In Peru there are various administrative regimes of the Value Added Tax (VAT), among them, the Retentions and the Perceptions.
Through these regimes, the Tax Administration seeks an anticipated collection of the tax. The companies to which the regimes are applied have the option to allocate it against the future tax payable as well as (in certain circumstances and under strict compliance with certain requirements) request it as a refund.
However, the decision to request a refund of the tax withheld or perceived implies the fact that the company exposes itself exponentially at the beginning of a prior inspection procedure by the tax administration; Therefore, before submitting the refund requests, it is recommended: (i) from a tax standpoint, to take everything in order; and (ii) carry out a neat prior analysis regarding the support that covers the tax refunds to be requested.
In the present case, the company had tax withheld and perceived from the import operations of goods that it carries out, and the entity that had administered the VAT in advance was Customs.
In this sense, it was necessary to analyze and support import by import, as well as review accounting records, reliable documentation of operations and full compliance with the requirements established by the law for the origin of the refund.
It should be noted that, in the present case, it was about returns related to operations that the company had carried out since 2017. For this reason, the traceability of the tax had to be ensured until the year 2022 (when the request was submitted).
As can be seen, this case was complex because it represented a multidisciplinary effort in which the team in charge had to express their knowledge not only in taxation but also in the customs and accounting branch, given the requirements for submitting applications.
Finally, the Administration approved the refund of the tax withheld for the sum of PEN 633,241.00 and the one received for the sum of PEN 2,388,448.00 for the year 2017; and approved the refund of the tax withheld for the sum of PEN 3,371,182.00 and that received for the sum of PEN 3,232,903.00 for the 2018 fiscal year.
