, the amount is $ 10,000

-The credit in question must have a delinquency greater than one hundred and eighty days after its maturity.

-To have reliably notified the debtor of his delinquent status and claimed payment of the overdue credit.

-Having stopped operating with the delinquent debtor.

–Staff bonuses: expenses or contributions made in favor of personnel for health care, school and cultural aid, subsidies for sports clubs and, in general, all expenses for assistance in favor of employees, dependents or workers are deductible. It also mentions that bonuses, bonuses, etc. will be deducted, provided that they are paid to the personnel within the terms in which the sworn statement corresponding to the exercise must be presented.

The AFIP may challenge the part of the ratings, bonuses, bonuses, etc., that exceeds what is usually paid for such services, taking into account the work carried out by the beneficiary, the importance of the company and other factors that may influence the amount of the remuneration.

Directors’ fees: the amounts destined to the payment of fees to directors, trustees or members of supervisory boards and those agreed to the managing partners are deductible, but up to 25% of the accounting profits for the year or up to $ 12,500 each, which is higher, provided that they are assigned within the period established for the presentation of the annual affidavit of the fiscal year for which they are paid.

In the case of being assigned after said term, the amount that is computable in accordance with the provisions set forth above will be deductible in the year in which it is assigned.

The amounts that exceed the indicated limit will have for the beneficiary the treatment of non-computable for the determination of the lien, provided that the tax balance of the company throws tax determined in the year for which the remuneration is paid.

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