Value Added Tax (VAT) in Latin America

Benjamin Franklin at the time claimed that nothing at all is specific in daily life other than dying and taxes. The phrase may well have been initial uttered by just one of the authors of the US Structure, but nowhere is it far more accurate than in Latin America. And compared with the United States (with comparatively minimal prices), Value Added Tax (VAT) in Latin America accounts for a major amount of money of the taxes that governments in the location accumulate. 

It is of the utmost relevance that overseas companies and business owners do the essential analysis into a certain Latin American place ahead of location up shop there. Incorporating and/or developing a satellite business in a jurisdiction with out the owing diligence, and you could come across that your small business is strangled by substantial tax costs – with Price Additional Tax (VAT) in Latin The us being a single of them. Even though you can get meaningful data from the net, there is no substitute for local, on-the-ground specialists with authorized, accounting, administrative, and again office products and services skills.

With a several exceptions, Value Additional Tax in Latin America has been steadily on the rise for the earlier 30 many years. VAT is the most significant supply of tax earnings on regular in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), at 27.7 % of full tax revenues in 2019, in accordance to the Organisation for Economic Co-procedure and Advancement (OECD). Revenue from Worth Included Tax in Latin The usa – as a percentage of GDP – approximately tripled on normal involving 1990 and 2019, from 2.2 per cent of GDP in 1990 to 6 percent in 2019.

Major 10 nations around the world with the highest VAT in Latin America 

The adhering to is a record of nations with the highest percentages of Benefit Included Tax in Latin America, as of 2019 (the 12 months for which the newest figures are offered):

• Chile – 39.9%
• Guatemala – 38.8%
• Peru – 38.5%
• El Salvador – 37.5%
• Paraguay – 35.7%
• Dominican Republic – 34.7%
• Honduras – 31.8%
• Ecuador – 30.3%
• Colombia – 29.6%
• Belize – 29.3%
• Regional normal – 27.7%

All through the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that followed, on line procuring, e-commerce, and other electronic professional activity skyrocketed in Latin The usa. Retail e-commerce revenue shot up 36.7 p.c in 2020, representing better expansion than any other region in the environment at the time. 

A calendar year later on, a huge-ranging research was jointly launched by the OECD, the Globe Financial institution, the Inter-American Enhancement Financial institution (IDB) and an group representing regional tax authorities. Entitled the ‘VAT Digital Toolkit for Latin The usa and the Caribbean’, the examine suggested that LAC governments reform their tax rules to use VAT to all e-retail purchases/e-commerce sales. 

“Latin The united states and the Caribbean could enhance tax collection by $3 billion by making use of the price-added tax to e-commerce, according to estimates from the IDB, one of the establishments involved in the advancement of this toolkit,” the IDB stated in June 2021. 

“With regard to Worth Added Tax in Latin The us, “the most important VAT troubles relate to the strong progress in on the net sales of solutions and electronic products and solutions to personal people (such as ‘apps’, songs and film streaming, gaming, ride-hailing, and so forth.) and to the exponential progress in on the internet income of lower-value imported products, often by international sellers, on which VAT is not gathered properly underneath current regulations,” the group additional.

Many nations in the location heeded the Toolkit’s tips, and as a result, Latin The us now sales opportunities the world in taxing electronic providers.

Value Additional Tax levied on digital commerce in Latin The united states

What follows are the percentages of VAT in Latin The us levied on electronic goods and providers by region:

• Uruguay – 22% 
• Argentina – 21% 
• Chile – 19%
• Colombia – 19%
• Peru – 18%
• Honduras – 15%
• Mexico – 16%
• Bolivia – 13% 
• Costa Rica – 13% 
• El Salvador – 13%
• Ecuador – 12%
• Guatemala – 12%
• Panama – 10%
• Paraguay – 10%

Although a more robust VAT regime in Latin The united states is excellent for governments’ tax revenues, it is a highly-priced nuisance for firms in the area – particularly for tiny- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Any kind of tax hike indicates the price tag of executing company goes up, and as that cost is normally handed on to the buyer, it implies that the expense of numerous products and solutions goes up as well. 

Organizations wanting to avoid spending organization- and shopper-unfriendly Benefit Added Tax in Latin The us (as very well as other taxes) must glance into the a variety of Free-Trade Zones (FTZs) that dot the area. They are intended to draw in international direct financial investment by giving firms large and tiny with tax exemptions on company taxes, cash gains tax, import obligations and VAT, among some others. 

VAT in Latin The united states: Top rated 10 countries featuring FTZ tax exemptions 

What follows is a record of Latin American international locations that have active FTZs in put, where by international organizations delight in numerous tax exemptions (including Value Additional Tax in Latin America):

• Brazil
• Chile
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Guatemala
• Honduras
• Mexico

Biz Latin Hub can support you

At Biz Latin Hub, we supply built-in industry entry and back-office environment solutions during Latin The united states and the Caribbean, with workplaces in Bogota and Cartagena, as properly as over a dozen other big cities in the region. We also have reliable associates in a lot of other marketplaces.

Our unrivalled reach suggests we are ideally positioned to assistance multi-jurisdiction current market entries and cross border operations.

As perfectly as awareness about Benefit Added Tax in Latin America, our portfolio of providers features hiring & PEO accounting & taxation, company development, and company legal expert services.

Make contact with us these days to come across out extra about how we can guide you in obtaining talent, or usually do organization in Latin The us and the Caribbean.

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