Guatemalan businessmen claim that their operations are being affected by delays up to three years in the tax refunds, when the established periods are 30 to 60 days.
Last week, the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the dismantling of a structure that facilitated refunds of the tax credits through means of illicit payments, operating both internally and externally in the Superintendency of Tax Administration.
The generalized delay continues to harm the majority of companies, whose operating costs are being affected, with the consequent deterioration in competitiveness.
The excessive delay in returning these credits diminishes companies’ capacity to operate. In regards to this, the president of the Commission of Clothing and Textile, Alejandro Ceballos told Prensalibre.com that “ … ‘they are holding on to capital and sooner or later utility bills come, debts accumulate and there is an overdraft that ends up affecting the payroll, suppliers and other commitments’.”
In the same vein, the executive director of the Association of Coffee Exporters, Jean Paul Brichaux, said that ” … ‘many exporting companies face capital problems because they can not count on having the resources within the corresponding times. With the emerging plan that was implemented last year, a break was provided for some, but not for all.”
