The amnesty will be applied to the debts with 11 public entities

Ecuadornews:

The Productive Development Law establishes options for companies and citizens to benefit from remission and reduction of interest, fines and surcharges of obligations with 11 public institutions. To access the benefit, the interested parties must pay in most cases the balance of the debt capital.

In the initial project, the Executive considered the amnesty for tax, customs, vehicular, social security, Decentralized Autonomous Government (GAD) and basic services provided by the Executive Function companies.

With these referrals, the Government initially expected a collection of USD 602 million in 2018 and USD 774 million until 2021. But for the first debate, the Economic Development Commission, in charge of the analysis of the legal initiative, included in the amnesty the interest, fines, procedural costs and surcharges of obligations in charge of the Superintendence of Companies.

In the Plenary of the Assembly, the proposal of remission was criticized by the assemblymen of diverse banks, mainly by the correísta group. Soledad Buen dia, for example, questioned the measure because it promotes the culture of non-compliance in the payment of taxes.

Christian Cisneros, executive director of the Chamber of Small and Medium-sized Trade of Pichincha (Capeipi) said that although the referral included small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as individuals, the biggest beneficiaries will be the large companies. For the correísta Assemblyman Cristóbal Lloret, this remission is a “baratillo de ofertas”, to include the forgiveness of all kinds of obligations.

Despite the observations, the Commission decided to accept the proposals to include new actors in the amnesty. Thus, for the second debate the debtors of educational loans and scholarships granted by the former Ecuadorian Educational Credit Institute (IECE), as well as the debtors of the Single Water Authority, were included. In the hearings, Norma Vallejo, from Alianza País (AP), presented the case of three public hospitals that between 2005 and 2006 did not present to the Comptroller’s Office the justification for the payment of overtime to their employees.

The entity determined the return of the resources received, but interest accrued for non-payment. The Assembly included this group of public officials as beneficiaries of the referral to forgive 100% of the fines, interest and surcharges.

Finally, at the request of the agricultural sector and legislators such as César Rohón, the remission of the interests and judicial costs of debts with the National Development Bank in liquidation was established.

In this case, people who are in default with the financial institution must pay at least 1% of the capital balance, within 365 days. They may also request the restructuring of debts up to twice the original agreed term, not greater than 10 years, at a rate of 5% per annum. Assemblyman Lloret is concerned about the maintenance of the third general provision that, in his opinion, violates the right of workers, by allowing companies to not recognize the payment of profits, if they accept the referral.

The Economic Development Commission specified that the provision will not apply in cases where there are final and enforceable judgments in the workplace, which will require recalculation of the corresponding profits to employees.

However, Lloret stressed that there are private companies that are in trials for more than 10 years, which implies that, in this opportunity, they fail to comply with the right in favor of the workers. (I)

Source: http://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/amnistia-deudas-leydefomentoproductivo-aduana-tributos.html