Penalties are established ranging from three months to nine years in prison for tax fraud.
The initiative that proposes to equate any type of tax fraud as organized crime is a tool of fiscal terrorism that will affect not only companies but any taxpayer, said Reginaldo Esquer Félix, president of the National Fiscal Commission of the Employers’ Confederation of the Republic Mexican (Coparmex).
“They are creating a tool of fiscal terrorism because they are going to have the power to be able to signal anyone to be related, apparently, to organized crime and just for having committed some tax fraud or lack of tax payment of any kind,” he told El Economista.
In his opinion, in the initiative that was presented in the Senate of the Republic and that is discussed in commissions, articles 108 and 109 of the Federal Tax Code (CFF) should be excluded from any tax fraud being related to the crime organized.
They agree that only Article 113 be considered, related to the issuance and acquisition of false invoices as organized crime.
“We have had several meetings with the prosecutor, and although they have answered some of our suggestions, we have not been able to reconcile with the essential problem that articles 108 and 109 are not considered organized crime.”
Article 108 of the CFF establishes sanctions ranging from three months to nine years in prison to those who commit tax fraud, which can be given when a person makes use of deceit or exploitation of errors, totally or partially omits the payment of any contribution and obtains an undue benefit with damage to the treasury.
Article 109 dictates that it will be sanctioned with the same penalties of the crime of tax fraud of 108 who writes in the declarations false deductions or cumulative income less than those actually obtained.
Meanwhile, article 113 establishes that sanctions of three to six years in prison will be imposed upon those who willfully reproduce or print vouchers, without being authorized by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.
Concern discretion
The president of the National Fiscal Commission of Coparmex stressed that one of the issues that most concern this initiative is the degree of discretion that the authorities may have when considering someone related to organized crime.
“We are concerned about this degree of discretion that the authority intends to arrogate when deciding when it comes to people linked to organized crime and when not, because what is going to happen in practice is that when someone is not related to organized crime They are going to tell you ‘if you don’t pay me, you’re going to defend yourself from jail’ and then, with the threat of unofficial pretrial detention, they will almost force you to pay better. ”
Esquer Felix said that while the current authorities say they will not act in “bad faith”, that does not guarantee that the next administration will act with the same intentions
Source: el economista, expansion, diario tiempo
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