COVID-19 Regulations: Executive Decree No. 298 of May 27, 2020

Which modifies and adds provisions to Executive Decree No. 251 of March 24, 2020, which adopts tax measures to alleviate the economic impact resulting from the National State of Emergency.

Article 1. Article 1 of Executive Decree No. 251 of March 24, 2020, reads as follows:

Article 1. During the term of validity of the National State of Emergency decreed by the Government of the Republic of Panama, a period of 120 calendar days is granted from the date of promulgation of Law 134 of March 20, 2020 for the payment of taxes that are caused or must be paid during said period and that are under the jurisdiction of the General Directorate of Revenue of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, without this entailing the generation and payment of interest, surcharges and fines.

Within the concept of taxes subject to the benefits mentioned above, are included direct and indirect national taxes, rates, special contributions and any other monetary debts, liquid and payable, that in any concept a natural or legal person, as well as real estate must pay to the General Directorate of Revenue of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with the exception of those whose obligation arises from the quality of withholding agents, which are detailed below:
1. Income tax withheld from employees
2. Income tax withheld from non-residents
3. ITBMS withheld from non-residents
4. lTBMS withheld by the State
5. lTBMS withheld by local withholding agents
6. Dividend tax

Article 2. Article 1-A (transitional) is added to Executive Decree No. 251 of March 24, 2020, as follows:

Article 1-A (transitional). A period of time until July 17, 2020, is granted for the payment of the Property Tax withheld by the banks corresponding to the first four months of the 2020 fiscal period.

Article 3. Article 2 of Executive Decree No. 251 of March 24, 2020, reads as follows:

Article 2. A definitive deadline is granted for the submission of income tax returns corresponding to the 2019 fiscal period of natural or legal persons until July 17, 2020. The extension of the one-month deadline for submitting the income tax return established in Paragraph 5 of Article 710 of the Tax Code is void due to the extension granted in this article, as an eventual measure, taking into account the declared National Emergency situation.

The submission of all original documents and/or certified copies, as well as other documents that serve as evidence or requirements for procedures and requests before the General Directorate of Revenue, is authorized to be submitted electronically through the procedures established for this case by this entity.

For the purposes of the provisions of article 133-E of Executive Decree No. 170 of 1993, requests for non-application of numeral 2 of the sixth paragraph of article 699 of the Tax Code may submit all documents electronically in accordance with the process established in the previous paragraph.

The deadline for submitting the Transfer Pricing Report regarding transactions carried out with related parties during the 2019 fiscal period is extended until September 30, 2020, for those taxpayers with regular fiscal periods.

Article 4. Article 3-A (transitional) is added to Executive Decree No. 251 of March 24, 2020, as follows:

Article 3-A (transitory). Taxpayers who have filed their income tax returns for the 2019 fiscal year and wish to benefit from the benefits established in article 3 of this decree, with respect to estimated tax, may file a corrective return until July 17, 2020, at no cost and without losing the possibility of correcting or expanding the income tax return under the terms established in paragraph 4 of article 710 of the Tax Code.

Article 5. This Executive Decree modifies articles 1 and 2 and adds articles 1-A (transitional) and 3-A (transitional) to Executive Decree No. 251 of March 24, 2020.

Find the full text of the Executive Order here .

See the complete list of COVID-19 Regulations established by the Government of Panama at the following link: COVID-19 Regulations.

For questions regarding these tax measures, please contact us at igranet@stagingcd.com .