Legislative monitoring regarding the approval of Amnesties in Honduras
Since the beginning of 2019, a series of Legislative Decrees containing various laws and amnesties have been published which, although their main purpose is to improve tax collection, have helped to alleviate the heavy tax burden of natural and legal persons in Honduras.
On February 26, 2019, the Law of Social Contribution of the Social Sector of the Economy was published in the official newspaper La Gaceta, which, among other provisions, grants a term of four (4) months as of its publication, so that Legal Entities operating under the protection of the Law of the Social Sector of the Economy not included in the Decrees No. 53-2015 and No. 92-2015, comply with their tax and customs obligations corresponding to fiscal periods 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, free of the payment of fines, interest and surcharges caused on the date of entry into force of the decree. Legal entities operating under the auspices of the Social Sector of the Economy Law not included in Decrees No. 53-2015 and No. 92-2015 are not subject to the payment of Income Tax (ISR) and related and collateral taxes as of Fiscal Year 2019.
The Decree in turn creates the Social Contribution of the Social Sector of the Economy, which must be paid annually within the first three (3) months following the close of the previous fiscal period, for legal entities operating under the protection of the Law of the Social Sector of the Economy. The Social Contribution is fifteen percent (15%) of the net surpluses or net profits generated in the previous fiscal period.
On February 26, 2019, Decree 133-2018, published in the official newspaper La Gaceta, contains the amnesty in the payment of fines for failure to submit or late submission of the Report on Compliance with Environmental Measures (ICMA). The amnesty applies to projects that, according to the Categorization Table issued by MiAmbiente, are in Category 1, 2 and 3 with an Environmental License. The amnesty is valid for six (6) months from its publication in the official newspaper La Gaceta.
Subsequently, on April 25, 2019, Decree 26-2019 was published in the official newspaper La Gaceta, which contains tax and customs amnesty, amnesty from the Honduran Social Security Institute (IHSS), telecommunications amnesty, vehicle amnesty, amnesty and forgiveness to customers of the National Electric Energy Company (ENEE), amnesty to exporters of non-traditional products, and municipal amnesty. The Decree is valid for sixty (60) working days from the day of its publication in La Gaceta newspaper.
It is hoped that these decrees will help companies to be able to update their tax payments by avoiding the payment of fines and surcharges additional to the tax due.
J. Vanessa Oquelí de Riera
Managing Partner
García & Bodán
Honduras