It may be a surprise to many but Panama is not a tax haven and even companies with no income earned locally must pay an annual tax known as Tasa Unica. The tax and surcharges are described in Article 318-A in Wikisource and translated as draft as follows:
Article 318-A. [2] Corporations, limited liability companies and any other legal entities, national or foreign, will pay at the time of registration and in subsequent years a single annual fee of three hundred balboas (B / .300.00) to maintain full validity. Private interest foundations will pay at the time of registration a first single annual fee of three hundred and fifty Balboas (B / .350.00). In subsequent years, the payment for that concept will be four hundred balboas (B / .400.00) to maintain the full validity of the foundation. For legal purposes, full registration will be understood as valid in the Public Registry of Panama. The obligation to pay the annual single rate is not extended to non-profit organizations, cooperatives and civil societies.
[3]The first annual single fee referred to in this article shall be paid at the time of registration of the legal entity together with the respective registration rights, as if it were part of the Registration Rights. Once the first single fee has been charged, the Public Registry of Panama will remit said amount to the General Directorate of Revenue on the first business day of the week following the date of its collection and will report the name and registration number of the respective company or foundation .
The second and following annual single rates will be paid as follows:
to. Until July 15 of each year, by the legal person whose date of registration of the social pact or constitutive document in the Public Registry of Panama corresponds to the months from January to June, inclusive. b. Until January 15 of each year, by the legal person whose date of registration of the social pact or constituent document in the Public Registry of Panama corresponds to the months from July to December, inclusive.
These payments will be made through the legal representative or the registered agent or resident of the legal person.
At the time of payment, the legal representative or registered or resident agent must declare the date on which the articles of incorporation or constitutive document has been registered in the Public Registry. This affidavit will be made in a form that, for this purpose, will be provided by the General Directorate of Revenue [4]
Payment of this out-of-term fee will cause the single surcharge of fifty balboas (B / .50.00) per year or fraction of the year. For these purposes, the provisions of articles 1 and 2 of Law 60 of 1973 shall not apply .
Taxpayers may pay this fee in advance, in which case such payment shall be deemed final for the periods covered.
Paragraph 1. [3] Failure to pay the fee in the period in which it is caused will have the effect of not registering any act, document or agreement and the non-issuance of certifications related to national and foreign legal persons, except ordered by competent authority or those requested by third parties for the specific purpose of enforcing their rights, in which case the certification will be issued exclusively in a different format for these purposes, indicating that it is in default.
Paragraph 2. [3] For the purposes of the suspension of registrations and the non-issuance of the certifications referred to in the preceding Paragraph, the General Directorate of the Public Registry of Panama will consult in each case the information made available to the Directorate General Income, on national and foreign legal persons who are up to date in the payment of the single rate.
Paragraph 3. [5] Each time the taxpayer incurrs in the non-payment of the annual single rate for two consecutive or alternate periods will have, in addition to the surcharge, the application of a fine of three hundred balboas (B / .300.00) and the annotation of a marginal indicating that it is in a state of delinquency. When the taxpayer pays the delinquent fees with their respective surcharges and the amount of the referred fine, the restoration of the services of the Public Registry of Panama and the lifting of the marginal entry will take place.
Paragraph 4. [3] Failure to pay the single rate for ten (10) consecutive periods will have the effect of definitive withdrawal of the legal entity from the Public Registry. As a consequence, it will be considered dissolved, with all the legal effects that this entails.
The natural or legal person, national or foreign, who has received from third money for the purpose of making the payments of this rate and does not enter them in favor of these to the National Treasury will be sanctioned with a fine not less than five (5) times nor greater than ten (10) times the amount not paid.
Paragraph 5. [3] Dissolved the legal person for non-payment of the annual fee for an uninterrupted period of ten (10) years, which will take effect from the entry into force of Law 6 of 2005, the period will begin of dissolution of three (3) years.
During that period any director, dignitary, member of the founding council, resident agent, partner or an interested creditor may carry out their rehabilitation, paying all amounts owed as a fee plus a fine of one thousand Balboas (B / .1,000.00). The rates of the expired years during the three-year dissolution period will be included in the payment.
Once rehabilitated, the legal entity will recover its existence and may resume its activities.
After the expiration of the three (3) year period indicated above without its rehabilitation having occurred, the Public Registry, after verifying that fact, will cancel the registration of the legal entity and its name may be used by any interested party.
The General Directorate of Revenue will prepare a list of legal persons with a delinquency of ten (10) years and promote their wide dissemination and publication, for the purpose of:
- 1. That the Public Registry write down the marginal dissolution for non-payment of a single rate.
- 2. That those interested can promote their rehabilitation.
Paragraph 6. [3] The annual single-rate payment obligations, declared until December 31, 1990, are declared prescribed, provided there is concurrence with the following facts:
- to. That they have a prescribed prescription period exceeding fifteen (15) years or more.
- b. That the taxpayer has not carried out or executed any own management of recognition of the obligation.
- C. That the tax administration has not issued, at the date of entry into force of this Law, any suitable administrative act of interruption of the prescription.
In the event that a case of alleged prescription of the debt is declared or filed by mistake, it will be deemed interrupted, without prejudice to the administrative sanctions that are merited, and the period of its configuration will be restarted from the date of the alleged declaration or of your file if necessary.
Transitional Paragraph [3] Payments entered in official receipts are considered made by taxpayers, even if they had not been effectively entered into the National Treasury for reasons not attributable to the taxpayer, his legal representative or the resident agent. The collection of late payments and surcharges originated in the non-payment of the single rate to legal persons, whose delinquencies are attributable to the incorrect migration of data or inconsistencies in their update, and to those who verify, through receipts officers, have made the corresponding payments.
The increase in the amount of the second single rate onwards to three hundred balboas (B / .300.00) will be effective as of January 1, 2006.
Transitional Paragraph [6] For the purposes of the entry into force of the new single rates indicated in this article, as amended by Law 28 of 2012, corresponding to the annual renewals of private interest foundations, it will be understood that they govern from from January 1, 2013; that is, they take effect for those payments that correspond to the rates applicable to fiscal 2013 and subsequent periods.
References
- ↑ National Assembly (Panama) (June 29, 1956) [ Law 8 of January 27, 1956 ] by which the Fiscal Code of the Republic is approved. Official Gazette (12,995) p.127
- ↑ Article 318-A was modified by article 1 of Law 28 of 2012 , promulgated in Official Gazette 27029-C on May 8, 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Article 318-A was modified by article 1 of Law 49 of 2009, promulgated in Official Gazette 26370-C on September 17, 2009.
- ↑ With Law 24 of 2013 , article 34 specifies that in any legal norm, document or ongoing process in which the General Directorate of Revenue is designated or formed, it will be understood as referring to the National Public Revenue Authority.
- ↑ As amended by article 1 of Law 28 of 2012 , promulgated in Official Gazette 27029-C on May 8, 2012.
- ↑ As it was with Law 52 of 2012.
